Better: Waking Up to Who We Could Be - Softcover

Melvin Bray

Softcover

ISBN 10: 082720308X ISBN 13: 9780827203082

Publisher: Chalice Press, 2017

Synopsis

Academy of Parish Clergy Top Ten Books for Parish Ministry 2017 selection

What if we could actually change the world by telling better stories? What if the world we have-with its racism, sexism, heterosexism, ableism, religious hatred, ecological disregard-is exactly the world we have spun into existence through the stories we have told?

In his new book, Melvin Bray insists that a better world is possible if the stories around which we organize our lives begin to match the beauty we imagine is possible. Bray puts forth his own daring yet faithful reimaginings of classic faith stories that inspire more beautiful, more just, more virtue-filled ways of being in the world.

Better offers a spiritual path on which people-for whom life has called into question many of their assumptions about God and the world-can continue to hold onto their faith, while joining others of goodwill in seeking sustainable, cooperative, and courageous answers to the seemingly intractable problems of our time.

Named a Best Book of 2017--the Cornwall List on "Ponderings on a Faith Journey" blog.

About this title

About the Author

Melvin Bray is an Emmy® award-winning storyteller, writer, educator and social entrepreneur embedded with his wife and three kids in the West End neighborhood of Southwest Atlanta. He is an active member of several vanguard networks working to cultivate more sustainable approaches to faith and civic engagement. He is a contributing author and editor for multiple periodicals and has been previously published as part of the compilation The Audacity of Faith (Judson Press, 2009). Melvin is co-editor/co-producer of Faith Forward (Wood Lake Publishing, 2012, 2013), companion media to the Children, Youth and a New Kind of Christianity 2012 event.

Review

Lord have Mercy--I needed BETTER. I needed Melvin's imagination, wisdom, commitment to grace, and the seriousness and playfulness with which he approaches God, scripture and love. The only way forward for people of light is to wake up to our faith as a unifying source of light and healing -- In BETTER, Melvin shows us the way. --Glennon Doyle, #1 NYT Bestselling author of Love Warrior and founder of Momastery.com and Together Rising

Melvin Bray's Better deserves your time and attention. It will introduce you to the wisdom of one of the most delightful and insightful moral and spiritual educators I've ever met. It will help you read the Bible in a fresh and desperately needed way. And it will equip you to become a better teller of better stories to build a better world. --Brian D. McLaren, author/activist

A breath of fresh air for people suffocating under rigid, compassionless faith traditions that marginalize Grace, Justice and Compassion. The world is in need of better stories, a better way and a new lens to see an old story. In an age of fear, racial anxiety, and xenophobia we need this radical epistle of love more than ever to reroute the course of our beloved yet static institutions. Bravo! This is the book I have praying for. --Rev. Dr. Otis Moss III, Trinity United Church of Christ (Chicago), author of Blue Note Preaching in a Post-Soul World

About this edition

• Publisher: Chalice Press
• Publication date: 2017
• ISBN 10: 082720308X
• ISBN 13: 9780827203082
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 208