Bitten By a Camel: Leaving Church, Finding God - Hardcover

Dobson, Kent

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1506417744 ISBN 13: 9781506417745

Publisher: Fortress Press, 2017

Synopsis

"And that s the brilliance of this book: Kent has done the hard work of becoming a particular kind of person: honest, open, following the questions wherever they lead. This book comes out of that pursuit, out of that kind of life, and it s really, really inspiring. Kent has been this kind of friend and teacher to me for almost twenty years."
--Rob Bell, author of What is the Bible? and Love Wins

Kent Dobson climbed Mount Sinai in search of the God who had eluded him.

Instead he got bitten by a camel.

Dobson was climbing the ladder of Christianity, too: a worship leader, teacher, and ultimately senior pastor of one of the largest and most prominent churches in America. But he was growing disillusioned with the faith, at least inside the shell of organized religion.

One Sunday morning, he preached to his congregation, "I don t know what the word God even means anymore." He soon left the church, but his quest for God became more intense than ever.

In Bitten by a Camel, Dobson deconstructs much of what passes as Christianity. Then, engaging with Jesus and the Bible, he reconstructs a faith that is fulfilling, life-giving, and true--true to himself and true to God. Dobson's message is funny, poignant, and winsome. And it is ultimately, like the message of Jesus himself, hopeful.

About this title

About the Author:

Kent Dobson is a scholar and (former) pastor. He guides wilderness based programs designed to cultivate human wholeness and raise questions of the soul.  He also leads pilgrimage adventures to Israel, and he is the editor of the NIV First Century Study Bible.

Review:

"The thing is, Kent actually has been bitten by a camel. It's not a metaphor. Even though it is. And that's the brilliance of this book: Kent has done the hard work of becoming a particular kind of person honest, open, following the questions wherever they lead. This book comes out of that pursuit out of that kind of life and it's really, really inspiring. Kent has been this kind of friend and teacher to me for almost twenty years, and I'm thrilled so much of who he is and where he's been has been captured in this book."  
--Rob Bell, author of What Is the Bible? and Love Wins

"Like all the best spiritual memoirs, this book is more about mystery than certainty, more about unknowing than driving stakes into the ground. If you re in the aching, foggy middle of a spiritual transformation, I think this beautiful book might be good company along the way. I appreciate my friend Kent's wisdom, bravery, and honesty in the pages, and I believe you will, too."  
--Shauna Niequist, author of Present Over Perfect

"Kent Dobson has eyes of genuine wonder, ears of genuine curiosity, and a heart of a genuine love. This combination makes his journey up Mount Sinai like no other. It is both familiar and breathtakingly new, comforting and provocative. Kent's authenticity and openness is matched only by his learning and clarity of writing. Read this book and grow in faith and wisdom."  
--Rabbi Evan Moffic, author of The Happiness Prayer

"This is a beautiful, honest, wise and liberating book that reflects the soul of its author. Anyone would enjoy Bitten by a Camel for its pitch-perfect prose and humane honesty, but people from the Evangelical background Kent and I share will find it more than enjoyable. For them, it will feel like a lifeboat after a shipwreck, a cure for a chronic disease, or a path through a forest where you've been lost for a long time."  
--Brian D. McLaren, author/speaker/activist

"If the term 'religious experience' is to mean anything at all, it must refer, not to an experience of something, but to an event that transforms how we experience everything. With a subtle blend of honesty, humor and personal insight, Kent Dobson has crafted a work that invites the reader into such an experience. He has wrought lessons from his own life and presented them in a way that will help the reader encounter a new depth and density to life, revealing a hope and joy that is anything but shallow or one-dimensional."

--Peter Rollins, author of The Divine Magician

About this edition

• Publisher: Fortress Press
• Publication date: 2017
• ISBN 10: 1506417744
• ISBN 13: 9781506417745
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 166