Strong in the Broken Places: A Theological Reverie on the Ministry of George Everett Ross

Who was George Everett Ross, and why is his story worth telling? Rector of St. Paul's Episcopal Church in Akron, Ohio, the largest congregation in the state's diocese, Ross was at once a brilliant preacher who could move his listeners with the gospel of transfiguring grace and a deeply flawed human being who stirred controversy among his parishioners. Not only a crusader for the addicted and the homeless, but also an alcoholic who presided over the church where Alcoholics Anonymous was founded, Ross was both revered for his good works and reviled for his personal failings. In a book that is part biography, part a sampler of his sermons, and part a theological meditation on the five wounds of Christ, George Ross comes to stand for all of us who have suffered some injury of the soul, and who hope to find in the healing example of Christ a way to use our broken parts as a source of spiritual strength and creative energy. Strong in the Broken Places is a portrait of ministry at its most gifted and most wounded, as well as a story of faith shining more brightly because of the constant darkness that threatens it.…