Consider A God Who Loves Us

God Didn't Make Us to Hate Us by Rev. Lizzie McManus-Dail

Pages: 240 Genre: nonfiction religious (devotional)

Rating: 4 Stars

Kindle Notes and Highlights

(For this book especially, if you're not sure if this is up your alley, I'd really recommend looking at my highlights)

So many of the messages we get from modern day Christians reinforces the idea that God must hate us — all of us, really, but especially the marginalized. And for some people, this has created a major rift in their relationship with God and religion. In this book, Rev. Lizzie McManus-Dail provides 40 devotionals that recontextualize God as a loving Creator, Mother, Friend, and more, going beyond ideology meant to hurt and demean.

I've never really read a whole devotional book before, so I don't know how this would function for someone looking specifically for that. As just a book, though, I enjoyed this one. I thought the author provided a refreshing and unapologetic perspective that a lot of modern Christianity is missing.

One of my biggest issues with Christian literature that claims to be left-leaning is how surface-level it tends to be. I don't know if this is because it's for people who are newer to the left than I am, or if it's because they're too afraid to alienate people, or if it's some secret third thing. Regardless, most theological books written by and for Christians just miss the mark for me, so I was really excited by this book. I appreciated the author's willingness to dig into the Bible and provide a genuine interpretation that either challenged perceptions or reframed the stories in a new light. I didn't necessarily agree with everything 100% (not that there was anything super off-base either), but I don't think that's the point. It's a line of dialogue that is different than just restating how Jesus told us to love one another — which, while incredibly important, is not exactly an inventive interpretation.

I don't know a lot about the Episcopalian denomination, but I'm pretty sure they are close to the United Methodists theologically (if I'm remembering correctly we're In Communion with one another), so I was also on board with a lot of the basic theology in this book. It was familiar to me. On that note, I'm also not at all in the deconstructing/church-hurt target demographic, so I can't say how this book would be for someone who is. But for someone like me who is eager for theology that does not shy away from left-leaning ideology, I really enjoyed it. I feel like the author would be a really cool person to talk to.

I'd recommend this book to the other church people I know, if for no other reason than to hear their thoughts. While this is meant to be an entry point for people to re-embrace religion in a way that doesn't shame or condemn, I also think it holds value for those of us within the Church. And I like that it's not working too hard to please everyone, but is instead earnestly offering new perspectives and offering a starting point for a new conversation. Again, I know that this author is not the first one to have interpretations like this, and that there are many brilliant minds out there. But this is a good entry point and conversation starter.