I got a pre-release copy of SHAMELESS by Nadia Bolz-Weber and it is a much-needed addition to the American church’s discussions relating to sex. I consider myself lucky that mostly things worked out okay for me and I escaped the True Love Waits culture relatively unscathed in comparison to many of my friends. But there was still a lot of junk there that Nadia deconstructs artfully. My two minor complaints are that I wish it was a bit longer because I was enjoying it so much! And that I wonder if it’s worth our time to focus on things like The Nashville Statement (and her church’s Denver Statement response) or if we would be better off ignoring it. Those guys do hold some power but overall it’s less than the internet might make you think. Anyway, my favorite quote was this one, “Our purity systems, even those established with the best of intentions, do not make us holy.” Amen.

Sadly I’ve abandoned one of the books I’d planned to read this month. Shameless: A Sexual Reformation by Nadia Bolz-Weber. I gave the digital arc about 20% and decided it wasn’t for me. It’s more about religion and God than I anticipated. I had thought it would be about sexual shaming more in our culture in general. Instead the author is a pastor and while her opinions are very newer hipper Christianity if you will, the subject is not appealing to me. I may have misunderstood the summary of the book. I was granted access to the book via NetGalley and Convergent Books, a division of Penguin Random House.

The latest excellent read from Nadia Bolz-Weber includes a little bit of everything. I ended up highlighting all the way through the digital book, as well as bookmarking half a dozen passages. Bolz-Weber goes through a variety of topics related to healthy sexual health and its relationship with spirituality.

This wasn't exactly the book I thought it was going to be, but I enjoyed it nonetheless. The author takes a look at sex and sexuality from a Christian perspective and proposes changes to it that fit more of our modern view. This book is funny and insightful.

I would like to thank netgalley and the publisher for providing me with a copy of this book free of charge. This is my honest and unbiased opinion of it

Raw, funny, and thought-provoking. Bolz-Weber writes in bold, open prose about things that many religious people would consider shocking, but her persuasive and genuine style makes them seem everyday (in the best sense).

Nadia Bolz-Weber has provided a clear and frank explanation of the flaws in typical Christian teaching in regards to sex education and morality. She manages to dismantle many commonly held beliefs in a way that can bring comfort to people who have suffered under these days of thinking.

Nadia Bolz-Weber’s “Shameless,” prophetic and provocative masterpiece is bound to captivate audiences who are feeling tired, beat down, and exhausted from oppressive religious rules and regulations, both implicitly and explicitly shoved down people’s throats. With profound wisdom and extraordinary grace, she takes readers on a theological and practical adventure of understanding life, sexuality, and spirituality. With her wise prose and raw vulnerability, her work is bound to liberate, educate, and force us readers to work through our own theology of sexuality.

This book definitely has Bolz-Weber's characteristic conversational style that has made all of her earlier works incredibly readable. And just like her earlier works, it also made me cry cathartically at different points. I think "Shameless" fills a much needed gap in Christian nonfiction on sex, sexuality and the body.

Wow, this is such an important book. Pastor Bolz-Weber looks at sexual morality with an examination of St. Augustine's own situation (turns out he was projecting his personal issues on the rest of us with "Original Sin."), how important a first breath is to the definition of personhood, going back to the book of Genesis and which books of the bible pass the Bechdel test: Exodus, Ruth, Samuel, Kings, Mark and Luke.

This book provides a re-connection to the original meaning of sexual morality - the importance of relationships and treating others with respect. It comes from a place of love and wisdom and is recommended for any mainline, evangelical Protestant and Catholics and Orthodox Christians that wants to have a deeper understanding of morality that goes beyond sola scriptura and embraces our shared tradition and ability to modify our understanding of the gospel with new revelations..

I have enjoyed watching Mz Bolz-Weber's videos for a while now, and this book is highly recommended to those trying to reconcile their modern-day lifestyle with their spiritual path and beliefs. A refreshingly open outlook on modern day Christianity and how it affects our sex lives and sexual identities. I like this quote from the book the best "she believes the “Gospel is powerful enough, transgressive enough, and beautiful enough to heal not only the ones who have been hurt but also those who have done the hurting.” I look forward to more from this author!

Tackling longstanding Christian attitudes and approaches toward sex, Bolz-Weber’s inviting readers to think of the subject a little differently by applying historical context and/or by viewing scripture in a different light. Also, there’s put forth a hand to those hurt by the church to know that there’s still a way back to the faith (and peace), and it doesn’t go through those that would seek to exclude them.

Stories both triumphant and heartbreaking are sprinkled about and Bolz-Weber uses them to make various points about where Christianity is going massively off of the tracks in terms of loving one another and raising its young generation to be set up successfully to cultivate and navigate successful bonds—primarily from a sexual perspective, but the net is cast to obviously include any type.

It’s an honest book that might rub many the wrong way. I sure hope not, and, while I did experience (to a lesser degree than several in this book) many of the Christian efforts to completely suppress any and all sexual desire until after marriage, I think my parents and others like them would have been well-served to have a voice like Bolz-Weber’s offering up these sensible suggestions.

The author has seen the hurt many have gone through simply because they’re not conforming to some ideal or expectation; she’s out to let you know that, even though you may be an outlier, even though you may not fit into the secular Christian idea of a man or a woman, you’re still worth it, and you’re still capable of being/receiving everything in the church you always wanted from such a community. Bolz-Weber’s fire for warming the reader’s heart is inescapably obvious, and it’s not a long book, so you have nothing to lose. High recommendation.


Many thanks to Crown Publishing, Convergent Books, and NetGalley for the advance read.

Pastor Nadia Bolz-Weber is an outspoken woman of faith dedicated to spreading love and joy to all. The Lutheran church she previously ran, The House for All Saints and Sinners, welcomes everyone: LGBTIQA folks; folks with difficult pasts; people in transition. EVERYONE. Controversy is no stranger to her, and with her upcoming book Shameless, she's going to be fighting a lot of haters. This book is a deep-dive look at gender, sex, and sexuality, primarily in the Christian church in America. It researches what the Bible actually says about the subject and all the drama that has been created over years of trying to keep men and women in a tiny circle of what is "acceptable" with little to no basis from the belief of the religion itself.

In short, this book is a giant controversy in a few hundred pages and it is ABSOLUTELY NECESSARY in our current climate. Women in the United States are regularly exposed to laws regulating our bodies. Not a day goes by where I don't read a new news article about an unfair dress code, specific rules for women, or modesty clauses. Birth control is such a hot topic that Margaret Atwood's A Handmaid's Tale has become an insanely popular and award winning show. Shameless pulls back a lot of the fear and shame in sexuality. It clears away a great deal of hatred and anger. Bolz-Weber is a loving force that swears, laughs, and is the first person to say she isn't perfect. She is fabulous and if this book didn't keep making me ugly cry, I'd reread it like three more times this weekend.

This book will not be for everyone. There will be people who read this book and demonize Bolz-Weber. I, however, think it is an important book that helps clear away cobwebs for people who have spent too long in their lives living in a coat of shame and guilt rather than to their full potential.

Shameless is available January 29, 2019 from Crown Publishing.

I am a huge fan of her books and loved this one also.
I loved her candor and directness tackling this subject and her nonsense style.