Fully Alive: Tending to the Soul in Turbulent Times

"A great gift to all in search of a deeper life" Public scholar and popular podcaster Elizabeth Oldfield shows why, in a world stripped of both forgiveness and responsibility but heavy on judgment, she still finds the concept of sin liberating--and how, to her surprise, she keeps finding the themes, rituals, and communities of Christianity a source of spiritual strength when things fall apart. "When I was writing Unapologetic more than a decade ago, I knew the job would soon need doing again. And again. Because the bridge between faith and contemporary experience constantly needs to be rebuilt as times change. So here it is, then: the bridge for the present moment, across which seekers for more meaning in their lives can travel in the knowledge that they won't be bullied, browbeaten, or talked down to. This book. This one. In your hand. Right now." -- Francis Spufford , author of Unapologetic and Light Perpetual "In this beautiful book, Oldfield gives voice and vigor to a paradox of our time--that even as Christianity is officially on the wane, it is a bearer of wisdom, intelligence, and rituals of lavish value to our world in all its pain and promise. This book is for modern humans who, like her, have gone 'off script' in finding religion more relevant, not less so, in this young century. A great gift to all in search of a deeper life, of 'spiritual core strength'--of a full, redemptive aliveness." -- Krista Tippett , president, executive producer, and host of On Being "Oldfield has a gift for writing about the things that matter most in a way that's honest, warmhearted, and down-to-earth. This remarkable book points not to some unreachable ideal of life but to a deeper, more soulful, and meaningful experience of the life we're actually living." -- Oliver Burkeman , author of Four Thousand Weeks