Someone recently asked for suggestions for resources as they begin the process of faith deconstruction. As I was thinking over the books and podcasts that have been most helpful to me over the past five years or so, I thought it might be helpful for others, as well.
I know deconstruction means different things to different people. For me, it has mostly meant trying to separate out my culture and biases from what the Bible really says/means and who God really is. It is impossible to be free of bias, but my view of God has expanded so much as I have intentionally sought out perspectives of marginalized people of faith. It is an on-going process, but I am (mostly) no longer afraid of the hard questions or threatened by people whose views challenge mine. There’s a lot of grief involved in this process, but I wouldn’t trade it. Wrestling with God has been an intimacy that has changed my life and my faith, and I have much more compassion for myself and others than I did before I took a deep dive in.
Deconstruction Resources, in 3 parts:
Native: Identity, Belonging, and Rediscovering God by Kaitlin Curtice
The Color of Compromise: the Truth about the American Church’s Complicity in Racism by Jemar Tisby
Out of Sorts: Making Peace with an Evolving Faith by Sarah Bessey
Shalom and the Community of Creation: An Indigenous Vision by Randy S. Woodley
Falling Upward: A Spirituality for the Two Halves of Life by Richard Rohr
Original Blessing: Putting Sin in Its Rightful Place by Danielle Shroyer
Be the Bridge: Pursuing God’s Heart for Racial Reconciliation by Latasha Morrison
Jesus Feminist: An Invitation to Revisit the Bible’s View of Women by Sarah Bessey
Abba’s Child: The Cry of the Heart for Intimate Belonging by Brennan Manning
Prophetic Lament: A Call for Justice in Troubled Times by Soong-Chan Rah
The Very Good Gospel: How Everything Wrong Can Be Made Right by Lisa Sharon Harper
I’m Still Here: Black Dignity in a World Made for Whiteness by Austin Channing Brown
Unsettling Truths: The Ongoing Dehumanizing Legacy of the Doctrine of Discovery by Mark Charles and Soong-Chan Rah
Searching for Sunday: Loving, Leaving, and Finding the Church by Rachel Held Evans
White Awake: An Honest Look at What It Means to Be White by Daniel Hill
Life of the Beloved: Spiritual Living in a Secular World by Henri J. M. Nouwen
Blue Like Jazz: Nonreligious Thoughts on Christian Spirituality by Donald Miller
Reading While Black : An African American Biblical Interpretation as an Exercise in Hope by Esau McCaulley
What is the Bible? How an Ancient Library of Poems, Letters, and Stories Can Transform the Way You Think and Feel About Everything by Rob Bell
Try Softer: A Fresh Approach to Move Us Out of Anxiety, Stress, and Survival Mode–and into a Life of Connection and Joy by Aundi Kolber
The Soul of Shame: Retelling the Stories We Tell About Ourselves by Curt Thompson
The Creator Revealed: A Physicist Examines the Big Bang and the Bible by Michael G. Strauss
The Fire Next Time by James Baldwin
Learning to Walk in the Dark by Barbara Brown Taylor
You Are Enough: Learning to Love Yourself the Way God Loves You by Jonathan Puddle
Glorious Weakness: Discovering God in All We Lack by Alia Joy
Do Better: Spiritual Activism for Fighting and Healing From White Supremacy by Rachel Ricketts
Lindsay L. O'Connor 
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