Sin Boldly: A Field Guide for Grace

by Cathleen Falsani

Overview

Grace is everywhere, all around us, all of the time. We only need the ears to hear it and the eyes to see it. It is much easier and perhaps more helpful to describe what grace feels like through stories and images that illustrate the varied ways grace is experienced when encountered in the wild, than it is to attempt to define it definitively, to trap it, and cage it. Maybe that’s why Jesus was so fond of parables: nothing describes the indescribable like a memorable yarn.Sin Boldly: A Field Guide for Grace is a collection of stories about the author's experiences with grace—in ridiculous moments and in those that seem trivial but are anything but; in wacky adventures and quiet walks; with family and with strangers; in bars, nightclubs, the occasional house of worship, and in her own home; and through conversations with people—some famous and some not—who have introduced her to grace in new ways that in turn have shaped her faith and the way she tries to live it.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780310309048
Publisher:	Zondervan
Publication date:	09/23/2008
Sold by:	Zondervan Publishing
Format:	eBook
Pages:	224
Sales rank:	286,176
File size:	835 KB
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

Cathleen Falsani, author of Sin Boldly, The Dude Abides, and The God Factor, is the award-winning religion columnist for the Chicago Sun-Times. She attended Wheaton College and also holds masters degrees in journalism and theology. She lives in Laguna Beach, California, with her husband and fellow journalist, Maurice Possley.

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

Throwing caution to the winds, journalist and self-described “freelance Christian” Cathleen Falsani hoists a flag for Grace, impetuously jumping in where angels (and theologians) have feared to tread. Her enthusiasm flies off the page, but there’s wisdom, too, as she uses music, art, and story to illustrate her understandings of Grace, that heavenly benison that resists verbal definition but brings faith to vivid life. Her vision of God at work is broad and bold, and I suspect he is smiling! -- Luci Shaw

Cathleen Falsani reminds us of the immense potential of a life rooted and showered in grace---grace that is ever present in every place if we could just open our eyes and hearts. In fact, the very act of reading Sin Boldly is an experience of grace, and you cannot ask that a book be any more wonderful than that. Read this book because it will truly make a difference in your life. But be prepared to laugh and cry and dance, and be ready to live more boldly and love more courageously. -- Rabbi Irwin Kula

Cathleen Falsani is an excellent writer and a wonderful storyteller. Sin Boldly combines these two gifts in inspiring and entertaining stories that remind us that grace is often as unexpected as it is undeserved. This is a book that should be read by anyone who knows they need the grace of God. -- Jim Wallis

Ranging from Chicago to Kenya, New Orleans to Maine, Big Sky to Graceland, Falsani dons her investigative cap and scouts for grace. This religion columnist for the Chicago Sun-Times is a charming guide to places and people who reveal “grace when and where it happens.” Eschewing technical theological definitions, Falsani opts instead to tell how she has experienced grace. And we are vicarious travelers, seeing grace---“audacious, unwarranted, and unlimited”---through Falsani's eyes. She marvels at the devotion of young people who crowd to the pope's funeral and at the astoundingly independent women of Asembo Bay in Kenya. She wrestles with anger at a misogynist Tanzanian tour guide and anger at God when her mother and beloved cat face cancer. We traipse along with the author and eavesdrop on her conversations, both external and internal. The result is a pastiche of images meant collectively to reveal God's grace. Though some may find the premise contrived, only a fierce cynic could fail to be drawn in to Falsani’s tales and candid reflections. (Sept.) -- Publisher’s Weekly

Here’s an utterly original, unflinchingly honest, heart-expanding treatment of my favorite topic: the grace of God. I was so captivated that I missed church while reading it---and Cathleen’s lyrical insights refreshed my soul more than any sermon could have. I won’t be the same having read it. -- Lee Strobel, Author

Cathleen Falsani writes about religion and spirituality like nobody else: with a believer's heart, a journalist's eye and a humorist's ready wit. In matters of belief, near-belief or disbelief, Falsani is not afraid to look at traditional things in a new way, and new things in a traditional way. Her words make her topics seem fresh and inviting, and means readers always come away from her writings with a better understanding of God, of their fellow human beings and, of course, themselves. -- James Martin, SJ, Author

What makes this book about grace so different and special is that it reads like a novel. It gets the reader to FEEL grace rather than just getting a theological handle on it. -- Tony Campolo, Author

Not often do I find a nonfiction book that delights me with Story the way Sin Boldly does. With humor, tenderness, and a storyteller’s attention to detail, Cathleen Falsani takes us on a ride to show us her world of grace---a grace found in the most unexpected places. Through her honesty and peculiar perspective, Cathleen Falsani made me laugh and cry, and gave me the space in which to believe again. -- Stacy Barton, Author And Activist

Editorial Reviews

Ranging from Chicago to Kenya, New Orleans to Ireland, Big Sky to Graceland, Falsani dons her investigative cap and scouts for grace. This religion columnist for the Chicago Sun-Times is a charming guide to places and people who reveal “grace when and where it happens.” Eschewing technical theological definitions, Falsani opts instead to tell how she has experienced grace. And we are vicarious travelers, seeing grace—“audacious, unwarranted, and unlimited”—through Falsani’s eyes. She marvels at the devotion of young people who crowd to the pope’s funeral and at the astoundingly independent women of Asembo Bay in Kenya. She wrestles with anger at a misogynist Tanzanian tour guide and anger at God when her mother and beloved cat face cancer. We traipse along with the author and eavesdrop on her conversations, both external and internal. The result is a pastiche of images meant collectively to reveal God’s grace. Though some may find the premise contrived, only a fierce cynic could fail to be drawn in to Falsani’s tales and candid reflections.

Publishers Weekly