000			01703nam a2200193 4500
010			_a2014042523
020			_a9781634310161
024			_a893710139
050			_aBL2747
082			_a206.1
100	1		_aCatherine Dunphy
245	1		_aFrom Apostle to Apostate
260			_bPitchstone LLC
300			_a184 pages
520			_aWhat happens when your entire life and career are constructed around a religious faith that you no longer possess? Do you continue to promote a gospel that you have intellectually and emotionally rejected to maintain your livelihood and the support and respect you receive from your community? Or do you renounce your faith to your congregation and the public at large, putting yourself and your family at risk? From Apostle to Apostate offers a comprehensive introduction to the Clergy Project, established in 2011 to provide a safe space where clergy who have lost their faith can connect with others facing the exact same questions--often alone and in isolation. Charting the origins, growth, and goals of the project, the book draws on the author's own experience as a founding project member and on interviews with its founders. It also reveals the troubles and triumphs experienced by many of its members, whose numbers have grown from just over 50 to more than 500 in a few short years. As the book movingly demonstrates, despite the substantial personal and professional challenges nonbelieving clergy face, for many, a loss of faith has turned out not to be a loss at all--but a gain of newfound community, self-respect, and honesty with themselves and others.
650			_aReligion-Spirituality
700	1		_aRichard Dawkins (Foreword by)
999			_c10145 _d10145