Shameless

Listener Reviews

1. 5.0(1)

   A breath of fresh air

   Growing up & living in the south is often suffocating with the manipulation that our “bible buckle” churches drown us in. So nice to have somebody finally say “The emperor had no clothes” and have the theological chops to back it up. Thank you Rev Nadia!

   Maia Cooley · May 14, 2023

2. 5.0(1)

   Water

   Oh, Nadia. She seems to have a way of preaching that (and I’m speaking of “preaching” in the Christian Evangelist sense not just in general) not only inspires but also embodies. She speaks to flesh and spirit in the voice of a healer, a mother, a friend. Shameless is a prime example of this but carte blanche; absolutely liberated. The book speaks bluntly and rather crudely at times about sex and sexuality particularly as experienced by western Christians. It tackles the difficulty experienced by the faithful in terms of living in their bodies in a holistic way without denying the needs and desires of the body. She’s not calling for some orgy-like free-for-all a’la the hippie movement but an honest, and reflective look into how the church and culture overall contribute to our relationships with our sexual bodies, with sensuality and our relationship with pleasure. The spirit of reformation is found in how she approaches the church’s ministerial role in regards to the human as a being of desire as one that should be able to listen and adjust per person, per soul. That this should be undertaken with love and understanding, with acceptance of who and they are, how they relate to the physical world and affirmation instead of rejection, do condemnation and “othering”. Nadia invites Christians to reflect upon what doctrines, traditions and scriptural interpretation, exegesis and pastoral hermeneutics that may have been, and are actively causing damage in the psychosexual sense to people; tackling the root cause of these damaging and teachings and offering a new perspective based on an orthodox understanding of Christ and scripture combined with what we know today in regards to psychology and a healthier understanding of human sexuality. Through stories and anecdotes she preaches an idea of a church that not only seeks to expose its harmful teachings and change them under the guidance of the holy spirit but one that also seeks to expose the reparative and healing nature of relationship with Christ in regards to the true self, body and soul, naked and unafraid before God. It’s like cool water for the soul that suffers in the body. For people like myself, an lgbtq+ Christian who’s suffered from harmful teachings spouted by the church as true and inspired it’s absolutely refreshing to read Nadia’s words here. There’s an analogy she makes in the book with sexual minorities of faith and crops in a garden planted furthest from a watering sprinkler in how the church only seems to acknowledge cisgender heterosexual peoples bodies as sacred and worthy of sexual expression solely in the confines of sacramental marriage and all others who don’t or can’t fit into that category are not only shamed for their sexuality identities, gender orientations and the like but who’s desires connected to said identities/orientations are “sinful” and therefore the only way to truly be acceptable in the church as sexual beings is for them to deny themselves and try to force themselves into a cisgender heterosexual identity in order to have a place in the church, concluding that the only way they can see themselves as sacred and having dignity whilst expressing their sexual desires is to either be inside of a cisgender heterosexual sacramental marriage or to not have them at all not in the form of monastic, clerical or otherwise spiritual celibacy but a sort of forced utilitarian celibacy that operates as a symbolic castration. Thusly these people are ignored, unwatered by the sprinkler as the goal post for acceptable embodiment is moved away. The book offers itself as water to those who are excluded in this way and invites for others in the church to do the same.

   Devan Clarke · February 16, 2022

3. 5.0(1)

   Changed my life.

   This book changed my life. If you're just the tiniest bit interested, I would highly recommend it.

   Robert Moses · June 24, 2021

4. 5.0(1)

   I'm currently finishing this in a forest alone.

   I need to listen to this again and again. This past year and a half, I've struggled to find Christ in anything. Friends, he is here. Thank you for this book.

   Adrian Stuart · June 17, 2021

5. 5.0(1)

   Liberating

   I was so surprised by how deeply this book affected me. I found myself driving around LA, listening and crying and audibly talking back like I was in church. For anyone who grew up in fundamentalism, I know this book will liberate you. Thank you Nadia.

   Jayme Paul · March 7, 2021

6. 5.0(1)

   will take time to digest...

   Wow. This book will take some time to digest. I'm in the middle of thinking deeply about many things (people seem to call this "deconstruction") and I am not confident I "agree" with every word or claim in this book...but agreeing isn't really the point of the journey. It is most certainly written by a Pastor and hearing it read by the Pastor herself was a special experience. Nadia clearly cares deeply for her congregation and for the extension of her congregation...her readers. Give it a listen if you want to experience what it's like to be seen/heard/loved. That's how I felt.

   Tianna Kerr · November 2, 2020

7. 5.0(1)

   This was worth it

   This book was transformative. It was powerful, and I’m definitely going to read this again.

   Trinity Teague · October 21, 2020

8. 5.0(1)

   Healing the Hurt of THE Church!

   A must-teach text for all churches to adopt. 'Bout damn time, too. Timely for inclusivity needs in the United Methodist Church, increasing abortion restrictions, reformation needs in the Catholic and the Southern Baptist Churches, and for anyone who knows God is LOVE but didn't know that churches that don't preach this first and foremost missed the mark, and that there are ones that do and that will accept you - as you are, because namaste everyone. We are ALL children of God.

   Phoebe Bowers · June 8, 2019