Hurt and Healed by the Church

Redemption and Reconstruction After Spiritual Abuse

De: Ryan George

Narrado por: Ryan George

What would you do if you learned—from a podcast—that your dad (a pastor) was a serial sexual abuser?

For Ryan George, this isn't a hypothetical question. He knew the faces behind the stories he heard. In fact, his mind flashed with memories of the abuse he'd endured from that same pastor as he listened to news that would change his life. In time, as he processed the destruction rampant in the cult of his youth, he found predatory behavior to be more of a feature than a bug of his former religion as both abuse and coverups were baked into its theology.

Rather than spiral into an understandable deconstruction of his faith, Ryan instead leaned into the intimate embrace of a winsome Jesus. Hurt and Healed by the Church details how he untangled Jesus from the harmful tenets of American fundamentalism. Ryan describes the mental shifts and the restorative relationships he experienced on his journey of healing from church trauma and spiritual manipulation. If you are someone looking to heal church hurt—by leaders or institutions—Ryan shows how rebuilding your faith doesn't have to look like abandonment. He offers hope and inspiration through his story of an unorthodox redemption.

If Ryan could find a thriving and contagious faith after experiencing deep church wounds, so can you.

©2023 Ryan George (P)2023 Biplane Productions, Inc.

Important Perspective on "Deconstruction"

NOTE: The recorded version could use some edits—there are a few places the words just get cut off, but that does not take away from the overall performance—Ryan does an excellent job.

I love this book’s heart of reconstruction as opposed to deconstruction. Most of us have not suffered under a church leader like the author's father, but many of us carry wounds inflicted by the church or other religious atmospheres.

For those in that situation, there is much comfort and encouragement in this book. Sometimes, the author’s snark bothered me, but I understand he is still working through things, and even he admits that he will probably wish he had said things differently in 10 years.

Still, one has to applaud him for writing this much-needed book. He really does a very thorough job of describing his specific situation in such a way that it can apply to others’ experiences as well. There is hope and healing without deconstructing our faith and leaving it that way.

Must read for those with IFB connections

If you were raised in the IFB church culture like author Ryan George and I were, if you are currently in the IFB culture, or if you know someone in the IFB culture, this is a must read. It will validate those experiences you might be afraid to speak out loud. It will challenge the rhetoric that is ingrained in you. Hopefully it will draw you closer to the true God instead of the one yelled about in IFB pulpits. I enjoyed the author reading the book as you can hear in his voice how he feels about what he has written. Definitely recommend.