Ratings2
Average rating3.5
A healing antidote to our divisive culture, full of evocative storytelling, spiritual wisdom, and nine essential daily practices—by the first female, Black senior minister at the historic Collegiate Churches of New York “Fierce Love teaches us that with spiritual faith we can transcend the darkest moments and come through stronger.”—Gabrielle Bernstein, #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Universe Has Your Back We are living in a world divided. Race and ethnicity, caste and color, gender and sexuality, class and education, religion and political party have all become demographic labels that reduce our differences to simplistic categories in which “we” are vehemently against “them.” But Rev. Dr. Jacqui Lewis’s own experience—of being the first female and first Black minister in her church’s history, of being in an interracial marriage, and of making peace with childhood abuse—illustrates that our human capacity for empathy and forgiveness is the key to reversing these ugly trends. Inspired by the tenets of ubuntu—the Zulu philosophy that we are each impacted by the circumstances that impact those around us, and that the world won’t get better until we all get better—Fierce Love lays out the nine daily practices for breaking through tribalism and engineering the change we seek. From downsizing our emotional baggage to speaking truth to power to fueling our activism with joy, it demonstrates the power of small, morally courageous steps to heal our own lives, our posse, and our larger communities. Sharing stories that trace her personal reckoning with racism as well as the arc of her journey to an inclusive and service-driven faith, Dr. Lewis shows that kindness, compassion, and inclusive thinking are muscles that can be exercised and strengthened. With the goal of mending our inextricable human connection, Fierce Love is a manifesto for all generations: a bighearted, healing antidote to our rancorous culture.
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There's a certain tension in the presentation of Fierce Love; I get the impression that Rev. Dr. Lewis wanted to write a memoir of certain spiritually significant events in her life, but the publisher requested certain changes in organization and presentation so that the book could be marketed as “self-help,” which it really isn't. Certain passages of the book, about formative moments in Lewis' journey and how they influenced her mature theology, were immensely pleasurable. The “self-help” elements (the specific organization of chapters, the important pieces of text repeated verbatim in a different font, and the redundancy of certain concepts throughout) seem a bit out of place but are fortunately not too distracting. I recommend this book for those interested in Lewis' life and work.
AUDIOBOOK
This book focused on the principle of Ubuntu - “I Am Because We Are” and love conquers all.
It taught me how to love yourself, your posse, and the world. She is a Christian pastor and mentions scripture, but her focus is inclusive love. No matter what your faith is, we can all agree that we need more love in the world. I liked how this book was so relevant - it was released in the past few years and references the COVID shutdown, racial discrimination, and spiritual divide. This book encouraged me to reflect on my own religious beliefs - do I take the bible too literally, do I love first, do my actions reflect the self-less love of Jesus.
Overall, this book was good and I would recommend it. It emphasizes how love could solve all the injustice in the world. A very beautiful story.
I am hoping to read more books that share the struggles of racism, inequality, and injustice.