Sex, Mom, and God

"Kirkus Reviews," 5/15/11"The book shines in sections centered on Edith, a 'life-embracing free spirit'...A consummate memoirist, Schaeffer fills the narrative with interesting anecdotes...The sage conversation on a New York-bound bus with a distraught Asian girl is warmly resonant and a befitting conclusion to...[a] book of ruminations, memories and frustrated opinion.""Booklist," 5/15/11"[A] startlingly honest work, which is part memoir and part religious history...Intriguing fare." "Church of England Newspaper," 5/13/11"Part memoir, part exploration of evangelical views." PoliticusUSA.com, 5/16/11"A work that alternates from heartwarming to thought provoking to laugh out loud funny...Schaeffer brilliantly guides the reader through an exploration of the Bible's strange, intolerant, and sometimes frightening attitudes about sex, and how these Biblical teachings, through the evangelical grassroots of the Republican Party, have come to dominate the GOP stance...Schaeffer's writing style combines intelligence, warmth, humor, depth and insight..."Sex, Mom, and God" is hands down one of the best non-fiction books of the year." "Kirkus Reviews" (website)," "6/1/11"The memoir, the third and last in Schaeffer's God trilogy, unfolds in lucid anecdotal excursions probing the chinks that later became gaping holes in the fundamentalist walls that penned him in." Internet Review of Books, 6/8/11"A fond and sometimes hilarious look back at [Schaeffer's] mother's child-rearing methods and the effect they had on him...Schaeffer's journey demonstrates that the world could be a better place if we were all able to reassess our beliefs and values--to examine them closely and glean only those worth saving." "Library Journal, "6/15/11"Well worth reading, highly entertaining, and very informative about the recent history of American evangelicalism. It will appeal to readers interested in the world today, memoir, or religion." Huffington Post, 6/13/11"Intelligent and easy to read; it transitions smoothly back and forth between story-telling and point-making prose...In his portrayal of Edith Schaeffer, Frank is able to call out the nuttiness of the religious right and to humanize conservative and Evangelical Christians in the same narrative. It is the deft work of a talented writer practicing his craft...It is a bit of wisdom our entire nation--hell, the whole world--needs to hear." RH Reality Check, 6/16/11"Part memoir, part revelation about Evangelical pathology, and part prescription for theological sanity, the book has much to recommend it." Patheos.com, 6/16/11"Offers an insider's glimpse into how fundamentalism became the dominant voice in the U.S. political area." InfoDad.com, 6/16/11"Frequently entertaining." "The Humanist, "July/August 2011"[Schaeffer's] stories aren't just interesting, they're also well told...[He] serves up an intriguing combination that's part sexual memoir and part expose of religious right extremism. It's a strange combination to be sure, but in the hands of a gifted wordsmith like Schaeffer it works." State of Formation, 6/20/11"Part memoir, part theology, and part political commentary...An ambitious undertaking. But "Sex, Mom, and God" did not disappoint. Alternating between laugh-out-loud episodes and poignant reflections, Schaeffer recounts with candor the influence his mother had on both his beliefs and the beliefs of a generation of Evangelicals...His readers--believers and non-believers alike--will be challenged to reconsider their views about politics, sex, and religion." The Daily Beast, 6/24/11"Intriguing...[Schaeffer's] privileged view of the Christian right's sexual weirdness makes his account particularly interesting, and helps explain why the aggressively pious so frequently destroy th

Frank Schaeffer is the author of the New York Times bestseller Keeping Faith and the memoir Crazy for God. His novels, including Portofino, have been translated into nine languages. He has appeared on numerous television and radio shows, including The Oprah Winfrey Show and NPR's Fresh Air, and is a regular contributor to the Huffington Post and AlterNet. He and his wife, Genie, live in Massachusetts and have three children.