Becky Garrison – författare

A challenge has been issued on matters of faith and Becky Garrison meets it head on in this witty yet poignant answer to the Anti-God gurus Richard Dawkins, Sam Harris, and Daniel Dennett.Becky Garrison, religious satirist and senior contributing editor for The Wittenberg Door, is taking a stand. Where most Christians assume the character of the Cowardly Lion chanting, "I do believe, I do believe, I do believe," Garrison refuses to simply thrust tracts at these self-proclaimed infidels.Instead, Garrison steels her pen and takes on the ungodly program of the New Atheists, skewering each argument with her sharp satiric wit. Garrison turns aside the atheists'' assault without ignoring its real criticisms, namely, the church''s inadequate response to war, evolution, medical ethics, social justice, and other important issues in the post-9/11 world.

In Roger Williams's Little Book of Virtues, religion writer Becky Garrison delves into the life of her eleventh/twelfth great-grandfather to uncover the untold story behind this forgotten pioneer of religious liberty. Employing a format reminiscent of How Proust Can Change Your Life and The Little Book of Atheist Spirituality, Garrison examines Roger Williams's work through the lens of the four classical virtues, which, as she observes, define values that have an almost universal consensus regardless of one's particular belief system. How can Roger Williams's life and ministry shed light on the role of the citizens in a global pluralized world? Garrison asks why this conversation focusing on the role of religion in public life got relegated to moralists like William J. Bennett, who crafted a fundamentalist rulebook that views these virtues through a very strict black-and-white lens. In this age of horizontal social media, what prevents people from standing up to these modern-day Goliaths and taking away their media megaphone? Here Garrison sees hope in the rise of the "e;nones"e; who, like Williams, follow their own spiritual path and create spaces that embrace women, POC, LGBT folks, and others marginalized by the institutional church.

The alternative worship/emergent church movement has been underway in various incarnations throughout the UK for over twenty years, and has impacted the U.S. evangelical community since the 1990s. However, these influences are just now beginning to emerge within the mainline liturgical churches. What impact do these new ways of worshiping God have on the contemporary mainline church? Rising From the Ashes engages these questions through interwoven oral history-style interviews with people in mainline churches who are doing outside-the-box ministries and are at the forefront of exploring what it means to "be" the church in the 21st century. Critics of the emergent church movement are also included.

Fresh expressions of church may offer a fresh take on ancient Anglican tradition and worship. But what difference are they making for the people who call them their church home?Journalist and religion commentator Becky Garrison spent a year visiting US based mission-shaped ministries. Where most books focus on the pioneers who founded these congregations, Garrison shifts to focus on the people on the ground: what drew them to the community, why they come back and how they understand themselves to be “church.” In the process, she reveals wisdom around evangelism, Christian formation and discipleship that every congregation can use to flourish in this postmodern age.