What impresses me most about this remarkable book is its absolute clarity. You don’t have to be a theologian to understand this book, you don’t have to be a Christian—you just have to be a thoughtful and open-minded human being who wants to have a richer, deeper, more meaningful life. Jacqueline Bussie not only tells us what we need to do, but she also illustrates what we need to do with marvelous examples from her life, her teaching, and the lives and experiences of her students. The final chapter on hope is absolutely stunning in its concreteness. If Sir Thomas More was “the man for all seasons,” then this is “the book for all seasons.”–Tony Abbott, Professor Emeritus of English, Davidson College. Author of The Angel Dialogues and winner of the 2015 North Carolina Award in Literature.

Reading Outlaw Christian was like having a late-night conversation with a dear friend. The experience is filled with deep confessions, refreshing honesty and new grace. I hope readers take away the same thing I did — a rekindled love for the God who finds us and frees us.–Sarah Thebarge, author of The Invisible Girls

While this is a Christian book, its gifts are available to anyone who has ever wrestled with the seemingly impossible task of making sense of suffering, loss, evil, inequity, and loneliness—including atheists like me. Reading Dr. Bussie’s call to reject clichés and sit with uncertainty, I found myself hoping this book makes its way into the hands of every Christian who has ever had their questions or pain shut down by a platitude or an easy answer. –Chris Stedman, author of Faitheist and Executive Director of the Yale Humanist Community

I served as a parish pastor for twenty five years. Walking with my people in times of crisis and deep pain I came to realize that some of their deepest struggles were not about loss nor about making sense out of what had happened, but finding the space within themselves and within their faith communities to speak honestly and openly about their doubt and anger toward God. Now Jacqueline Bussie, a theologian of the church, shares her experience and gives voice to all who have been caught in the belief that doubt is faithlessness and anger toward God is blasphemy. Quite the opposite, Dr. Bussie argues, doubt and anger are real expressions of a living faith. Outlaw Christian might break the rules but it opens up the possibility of deeper faith. –The Rev. Elizabeth A. Eaton, Presiding Bishop, Evangelical Lutheran Church in America

There’s nothing fluffy about this book. It is raw, sassy, and from the heart. Bussie reminds us that God is not scared of our doubts, fears, and darkness — but God even experienced them in Jesus. This is a fresh invitation to the faith for skeptics, doubters, seekers, and even folks who like that old-time-religion. Become an outlaw Christian. God likes holy rebels.–Shane Claiborne, author of The Irresistible Revolution, Jesus for President, and the new book Executing Grace

Dr. Jacqueline Bussie has written this book for those Christians who crave the honest Gospel, stripped of deceptive prettiness and unreal promises; one that acknowledges our pain, welcomes our doubts, legitimizes our anger and insists that only when we are able to witness to the entire truth of our lives can we truly understand what the Good News means for us and for the world. Outlaw Christian invites us to step out of bounds again and again in search of an authentic faith with the end result being that we encounter our most authentic self. –Paul Raushenbush, Huffington Post Executive Editor of Global Spirituality and Religion

Bussie advocates being honest, expressing anger to God, lamenting, telling authentic sacred stories, and always questioning–in the good company of the psalmist, Mother Theresa, and Jesus. She grounds her excellent exegeses of Job and Thomas in a scholar’s study and provides a scofflaw’s authentic insights. Bussie writes with poetry, pathos, and pepper as she cheerleads for breaking “faith-laws.” –Publisher’s Weekly Starred Review