Non-Fiction by Eve
Tenderness: A Gay Christian's Guide to Unlearning Rejection and Experiencing God's Extravagant Love
What would happen if gay Christians began to believe the truth about God—that he loves all people unconditionally?
In Tenderness, Catholic writer and speaker Eve Tushnet says trusting God’s love would be the beginning of a transformation, not only in the lives of gay Christians but also in the Body of Christ itself. She offers hope and companionship to those who have been deeply hurt by their parishes, a wound that also damaged their relationship with God. Tushnet also offers practical guidance from her own journey as a celibate lesbian.
Tenderness explores scripture and history to find role models for gay Christians—including Jesus, King David, Ruth, St. John, Mary, poets, mystics, penitents, leaders, and ordinary gay people who have found unexpected paths of love. The book also offers guidance on living through or recovering from the painful experiences that are all too common in gay Christian life—from familial rejection and weaponized Christianity to ambivalence and doubt. Weaving her own story with resources, prayers, and practical actions that can help gay people trust that God loves them, Tushnet renews our understandings of kinship, friendship, celibacy and unmarried life, ordered love, personal integrity, solidarity with the marginalized, obedience, surrender, sanctification, and hope.
This book is primarily for gay Christians, but it also offers a window into their experiences and needs that will make it useful for anyone in pastoral care or who wants to be a better friend to the gay people they know.
Gay and Catholic: Accepting My Sexuality, Finding Community, Living My Faith
Eve Tushnet was among the unlikeliest of converts. Raised in a mostly secular Jewish household, Tushnet was a typical Yale undergraduate until the day she went out to poke fun at a gathering of philosophical debaters, including a few Catholics. Instead of enjoying mocking what she termed the “zoo animals,” she found herself engaged in intellectual conversation with them and, in a move that surprised even her, she soon converted to Catholicism. Already out of the closet as a lesbian, Tushnet searched for a third way in the seeming two-option system available to gay Catholics: reject Church teaching on homosexuality or reject the truth of your sexuality. Gay and Catholic: Accepting My Sexuality, Finding Community, Living My Faith is the fruit of Tushnet’s searching: what she learned in studying Christian history and theology about how gay Catholics can give and receive love, in intimate friendship, devoted service, and caring community.
Winner of a 2015 Catholic Press Award: Gender Issues Category (First Place)
Christ’s Body, Christ’s Wounds: Staying Catholic When You’ve Been Hurt in the Church
In every church--in every pew, it sometimes seems--there is someone who has been deeply hurt in the Catholic Church. And yet these people find themselves coming to church, wondering if anybody else can understand their experiences, their questions, and their needs. This book brings together twelve authors who describe the pain they've experienced in Catholic institutions--and the pathways they've found to healing and renewed faith. In poetry, memoir, pastoral guidance, and practical advice, these authors explore issues ranging from racism to sexual abuse to gossip and judgment. They offer support and encouragement to all those for whom the church has been a place of harm as well as holiness.
"Eve Tushnet has collected stories from Catholics who, like Paul are 'completing what is lacking in Christ's afflictions' for the sake of his body, the Church. Each of the essayists is pierced, like Christ, by the very people who were called to welcome and love them and, through Christ, they endure what seems unendurable and accept healing and transfiguration. Required reading for all those called to love their neighbor (i.e. all of us)."
--Leah Libresco, Author of Arriving at Amen
Fiction by Eve
Punishment: A Love Story
A lesbian parolee re-integrates into life in DC in a dark comedy about the dangers and delights of humiliation.
Desiree Schulman is home from federal prison—almost.
Set in the shadow of the 2016 election, Punishment is a story about all the ways we surrender: the ridiculous ways and the sublime ways and the sad sordid ways; the ways which damage us and the ways which may, if we’re lucky, heal us.
Amends: A Novel
A month in rehab would be stressful enough without a television audience. When the ramshackle cast checks in for “Amends,” a new reality series about alcoholism and recovery, they don’t know if they’ve been cast as villains or potential redemption arcs. Over the course of the show they learn what God sees when he shuts his eyes, how to appreciate the comforts of hallucination, and what it looks like when a wolf fights a troll. A conservative journalist woos a homeless Ethiopian visionary. A teen hockey star licks a human heart. And a collections agent pays some of his own oldest and saddest debts. From backhanded compliments to accidental forgiveness, “Amends” proves that there’s a place you can go when you’ve given up on reality: reality TV.
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