RealLivePreacher.com

RealLivePreacher.com


RealLivePreacher.com
by Gordon Atkinson
Eerdmans
144 pp., $14.00

Baptist pastor Gordon Atkinson wanted a place to pen his musings without worrying about what anyone thought. He found the perfect venue in a weblog he created anonymously at www.RealLivePreacher.com.

There his no-holds-barred essays about life and faith caught the attention of hundreds of people. The website posted numerous comments from readers about Atkinson's blend of passionate love for Christ mingled with a fierce skepticism. It's not difficult to see why Atkinson's postings created a virtual community.

His fresh prose is by turns funny and poignant, bone-scraping raw, and surprisingly profane. He writes about whatever is on his mind that day—the women in his Texas town who make tamales ("some of the most Christ-like people I know"); his grief over the death of a premature baby; standing awestruck under the constellations; listening to a hymn.

He takes the occasional easy potshot, but in spite of such disappointments, the bulk of his writing is compassionate and thought-provoking.

Readers may object to Atkinson's profanity and some of his theology, but there are beautiful glimpses of the Christian life within the pages of this book.

Related Elsewhere:

An interview with "Real Live Preacher" Gordon Atkinson is also posted today.

Read RealLivePreacher at Salon.com.

Aktinkson talks about the blogosphere on Christopher Lydon's blog .

Selected quotes from Real Live Preacher are available from the Quotationspage.com.

RealLivePreacher.com is available from Christianbook.com and other book retailers.

More information is available from the publisher.

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