"Where human frailty once served as a reason for me to withdraw from the church, with its unruly and divergent congregants, this is now what compels me back to spiritual community. I had overlooked one essential factor—that I am as finite and flawed as everyone else."
—Carmen Renee Berry

Carmen Renee Berry wants to help those who, like her, once dismissed the church in cynicism, but are now reconsidering it in their search for spiritual community. In The Unauthorized Guide to Choosing a Church (Brazos, 2003), she offers an easy-to-use, sometimes irreverent, hitchhiker's guide to the mottled landscape of American Christianity. She examines some 30 denominations, describing in simple terms each tradition's heritage and habits so that the curious can "sort through the liturgy, lingo, and lunacy" of choosing a church.

When you were distanced from the church, what prompted your return? A good friend committed suicide. Though he attended church, he had grown cynical. I shared his attitude, ...