Holy Unhappiness

God, Goodness, and the Myth of the Blessed Life

De: Amanda Held Opelt

Narrado por: Amanda Held Opelt

Discover what it means to be blessed and challenge the false beliefs many in the church hold about “the good life” and what it means to walk in communion with God.

American Christians have developed a long list of expectations about what the life with God will feel like. Many Christians rightly deny the prosperity gospel—the idea that God wants you to be healthy and wealthy— but instead embrace its more subtle spin-off, the emotional prosperity gospel, or the belief that happiness and spiritual euphoria will inevitably follow if you believe all the right things and make all the right choices. In this view, frustration is deemed unholy, fear is seen as a failure of faith, and sadness is a sign of God’s disfavor.

In Holy Unhappiness, Amanda Held Opelt, author of A Hole in the World, grapples with her own experience of disillusionment when life with God didn’t always feel the way she expected it to feel. She examines some of the historic, religious, and cultural influences that led to the idolization of positive feelings and the marginalization of negative feelings. Unpacking nine elements of life that have been tainted by the message of the emotional Prosperity Gospel – including work, marriage, parenting, calling, community, and church - she points to a new path forward, one that reimagines what the “blessed” life can be like if we release some of our expectations and seek God in places we never thought to look.

This is a book that asks “what good is God?” when he doesn’t always make sorrow go away or soothe every fear. It is a book that explores our aversion to sadness and counts the costs of our unrelenting commitment to optimism. This is a book that insists there is holiness to be found even in our unhappiness.

Settle in for this one, it's great!

This book reflects Opelt's growing wisdom, deep thinking, and beautiful writing. She thoughtfully, respectfully, and lovingly asks hard questions of herself and the church, questions that not every follower of Christ will articulate. Enjoy the journey to a surprising conclusion. Thank you for writing the book we needed!

Truth-full and raw

Enjoyed it all! It was one of the best books I’ve read in a long time.

Special Read

I have had this book for a few months. A friend recommended it so I bought it, and put it on my listen list. It is kind of mind blowing the time of my life that I listened to this. I felt like I was supposed to listen to this book at this moment of my life. Thank you for discussing these topics we don't tend to discuss.

Didn’t love it, but had some good points

Given the title of this book, the fact that I didn’t really enjoy it may be a bit ironic. She had some good points by the time I made my way through most of the book, but I had a hard time liking her and her writing for some reason. It may be her repetitive use of buzz words like “privilege” and “fragility”, which I’m just burned out from after the past few years. She also came off very negative in her sarcasm and sense of humor, especially in the beginning of the book, which I do realize was likely intentional for the flow and growth of her story. Still, the lecturing voice felt tiresome and I grew, well, tired of it. I did appreciate the overall message of the book, however, but also felt the main points of the work were easily summarized in her afterword. 3.5 stars, 4 officially because I’m generous in my ratings.