Spiritual Sobriety: Stumbling Back to Faith When Good Religion Goes Bad by Elizabeth Esther

★★★★✩
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It’s easy to get high on God in America.

But is this good religion?

In a compelling follow-up to her memoir, Girl at the End of the World, Elizabeth Esther explores how religious fervor can become religious addiction. 

The evidence is everywhere. In families who inexplicably choose to harm their children in order to abide by cultic church doctrine. But in ordinary believers too who use God the same way addicts use drugs or alcohol—to numb pain, alter their mood, or simply to escape the realities of this messy, unpredictable thing called life.

If you’ve ever wondered how a religion that preaches freedom and love can produce judgmental and unkind followers; if you’ve ever felt captive to the demanding God of your own childhood; if you’ve struggled to find contentment without needing another emotional hit from a “life-changing” conference or “mountain-top” experience, then Spiritual Sobriety is for you. The author, who grew up in a hyper-controlling church cult, will help you find hope and rebirth in the ruins of disillusioned faith.

Filled with stories and warm, practical advice, Spiritual Sobriety offers a gentle path out of the desperate cycles of craving-euphoria-hangover and into a freer, clean-and-sober faith practice.

Girl at the Edge of the World shared Elizabeth Esther’s experience within and escape from a fundamentalist cult, and now, her Spiritual Sobriety: Stumbling Back to Faith When Good Religion Goes Bad addresses the problem of and recovery from religious addiction. Once again, with honesty and eloquence, stories from her personal experience fill the pages and provide an interesting and eye-opening read regarding faith. Her inclusion of practical advice for the readers also struggling with religious addiction makes Spiritual Sobriety quite thought-provoking (even without complete agreement to the conclusions about faith). Overall, I really enjoyed reading this new book by Elizabeth Esther and recommend it to fans of faith memoirs.

Thanks to Blogging for Books, I received a copy of Spiritual Sobriety and the opportunity to provide an honest review. I was not required to write a positive review, and all the opinions I have expressed are my own.