This is one of the most open-hearted books I’ve ever read. Jonathan Martin lovingly addresses the ones struggling with the church or their faith—whether their personal experience has been confusion, hurt, betrayal, or abandonment… And he comes alongside them with grace and understanding.

He unpacks the themes of the Emmaus Road, the prodigal son, and the last supper, sharing insights about the character of God as revealed in Scripture and in his own lived experience. He reminds the reader that faith is a very personal experience, and that God is not threatened by the valleys of our faith—He walks them with us.

This book is written for the disillusioned and the disappointed. And while I wouldn’t agree with Martin on every point all the time, I think the key takeaway is that God is present in all of it.

The Road Away from God has been sitting in my to-be-reviewed pile for a while. I think I was sent the review request around the time I was reading Christianity Without Dogma and when I finished it I just couldn't pick up another book in that might also be part of the deconstruction movement. If I had paid attention the tag line for this book, I might have felt different - How Love Finds Us Even as We Walk Away. But then again, I also believe all things happen in God's timing so now may be the time God intended for me to read this book.

I find it interesting that the last sermon of 2023 at my church was on Luke 24 the same passage Martin uses to demonstrate how what might seem like walking away from God is actually a step to a closer relationship with Him.

If you have been hurt by the church, feel disillusioned by the church, feel like God isn't listening, or just feel like you have outgrown the church you've grown up in, then read this book and you may find hope and understanding. If you are feeling called away from something good, then read this book and you may discover God is calling to something better. If you think someone you love has walked away from God, then read this book and you may gain insights that will help you meet them on the road they are walking.

Martin brings to life Luke 24 allowing for deeper insights into the passage and how God is still walking with you even if you feel hopeless and want to walk away from Him. Martin highlights other passages to back up what he is saying. Like I had never thought about how in the parable of the prodigal son no one goes looking for him unlike the two parables that follow it - the parable of the lost sheep and the parable of the lost talent. My mind was a little blown by the reason.

I really liked what Martin had to say and even though I'm not currently in a crisis of faith or thinking about walking away from God, I still feel hopeful after reading this book as I struggle with the Christianity of today and how some people have taken what is beautiful and lovely and twisted for their own gain. I wonder if he has a podcast or recorded sermons that I can listen to online.

No matter where you are on your faith journey, you will find yourself learning something and may just find what you are looking for with this book.

My review will be published at Girl Who Reads on Monday, January 8 - https://www.girl-who-reads.com/2024/01/the-road-away-from-god-by-jonathan.html

In 'The Road Away from God', Jonathan Martin unpacks a familiar story from Luke 24. Weaving together his own personal story with encouragement, insight, and imaginative story-telling, this book invited me to see an old story in a new light. If you've felt disillusioned or disappointed, if you've been hurt by church leadership or friends who share your faith, Martin offers compassion, hope, and food for thought in these pages.

The story of the two friends on the road to Emmaus is the basis of this book, reflecting how most of us are on or will find ourselves on a journey away from things that hurt, confuse and bring anger, and can leave us feeling isolated and abandoned. Ultimately, what can feel like a journey away from God.

Jonathan Martin’s view is that even at our most isolated, we are never alone: as the author puts it, “You can choose whatever path you need to, wherever it might lead you. But you can’t choose to walk it alone, no matter how hard you try.”

'The Road Away From God' is an honest, insightful and lyrical book that feels very timely, at a point where, even if God is not distant, we often feel ostracised by religion and church and that we are moving away from him.

It is thankfully not another book of ‘deconstruction’, where we are invited to throw away the parts of Christianity that are difficult, so much as a story of how to see our place in the world and our place in God’s plan. Its message is that no matter if we feel like we are alone on a desolate road, we are exactly where we are intended to be.

I appreciate Jonathan Martin's curiosity and humility as he writes and this was no exception. He offers gentle companionship for those who don't feel like they fit in the church the same way or are deconstructing in some form or another. I definitely resonated with much of what he shared, but thought this book would be better suited for someone who hasn't done much processing or feels confused or more lonely in that process. I don't think I realized how much processing I have done in my own thinking about church & what doesn't fit anymore until I read this. I am grateful for the space Jonathan Martin offers & how he normalizes the process of deconstructing and doubt in faith.

I felt that this book was a great insight into religious deconstruction and coming to terms with your faith when you feel abandoned by your religion. I've seen some reviews stating that it was too political, and to those reviewers I say that they missed a lot of the point.

People are leaving the church now more than ever because the two have become intimately intertwined in many areas.

I did find parts of this book to be repetitive, making it a slow read in some parts, but overall, I thought the raw look at what it is like to deconstruct and find God again to be refreshing.

Before picking up this book, I didn't know much about the author. As I began reading The Road Away from God, I got curious about the author when some things seemed questionable in his writing. Jonathan Martin is a pastor of a church and upon seeing their website it says they affirm the Apostles Creed. Further into the 2-minute scroll, I discovered that Martin is fairly liberal/progressive. It all began to make sense seeing how this book included a lot about deconstruction.
I often say you can't judge a book by its cover but you can judge it by its endorsements. That should have been a red flag before I even began reading.
As someone who holds to more conservative and orthodox Christian beliefs, The Road Away from God isn't a book that I would recommend to anyone outside of research and understanding, and only to people with great discernment.

This book, titled The Road Away from God, written by Jonathan Martin, is probably my favorite Christian, Bible-based book of all time. It is on a whole different level above that of such authors as Joyce Meyer and Joel Osteen, whose books I have also read.

Martin focuses on quite a few Biblical stories as he argues that God never leaves us. No matter what or where the journey is that we find ourselves on, God is always with us. There were so many powerful quotes throughout this book.

Martin made me look at some stories in the Bible in ways that I had never seen them before. Not only that, but Martin writes so eloquently that it is impossible to feel like he’s speaking right to the reader. The writing in this book is absolutely beautiful, something I have never seen in a book that is written about the Bible, or God, for that matter. The writing made me want more and more, and I was sad the book was over.

I am a changed person having read this book. Even in the book, Martin argues that, along the journey, we learn and we are never the same person as we were before. I am so grateful I read this book, as I learned so much about my personal journey and God.

I easily rate this book 5 out of 5 stars. Thank you to Jonathan Martin (the author), NetGalley and Baker Books (the publisher) for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review. -Chelsea K. Reviewer

The Road Away From God is a very approachable narrative of one man's spiritual journey. The author has a lovely writing style and I found myself highlighting many statements so that I could go back and ponder them at a later date.
I am always drawn to stories of spiritual quests and Jonathan Martin hooked me right away with the tale of the travelers to Emmaus. It is indeed comforting to know that we dont walk alone, even if we are not aware of our companion. I did feel, however, that beyond that, much of the ponderings became a bit repetitive. It is apparent that the author speaks from experience about grief and loss in his faith communities. He remains hopeful and encouraging to his readers who may be struggling to find their home.
I didn't particularly want to hear details about his discontent, and it appears the political component may have turned off other readers. For everyone who leaves a church, there are that many reasons why. However, this was undoubtedly therapeutic for him and perhaps for other marginalized readers.

Thank you to NetGalley and Baker books for this ARC of The Road Away From God by Jonathan Martin.

The Road Away from God
How Love Finds Us Even as We Walk Away
by Jonathan Martin
Pub Date 07 Jun 2022
Baker Books
Christian


I am reviewing a copy of The Road Away From God: How Love Finds Us Even As We Walk Away through Baker Books and Netgalley:



Disentangling the good news of the gospel from the toxic theologies that have rendered Jesus unrecognizable is no easy journey . There’s no wonder many have walked away from the Church.





The Road Away from God is Jonathan Martin’s reimagining of Luke's story of two disillusioned disciples walking the Emmaus road away from the holy city where they had watched their hope die a gruesome death right before their eyes.




This book is for anyone who has felt their Faith come apart, for those who are reckoning with the religious trauma they have dealt with, or for those walking the long road of deconstruction. Martin speaks compassionate hope into the journey of today's disillusioned disciples, revealing that the resurrected Christ is profoundly present with them even on what seems to be the road away from God.



I give The Road Away from God five out of five stars!



Happy Reading!

When I read the synopsis of this book, I immediately felt seen and knew this was something I wanted to read. While I didn’t agree with every point the author made, I really felt like someone had summed up my emotional turmoil concerning my faith community.


A few things I loved:

⁃ I really felt understood. Without steering away from a review and delving into my own personal spiritual ideologies, I appreciated the author’s perspectives on the relationship/conflict between the American Christian church as a generalized community and the world.
⁃ The idea that God is there on whatever road you’re on, and walking on a path leading away from a bad experience doesn’t necessarily mean you’re walking away from God.
⁃ The author’s deconstruction and reconstruction of his own belief system was raw and vulnerable, and I imagine he’s had to deal with quite a bit of backlash from those who strive to uplift the status quo.


Something I wished:

⁃ There was a lot of repetition, and while some of it was good to hit home on a specific thought or idea, it got to be a bit much. This also made the book drag in a few places.


There are definitely some points that I’m not so sure about, and a few I don’t agree with, but overall this book really made me think and reflect a lot on my own faith. I can definitely appreciate the journey the author has gone on, and this book has encouraged me quite a bit as I travel my own road!

This is one of those rare bits of literature that simply gives you the permission to be you. A book like this brings peace in letting you know that you are allowed to be where you are at, and you are loved no matter where that may be.

As someone who is a bit in-between religion at the moment, it's comforting to find peace in words like this, and it's eye opening to see how an open discussion like the ones within these pages might help others on their journeys as well.

The Road Away from God was published in June 2022. Thank you to Baker Books, Netgalley and the author for the ARC.

Interesting if a bit repetitive. I found some gems among Jonathan Martin's book, but I felt it could have been shorter. He talks about how God is really with you as you are walking "away" from Him due to some kind of disappointment with religion. You may feel like your faith is shattered, but really it is that God has called you to do some seeking and He will be with you along the way.

I do recommend it as one of the few books that deals head-on with the disappointments or breaks you might be having during a time of crisis in your church life.

This was a different way to look at God. The author examines how we find God and what does them journey means. He uses the story of. The road to Ephesus as an example for his book and the basis for his story. I found the book a good read and inspirational. I recommend this book for religious readers.

Jonathan writes about the deconstruction of faith, but too many of his thoughts are based on assumptions that don’t hold up for me. I think his premise has more to do with the deconstruction of the church as an organization than with faith in the gospel and biblical truth. He shares his thoughts and what he has seen in people he has encountered. This certainly stirred my thinking but perhaps not as it has for other readers.

I read this book to help me see the perspective of friends deconstructing their faith. It was eye-opening and even though I haven’t walked this road personally, I resonated with a lot of what the author had to say.

Things I loved:
- the idea that God is on the road with you no matter where you are.
-the perspective of someone who has walked the path of deconstructing their faith and reconstructing it.

Things I wasn’t a fan of:
-it seemed a little long…. I would have been happy if it had ended a couple of chapters sooner.
-I didn’t agree with everything the author said, but I still definitely agree with the main points.

Every now and then, if you are lucky, you will have an encounter that resonates with your soul and you weep for the beauty now revealed.

Reading this book was one of those encounters for me, and I was totally not expecting that. To begin with, I didn't pick up the book for myself, I picked up the book because I wanted to be able to reach the “unchurched” who no longer feel that my Church is a spiritually safe home … and this book is absolutely aimed at those people, but the advice here was not the answer I was searching for. Ultimately this reimagining of the “Road to Emmaus” story in Luke re-affirms the idea that regardless of the reason they left and whatever road they are on, they are right where they are supposed to be. Sometimes that is hard to take when you are the one left behind … and that is where this book hit me.

I have never really had a “crisis of faith” that would set me adrift to wander the “Godforsaken Road” to Emmaus. In fact, I come from a family with generations of preachers, teachers and missionaries that helped create a rock solid faith foundation. And while I have changed church traditions, I never really considered myself as the target audience … because when all is said and done … I stayed. In fact, by seeking ordination, you could say that I even doubled down on the place so many now find it impossible to stay in. Imagine my surprise when one of the vignettes profiles a woman that “has not walked away from her faith, but she has had to walk away from some of the spaces that once seemed to nature it.” <— Yeah … that is me looking back from the mirror. What is more … I found the pain and grief that many of my friends and family have also encountered in the Church that prompted them to “walk away.” Until now … I had always felt it was my mission to help bring them back when perhaps it would have been better to walk with them on the their Road to Emmaus instead. In short … I have a new perspective on dealing with the “people in the margins” where we can find the true Christ.

However, if you have trouble seeing these “people in the margins” and understanding their pain … this book is not for you. In the very first chapter, under the subheading of “What Sent You on the Road?” Martin introduces to a woman just coming to terms with her experience of sexual assault when the preacher decides to makes an impassioned defense of then Brett Kavanaugh along the lines of dismissing any concerns under the idea that the righteous are often falsely accused … if you are a partisan on either side, you have likely already formed your opinion about the author’s political views at this point … and you would have completely missed the point the author was trying to make. There is no opinion and condemnation of Kavanaugh here … instead you find a woman who feels that her own experiences, that color her world view, are irrelevant and were callously discarded by a pastor who job it was to minister to the broken. In other words, we the Church failed! Instead of answering Christ’s call to Love, we forced people to pick a side … so regardless if you have left to wander your own road (or if like me you have stayed despite the flaws), “Just keep on following the voice of Love. Don’t let the louder voices into your head. Don’t give in to the panic. Don’t let anybody else establish the terms.” You are exactly where you are supposed to be.

<Spoiler>

Chapter 1. The Road Called Godforsaken
Chapter 2. God on the Road Away from God
Chapter 3. When the Story Gets Too Small
Chapter 4. Your Pain in Real
Chapter 5. It’s Good to Be a Fan
Chapter 6. The Moment of Recognition
Chapter 7. People of the Burning Heart
Chapter 8. The Way Home
Chapter 9. What Had Happened on the Road

</Spoiler>

I was given this free advance review copy (ARC) ebook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.
#TheRoadAwayFromGod #NetGalley.

This got too political for me. I couldn’t keep reading. Especially because it wasn’t marketed as having a political bent. Perhaps it’s my fault for not being more aware of the author. But discussing Bret Kavanaugh and January 6th was a turn off.

This book would be greatly comforting for those who feel they have walked away from their faith in God. Who doubt their faith or their place within the church. Who maybe have had a difficult time with religion and don't know what they believe anymore.

I was drawn to this book because of the title. Because I've had that difficulty within a church setting after my divorce. The fallout was the church my ex-huband and I attended no longer accepting me as I was the "responsible" party, It didn't help that he lied to everyone to make himself look better and that no one even asked me my point of view. I was seen as responsible. Done and dusted.

It took me years to come to the same conclusion Jonathan points us to in this book. No matter the road we take, God is always with us. His comment that "sometimes we have to leave the house of God in order to encounter God in the wild" made my cry. Even though that wilderness experience was a while ago for me.

There was much else that made me cry. And nod my head. And cry some more.

If you are in a difficult situation. Don't know how your faith will survive, don't know how you will survive, read this book. It might just help you encounter God once again.