Books
The views reflected in these resources may not necessarily align with ours, and we acknowledge that there are many other perspectives out there. However, we want to share a variety of resources that are available to offer different viewpoints and options.
A Shattered Sanctuary: From Fellowship to Freedom - Sam Sellers
"In this raw and real journey, I share the highs, lows, and the twists and turns of my own life. My hope is that as you read, you’ll not only find pieces of yourself mirrored in my words but also feel seen, believed, and valued in your own unique narrative.”
In/Out: A Story of Sex and Religion - Steph Lentz
"In January 2021, Steph Lentz was fired from her job as an English teacher at a Sydney Christian school after she came out as a lesbian.
A hardcore Christian during her teens and twenties, Steph once preached against homosexuality and defended her church's conservative teachings about marriage and sex - that is, until she fell in love with a woman at her church, and her world turned upside-down. Being honest about her sexuality cost Steph her marriage, her job and her community.”
Holy Woman: A divine adventure - Louise Omer
"Louise Omer is a Pentecostal preacher and faithful wife. But when her marriage crumbles, so do her beliefs.
Haunted by questions about what it means to be female in a religion that worships a male God, she leaves behind her church and home to go on a pilgrimage to discover whether there is a place in modern religion for holy women.
Holy Woman combines travel writing, feminist theology, and confessional memoir to interrogate modern religion, and gives a raw and personal exploration of spiritual life under patriarchy.”
Speaking in Tongues - Tom Tilley
"From the outside, Tom Tilley's childhood seemed ordinary. The first son of a pastor, he grew up in a beautiful country town where life revolved around football, his loving family and their Pentecostal faith. But behind church doors, a strictly enforced set of rules included a looming if Tom didn't speak in tongues, he'd go to hell and be outcast from his close-knit, devout community.
Told with empathy and searing honesty, Speaking in Tongues is a powerful coming-of-age story about questioning the life created for you and building your true self, one recycled brick at a time.”
Behind the Exclusive Brethren - Michael Bachelard
"Based on more than two years of research, this comprehensive study uncovers the lesser-known facts behind one of history’s most enigmatic and influential Christian sects. Documenting their emergence onto the Australian political stage in 2004, this investigation shows how the Exclusive Brethren made their presence known through enormous contributions to conservative campaigns, assiduously lobbying politicians and maintaining a close relationship with the prime minister—all without casting a vote themselves.”
Daughter of Gloriavale: My Life in a Religious Cult - Lilia Tarawa
"In this personal account, Lilia Tarawa exposes the shocking secrets of the cult, with its rigid rules and oppressive control of women. She describes her fear when her family questioned Gloriavale's beliefs and practices. When her parents fled with their children, Lilia was forced to make a desperate to stay or to leave. No matter what she chose, she would lose people she loved. In the outside world, Lilia struggled. Would she be damned to hell for leaving? How would she learn to navigate this strange place called 'the world'? And would she ever find out the truth about the criminal convictions against her grandfather?”
Unlearning Obedience: Losing Religion & Finding Myself - Elise Heerde
"Unlearning Obedience is not just about leaving behind a set of beliefs; it’s about finding peace not in certainty, but in the freedom to explore, question, and trust the process of becoming who I was always meant to be.”
Leaving Christian Fundamentalism and the Reconstruction of Identity - Josie McSkimming
"Leaving Christian Fundamentalism and the Re-construction of Identity details the stories of those who have left Christian fundamentalist churches and how they change after they have left.
It considers how the previous fundamentalist identity is shaped by aspects of church teaching and discipline that are less authoritarian and coercive, and more subtle and widely spread throughout the church body.”
Woven: A Faith for the Dissatisfied - Joel McKerrow
“In Woven , Joel McKerrow takes us on a pilgrimage, from childhood faith to grief over a lost religion, to a richer, more sustaining faith that was previously unimaginable to him.
This is a demanding and compelling account of what it means to rethink our Christian belief and find restoration in an authentic faith in Christ, to be born again into the expansiveness of God’s unconditional love and be part of his grand and beautiful story of salvation.”
Beyond Belief: How Pentecostal Christianity is Taking Over the World - Elle Hardy
"A fascinating exposé of the global revolution you’ve never heard of: a deep-pocketed, tech-savvy Christian movement reshaping our societies from within. Reporting this revolution from twelve countries and six US states, Elle Hardy weaves a timeless tale of miracles, money and power, set in our volatile age of extremes.
Beyond Belief exposes the Pentecostal agenda: not just saving souls, but transforming societies and controlling politics. These modern prophets, embedded in our institutions, have the cash and the influence to wage their holy war.”
Do As I Say: How Cults Control, Why We Join Them, and What They Teach Us About Bullying, Abuse and Coercion - Sarah Steel
"In Do As I Say, Steel tells the human tale behind the sensationalism. Sharing deeply personal stories, gathered over years of interviews with survivors, and some shocking tales about the world's most famous cults, she sheds light on the high cost of unchecked coercive behaviours to individuals and communities at large.”
Lapsed - Monica Dux
"From devout ten-year-old performing the part of Jesus in a primary school play to blaspheming, undergraduate atheist, Monica Dux and her attitude to the Catholic Church changed profoundly over a decade. Ten years on she'd calmed right down and was just 'lapsed'. Then, on a family trip to Rome, her young daughter expressed a desire to be baptised. Monica found herself re-examining her own childhood and how Catholicism had shaped her. Was it really out of her system or was it in her blood for life?”
Crippled Grace: Disability, Virtue Ethics, and the Good Life - Shane Clifton
“Crippled Grace combines disability studies, Christian theology, philosophy, and psychology to explore what constitutes happiness and how it is achieved. The virtue tradition construes happiness as whole-of-life flourishing earned by practiced habits of virtue.
Drawing upon this particular understanding of happiness, Clifton contends that the experience of disability offers significant insight into the practice of virtue, and thereby the good life.”
Excommunicated: A multigenerational story of leaving the Exclusive Bretheren - Craig Hoyle
"After coming out as gay, Craig Hoyle was excommunicated from the New Zealand Exclusive Brethren and forced to say goodbye to his family forever. The conservative sect was everything he'd ever known - a childhood where television, pop music, sports and even pets were against the rules.
Weaving their past with Craig's own upbringing in this secretive and oppressive religious group, Excommunicated charts the evolution of the Exclusive Brethren in New Zealand and the heart-wrenching stories of a family torn apart.”
Cult to Christ: The Church With No Name and the Legacy of the Living Witness Doctrine - Elizabeth Joy Coleman
"Elizabeth was born and raised in a nameless and secretive worldwide cult that claims exclusive origin from the New Testament apostolic ministry and blatantly describes all other churches as 'false'. A love story both human and divine, a journey from spiritual bondage to freedom in Christ; this confronting and deeply personal account gives an inside perspective into the mindset of cult members, and reveals the fear and trauma associated with being forced to investigate your own beliefs even if it could mean destroying the very foundations of everything you believe.”
In Bad Faith - Dassi Erlich
"The true story of Dassi Erlich - a woman who grew up in a closed ultra-Orthodox sect and endured a harsh home life that made her the perfect target for a predatory teacher. It is an honest, harrowing but ultimately inspiring story of survival and the fight for justice.
This powerful memoir tells Dassi's story in her own unique voice. It gives extraordinary insight into a secretive sect little known to the outside world, and outlines the harsh upbringing she experienced which made her such a target for the predatory Leifer.”
A Life of Unlearning - Anthony Venn-Brown
"On the surface, everything looked perfect. Anthony Venn-Brown was a popular, high-profile, Pentecostal preacher in Australia’s growing mega-churches, such as Hillsong, and happily married father-of-two. Behind the scenes was a different story. Believing homosexuality made him unacceptable to God and others, a secret battle was being fought. After twenty-two years of prayer, struggle, torment, gay conversion therapy and marriage, a chance meeting forced Anthony to make the toughest decision of his life.
Tired of feeling torn and fragmented, he confessed and came out. Abandoned by his church and Christian friends Anthony began his life of unlearning; a lonely journey that made him who he is today. This honest account highlights not only the costs of being true to yourself but that the rewards of authenticity and integrity are worth it.”
Cult Trip: Inside the World of Coercion & Control - Anke Richter
"A leading journalist's intense, riveting and personal investigation into the worlds and minds of cults. Anke pursues a labyrinthine investigation into how and why cults attract, entrap and destroy otherwise ordinary people, asking what the line is between tribe and cult, participant and perpetrator, seduction and sexual abuse.
From the emotional and criminal carnage of Auckland's Centrepoint to an anti-cult conference in Manchester, the infamous Osho's ashram in India, the tantric Agama Yoga school in remote Thailand, and culminating in a visit to Gloriavale on the West Coast of the South Island, Anke uncovers a disturbing pattern of violence and suffering. Cult Trip is a powerful exploration of what really goes on inside the groups we call cults, and how to reckon with their aftermath.”
The Sentimental Non-Believer: On Loving and Leaving God - Jane Kennedy
"The Sentimental Non-Believer is my story of a life of faith, the lament of religious trauma, the disillusionment that can set in when the ground gives way beneath us. It’s about loving and leaving God. Spoiler alert, it has a beautiful ending.”