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Lessons I Have Unlearned

Because Life Doesn't Look Like It Did In The Pictures

ebook
1 of 1 copy available
1 of 1 copy available

'Lessons I have Unlearned makes you feel like you are having a heart to heart with an old friend. Florence wades right into discussions about identity and spirituality, speaking to those inner voices which all of us battle, with clarity and fluency. I highly recommend this book for every person, because we all battle fears and insecurities. There are no easy answers, but this book is an encouragement that hope remains.' Selina Stone, Tutor and Lecturer in Political Theology at St Mellitus College

We all have ideas about what we think life will be like - ideas we pick up from books, films, music videos, the adults around us, and even church. We think we have a roadmap that will guide us towards success. But it isn't long before life throws some curve-balls at us. Florence Gildea looks at a series of myths that we cannot help but absorb from films, fairytales, songs, and advertisements: that we get to call the shots and have control over how our lives turn out; that a happily ever after is within our reach. All the strategies we have learned to make ourselves safe, loveable, and successful will backfire. Life, it turns out, is found exactly where Jesus said it was: at the end of ourselves, at the foot of the cross.

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    • Publisher's Weekly

      May 31, 2021
      Former chaplain Gildea debuts with a brisk account of her journey into Christianity and the pitfalls of pursuing perfection. Hypersensitive to societal pressures to be perfect and happy, Gildea struggled to live up to unrealistic expectations and suffered from an eating disorder in her early 20s. Realizing she had fallen under the spell of an illusory “tripartite structure” of life (“set-up, development, resolution”), Gildea argues young people need to unlearn lessons from popular culture and social media in order to live happier lives, because “life isn’t like the movies.” This unlearning, based on gradual disillusionment with these false narratives, is enthusiastically explored alongside lessons from the Bible, including the story of Ruth and Naomi’s loyalty and Peter’s pure devotion, which demonstrate how “God’s love truly is unconditional.” For Gildea, grace allows one to do away with unhealthy comparisons because “compared to the source of all righteousness and goodness, the variation between us humans is utterly insignificant.” Similarly, the pursuit of perfection or of unrealistic versions of happiness will inevitably lead to angst. Gildea skips between modern examples—including the 2017 Fyre Festival debacle and Francis Fukuyama’s “end of history” declaration—and biblical stories with ease to make her arguments. Religious millennials will want to take a look.

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  • English

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