Books In Review: Holier than Thou

​I was excited to hear that Jackie had released another book. While it took me quite a while to get around to reading it, it was a book worth the wait. Not only does this book make the author’s transformation through Christ all the more evident, but also demonstrates an incredible ability to make difficult theological concepts accessible. This is a book I would recommend ~ Bethel

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Holiness is a concept that many Christians struggle to understand. While it’s something that the Bible speaks about often, we struggle to see its relevance to our lives because we struggle with our sinful nature. However, it doesn’t take one long while reading God’s Word to realize that God is holy. With our struggle to understand holiness, it makes us harder to understand God or even know how to trust Him. It makes us ask the question: how can we trust God when we have been hurt by those around us?

​In her book Holier than Thou, bestselling author Jackie Hill Perry helps her readers understand that if they truly understand that God is holy, we can trust Him, and the reason why many of us don’t trust Him is because of our misunderstandings about His holiness. We are reminded that our struggle to understand holiness comes from our sin and the sin of those around us. These affect our ability to accept that God is holy, morally perfect, and transcendent, since we often project our experiences onto Him. Understanding this allows us to see God through new eyes and put aside many of our barriers to trusting Him fully. It also allows us to see ourselves as sinners that can only achieve personal holiness through the saving grace of Jesus Christ. Walking through many different Scriptures and relying on the insights from many theologians, Perry walks through holiness in a way that is accessible to the average reader and with wisdom beyond her years. If you want to understand holiness in a whole new way, this book is definitely worth reading.

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Personal Rating. My only criticism of the book is the lack of headings and structure in the chapters. While the material is great and her theology is solid, there are hardly any headings in the chapters to help the reader follow along with the subjects she is covering. I find headings help me process information, but not everyone sees this the same way. If you aren’t bothered by this, you should have no problem reading this book and would recommend that you do

​To check my review of Jackie's first book,
​Gay Girl, Good God, click here

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​Interested in purchasing this title? If you purchase it from Amazon using the link below, Abiding Grace Ministries will receive a small commission from the sale at no cost to you.

Purchase Holier Than Thou: https://amzn.to/4fei9DU