Tired of apologizing for a church I don't belong to - Lillian Daniel

Sloppy talk about the Christian religion has become an acceptable prejudice, especially on the part of people who pride themselves as being unprejudiced. Daniel's book provides humorous yet intellectual commentary on the way religion gets talked about today. She explains Christian ideas and practices in non-academic, yet non-facile terms.

In her signature style, popularized in widely debated articles for The Huffington Post and Christianity Today, she outlines four types of non-church-goers: no-longer, no-way, never-have, not-yet and with experiential insight from more than a decade as a pastor, she explains how churches of all denominations and doctrines can provide them intellectual rigor, reasons for belief and authentic religious community. No one should have to check their brain at the door of the church, she says and churches must deal with present-day issues and be intellectually open, inviting people to bring questions, rather than dispensing old, easy answers.

LILLIAN DANIEL is an editor at large for the Christian Century Magazine and a contributing editor at Leadership Journal. She has taught at Chicago Theological Seminary, the University of Chicago Divinity School and at her alma mater, Yale Divinity School. A frequent speaker around the country, Lillian has preached at the National Cathedral, Duke Chapel and the Festival of Homiletics. After leading three churches, Lillian is currently devoting herself full time to writing, speaking and procrastinating.