Fierce Love, Dr. Jacqui Lewis
Fierce Love, Dr. Jacqui Lewis
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Fierce Love
A Bold Path to Ferocious Courage and Rule-Breaking Kindness That Can Heal the World

Author: Dr. Jacqui Lewis

Narrator: Dr. Jacqui Lewis

Unabridged: 7 hr 18 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 11/09/2021


Synopsis

A healing antidote to our divisive culture, full of evocative storytelling, spiritual wisdom, and nine essential daily practices—by the first female, Black senior minister at the historic Collegiate Churches of New York

“Fierce Love teaches us that with spiritual faith we can transcend the darkest moments and come through stronger.”—Gabrielle Bernstein, #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Universe Has Your Back
 
We are living in a world divided. Race and ethnicity, caste and color, gender and sexuality, class and education, religion and political party have all become demographic labels that reduce our differences to simplistic categories in which “we” are vehemently against “them.” But Rev. Dr. Jacqui Lewis’s own experience—of being the first female and first Black minister in her church’s history, of being in an interracial marriage, and of making peace with childhood abuse—illustrates that our human capacity for empathy and forgiveness is the key to reversing these ugly trends.

Inspired by the tenets of ubuntu—the Zulu philosophy that we are each impacted by the circumstances that impact those around us, and that the world won’t get better until we all get better—Fierce Love lays out the nine daily practices for breaking through tribalism and engineering the change we seek. From downsizing our emotional baggage to speaking truth to power to fueling our activism with joy, it demonstrates the power of small, morally courageous steps to heal our own lives, our posse, and our larger communities. Sharing stories that trace her personal reckoning with racism as well as the arc of her journey to an inclusive and service-driven faith, Dr. Lewis shows that kindness, compassion, and inclusive thinking are muscles that can be exercised and strengthened. With the goal of mending our inextricable human connection, Fierce Love is a manifesto for all generations: a bighearted, healing antidote to our rancorous culture.

Reviews

Goodreads review by Awallens on November 16, 2021

I read this as an audiobook from my library. It is read by the author which gives it particular poignance. The ideas in this book are simple, yet radical. I loved the presentation and the content.......more

Goodreads review by Becki on August 10, 2021

There is a single thread that shimmers through the entire "Fierce Love" book... Ubuntu. Ubuntu is an Nguni Bantu concept that translates- "I Am because We Are". My identity, My flourishing, My pain are irrevocably intertwined with you, with the "other", with the collective. Part memoir and part serm......more

Goodreads review by Trinki on November 15, 2021

This was more of a memoir than I was expecting. I thought there would be more concrete advice about how to love fiercely in order to change the world. However, it was a very good memoir. Rev. Jacqui is a remarkable woman.......more

Goodreads review by Rachel on May 28, 2024

I really really loved this book! Her perspectives are great and she challenges all readers to think outside of their comfort and challenge themselves to love themselves and others fiercely. “For us, faith means partnering with God, whom we call by many names—including Love—to make heaven on earth. T......more

Goodreads review by Jess on November 04, 2021

Released at a time when our country is so divided politically, ethically, spiritually, and even factually, Dr. Jacqui Lewis's Fierce Love is a personal account and manual for how to heal - heal ourselves and in a larger sense, our global community. As the first African American woman to lead the his......more


Quotes

“A powerful antidote to the tribalism that is wrecking our country and poisoning our souls, Fierce Love is a welcome moral North Star for readers everywhere.”—Van Jones, New York Times bestselling author of Beyond the Messy Truth and CNN political contributor

“With this book, Jacqui Lewis made me see the world in a different way—as a place where we can live our lives fully, tell our stories honestly, and love one another fiercely.”—Paul Tough, New York Times bestselling author of How Children Succeed

“I have never felt at home in any church as I have in Middle Church—a vibrant, multiracial, multicultural community in the heart of New York City. Now Rev. Dr. Jacqui Lewis gives us her ingredients to building a beloved community with fierce love. Drawing from raw, vulnerable, and brave coming-of-age stories, she invites us into her ministry to ‘Love. Period.’ This book is radical, just, and joyous. Just like Middle Church. Just like Jacqui Lewis.” —Valarie Kaur, author of See No Stranger: A Memoir and Manifesto of Revolutionary Love

“Walks of faith need living words. Responsive, sanguine, breathing words. Fierce Love is that. Full of big, liberating, bold ideas, it is also a radiant work of testimony, revelation and guidance.”—Aunjanue Ellis, actress and producer

“Each story in the book is a message of resilience and hope. Jacqui is a human angel whose commitment to love reminds us that miracles are real.”—Gabrielle Bernstein, #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Universe Has Your Back

“This book is an heirloom quilt. Within its immense practicality, all-season warmth, and supreme comfort lies a patchwork of trustworthy, embodied and timeless wisdom that can only come from a seasoned leader like Rev. Dr. Jacqui Lewis. As I wrapped myself in its wisdom, Fierce Love reminded me that I am not alone as I seek personal and societal healing. Rather, a profound lineage of healers precedes, surrounds, and succeeds me.  As I followed Lewis's nine pragmatic steps, I was reminded of the liberating truth that, despite it all, loving fiercely is in my DNA, too.”—Christena Cleveland, PhD, author of God Is a Black Woman

“Rather than a recipe for self-help, the approach is autobiographical, emphasizing how lives intertwine and actions impact one another, and urging readers to bring in ubuntu as an attitude to accomplish sexual, racial, and economic justice. There’s not one single pathway here; rather it’s a dynamic missive about how one woman has made a difference.”Publishers Weekly