Description:
Christy Berghoef's wise and welcoming memoir is a warm invitation for anyone who has left home, then wonders if they can return. In Rooted, Christy challenges conventional faith while affirming deep and ultimately healing spiritual truths.
Brief description: Christy Berghoef was raised on a generational forty-acre flower farm in Holland, Michigan. After receiving a Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science from Calvin University, she moved to Washington, D.C., where she worked for a member of Congress. After growing dissatisfaction with the world of politics, she attended Calvin Theological Seminary. After seminary, Christy and her husband Bryan began a ministry planting churches. While Bryan took the lead pastor role, Christy served as part-time worship coordinator while she and Bryan raised their four children. They have planted churches in Traverse City, Michigan; Washington, D.C.; and Holland, Michigan. In addition, Christy has over a decade of experience speaking and consulting in the area of civil discourse, working with churches, schools, politicians, boards, businesses, and community groups. She also is a mindfulness practitioner and leads retreats and pilgrimages that focus on contemplation, mindfulness, and spiritual formation. Much of her published writing has been in the areas of contemplation, nature, faith, and politics. She regularly writes on her Substack, which can be found at christyberghoef.substack.com. Christy has a Doctor of Ministry degree in the Sacred Art of Writing from Western Theological Seminary and is the author of Cracking the Pot. Christy enjoys contemplative photography, gardening, wandering in the woods, reading, writing poetry, and extended backpacking excursions around the globe. She sings, plays guitar and fiddle and writes music. Her books and photography can be found at christyberghoef.com. She lives in Holland, Michigan, adjacent to the forty-acre flower farm of her childhood.
Review Quotes:
I love this book for more reasons than I can list here. You'll benefit, as I have, from listening to a writer whose life and work are deeply rooted in the earth.
Parker J. Palmer, author of Let Your Life Speak, A Hidden Wholeness, and Healing the Heart of Democracy
Rooted is a gift in a weary world that so needs the spirit this book offers and the wisdom it contains.
Carrie Newcomer, musician and author of The Beautiful Not Yet
Those of us lucky enough to have known a place and a community well and deeply will recognize all the joys and complications in this book; for others, it will be an eye-opening and heart-opening account of what's still possible in this country.
Bill McKibben, environmentalist and author of Wandering Home
There's a lot of madness overheating the world at this moment. ... Homespun yet beautifully crafted, Rooted will bring healing and a smile to the deepest parts of you.
From the Foreword by Brian McLaren, author of Faith After Doubt and The Last Voyage
Some books bless us as we read them. This is one of those.
Marilyn McEntyre, author of Caring for Words in a Culture of Lies
This is a beautiful, salvific book by a wonderful child of God on a journey of healing and homecoming. May it encourage you on your own salvation journey.
Shane Claiborne, author, activist, and co-founder of Red Letter Christians