If the Bough Breaks . . .: When Faith and Politics Bend a Family Tree to Its Breaking Point
Ebook
The 2016 presidential election and its aftermath ushered Danielle Hensley into a political, cultural, and spiritual reawakening that also revealed deep divides within her family of origin. She embarked on a quest to educate herself about her white privilege, pervasive judgmentalism, as well as racist, homophobic, and other bigoted ideologies among fellow Christians. She courageously faced hard truths, deep childhood wounds, and generational traumas, while learning the meaning of loyalty and what true love looks like in the face of seemingly insurmountable divides.
If the Bough Breaks . . . examines the seemingly universal and growing chasm between the right and the left through the lens of a single family and within the context of the Episcopal Church, where such ideological, political, and spiritual differences can be as subtle as they are pernicious.
Hensley's tale is also a love story, if an unconventional one. It is the love story of a daughter/sister/granddaughter/mother fighting passionately against external and internal forces that conspire to destroy love and to continue unhealthy cycles of abuse and denial in her family. It is an everyday shero's quest to cling to love and fight mightily for it, even if it means letting go of relationships that appear to be broken beyond repair.
But are they truly, irreparably broken? Or can love, ultimately, triumph over fear--hers, theirs, and ours?
“Danielle Hensley takes us into a holy space: it is that intimate space between a person and their siblings and parents. This is a powerful, intimate, and deeply moving exploration in which all manner of emotions are shared. The reader has an extraordinary vantage point: one is looking right into the heart of a family divided by faith and politics. A remarkable journey; this is a book that is sure to become a classic of its kind.”
—Ian S. Markham, dean and president, Virginia Theological Seminary
“Danielle Hensley does what so many of us want to do but don’t: she tells hard truths, but manages to do so from a place of unconditional love. Speaking truth to power is not for the faint of heart. The stories and hard-won lessons she shares in this book will help readers to summon the courage to be brave in the face of injustice—even when the face is familiar (or familial). May we all be as brave and kind as she.”
—Cathleen Falsani, author of Sin Boldly: A Field Guide for Grace
“With keen insight, limpid prose, and infinite patience, Danielle Hensley probes the challenge many of us are facing these days: How to deal with avowedly Christian family and loved ones who have succumbed to the cult of Donald Trump.”
—Randall Balmer, author of Bad Faith: Race and the Rise of the Religious Right
“A candid memoir of one woman’s political awakening and the local and personal consequences amid the tensions that have created national divisions. This is the story of the seeming impossibility of compromise on either side—and the resulting, tragic ‘divorce’ of a family.”
—Jill Peláez Baumgaertner, author of From Shade to Shine: Selected Poems
- Title: If the Bough Breaks . . .: When Faith and Politics Bend a Family Tree to Its Breaking Point
- Author: Danielle Hensley
- Publisher: Cascade Books
- Print Publication Date: 2024
- Logos Release Date: 2024
- Language: English
- Resources: 1
- Format: Digital › Ebook
- ISBNs: 9781666789874, 9781666789867, 1666789860, 9781666789850, 1666789852, 1666789879
- Resource ID: LLS:9781666789874
- Resource Type: Monograph
- Metadata Last Updated: 2024-07-11T20:46:10Z
Danielle Hensley holds two English degrees and a degree in advertising and graphic design. Having taught high school English literature, Danielle now works as a creative specialist for a non-profit organization. She lives in Cary, North Carolina, with her husband and their two children and attends an Episcopal church in Raleigh.