It's Not You, It's Everything

It's Not You, It's Everythingicon

What Our Pain Reveals about the Anxious Pursuit of the Good Life

by Eric Minton

Publisher
Broadleaf Books
Publication
May 17, 2022
Format
Hardback
Illustrated
No
Price
24.99
Dimensions
5.75 x 8.75 in
ISBN
9781506471914
Pages
198
Age
Adult 18+
Category
Self-HelpGeneral NonfictionChristian Living

Rights Sold

LanguageEnglish AudioCountryWorldwideAgent-BuyerTantor Media

Description

If we can agree on anything, it's that we are not okay. Our culture is reeling from the ravages of a global pandemic, a precipitous rise in depression and anxiety, suffocating debt, white supremacy, hypercapitalism, and a virulent political animus--to name a few.

But what if it's not us? What if it's . . . well, everything? What if trying to conform to a sick culture is actually making us sick?

It's Not You, It's Everything is a timely and incisive inquiry into the anxious pursuit of happiness at all costs. Psychotherapist and former pastor Eric Minton claims that the pernicious melding of capitalism and Christianity means a world of competition, perfection, and scarcity disguised as self-help and self-care. Rather than shaming, silencing, or medicating away our disappointment at not having obtained the happiness we were promised, however, Minton posits a radical alternative. In an impertinent, droll, yet pastoral voice, Minton suggests that our "not-okayness" will require rethinking everything we thought we knew about God, depression, the economy, culture, education, technology, and happiness.

Our angst--and that of our children and teenagers--is telling us the truth about the kind of world we've created. By naming all the ways we're not okay, we move away from fear and shame and toward love, and trust, and trustworthiness. We'll need nothing less than hip-hop, Mr. Rogers, liberation theology, and Jesus to get us there. But on the other side of our pain is a radical "okayness" that might just set us free.

Awards & Endorsements

Publishers Weekly
"This penetrating debut by Baptist minister-turned-psychotherapist Minton invites readers to slow down and resist the pressure to be more 'popular, marketable, or productive'....Minton's astute observations about how capitalism drives unending cycles of want ('Discontentment is both capitalism's oxygen and its carbon dioxide') succeed in bringing a candid class consciousness to Christian self-help. This unorthodox guide blends humor, theology, and social commentary to potent effect." 

Author(s)

Eric Minton

Eric Minton

Eric Minton is a writer, ordained Baptist minister, and psychotherapist specializing in marriage and family therapy. He has a family therapy practice in Knoxville, Tennessee, and provides coaching and consultation for pastors, nonprofit leaders, businesspeople, and institutions, helping them foster better ways of living, working, and serving together. Minton's work has appeared in Sojourners, Geez Magazine, Baptist News Global, and Red Letter Christians.

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