Holy Unhappiness: God, Goodness, and the Myth of the Blessed Life

American Christians have developed a list of expectations about what the life with God will feel like, but the emotional prosperity gospel believes that happiness and spiritual euphoria will inevitably follow if you believe all the right things and make all the right choices. In Holy Unhappiness, Amanda Held Opelt examines the idolization of positive feelings and the marginalization of negative feelings and offers a new path forward that reimagines what the blessed life can be like if we release some of our expectations and seek God in places we never thought to look.

Format: Hardback
Length: 272 pages
Publication date: 03 August 2023
Publisher: Little, Brown & Company

American Christians have developed a long list of expectations about what the life with God will feel like. Many Christians rightly deny the prosperity gospel, the idea that God wants you to be healthy and wealthy, but instead embrace its more subtle spin-off, the emotional prosperity gospel, or the belief that happiness and spiritual euphoria will inevitably follow if you believe all the right things and make all the right choices. In this view, frustration is deemed unholy, fear is seen as a failure of faith, and sadness is a sign of God's disfavor.

In Holy Unhappiness, Amanda Held Opelt, author of A Hole in the World, grapples with her own experience of disillusionment when life with God didn't always feel the way she expected it to feel. She examines some of the historic, religious, and cultural influences that led to the idolization of positive feelings and the marginalization of negative feelings. Unpacking nine elements of life that have been tainted by the message of the emotional Prosperity Gospel, including work, marriage, parenting, calling, community, and church, she points to a new path forward, one that reimagines what the blessed life can be like if we release some of our expectations and seek God in places we never thought to look. This is a book that asks, "What good is God?" when he doesn't always make sorrow go away or soothe every fear. It is a book that explores our aversion to sadness and counts the costs of our unrelenting commitment to optimism. This is a book that insists there is holiness to be found even in our unhappiness.

In the book, Held Opelt challenges the notion that happiness is the ultimate goal of life and argues that there is holiness to be found even in our unhappiness. She explores the ways in which the emotional Prosperity Gospel has distorted our understanding of God and our relationships with others, and offers a new perspective on what it means to live a blessed life. Through her personal story and thoughtful analysis, Held Opelt encourages readers to embrace their unhappiness as a source of growth and healing, and to seek God in unexpected places.

Holy Unhappiness is a powerful and thought-provoking book that will challenge readers to reevaluate their expectations and seek a deeper relationship with God. It is a must-read for anyone who has ever felt disillusioned by their faith or struggled with the idea that happiness is the only path to fulfillment.

Weight: 440g
Dimension: 232 x 156 x 26 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9781546001928