| Free coaching session |
|
Try a complimentary life coaching session to evaluate its benefits for yourself! Click here |
| Newsletter |
|
Subscribe to Anthony's free weekly newsletter
Read Past Newsletter Archive |
Biography
|
'A Life of Unlearning' Anthony Venn-Brown New Holland Publishers |
|
What SX News had to say:
This amazing book, launched a few weeks ago at the Midnight Shift to an enthusiastic crowd of 300, is the autobiographical account of one man's struggle to reconcile his homosexuality with the Church and the often bumpy journey that this quest took him on.
The author, Anthony Venn-Brown becomes a very successful preacher and evangelist in the Assemblies of God denomination of the Pentecostal stream of Christendom, but is tortured at almost every step along the way by his latent homosexuality, which he continuously prays for God to deliver him from. The book takes the reader on a very personal journey towards Venn-Brown's coming out, which results in a tumultuous break-away from the Church and ultimate redemption as he manages to come to terms with his sexuality and find his 'tribe' in Sydney's glbtq communities.
This book is a very easy read, mainly because of the author's style, which is quite casual, even conversational. However, it's the honesty with which he tells his story that makes it such a compelling read. As he explains in the prologue, the book "is a total expose because I'm convinced this story has no value unless the entire truth is told. I'm not proud of everything I've done but these chapters contain the pieces that make up the jigsaw puzzle of my life. This is the truth."
There would have been a very strong temptation for the author to deliberately write the book as an indictment of the Church, but he has wisely avoided this, always managing to keep the focus on his personal experiences and what he was thinking and feeling. However, the Church still doesn't get off lightly, as the mere facts themselves are a more eloquent indictment of the Church than anything the author could have emoted.
Ultimately, as the theme that emerges is about being true to yourself, A Life of Unlearning should be compulsory reading for every man, woman and child in Australia, whether they're gay or straight, young old, religious or non-religious. As The Hon. Michael Kirby states in the book's foreword; "It is the story of his quest to find not only self-acceptance but one of the most powerful forces in nature - human love."
Gary Fishlock Editor SX 10 June 2004 - www.sxnews.com.au
Purchase 'A Life of Unlearning'