Ashamed No More: A Pastor's Journey Through Sex Addiction, By T. C. Ryan

Ashamed No More

A Pastor's Journey Through Sex Addiction

by T. C. Ryan
Foreword by Walter Wangerin, Jr.

Ashamed No More
Paperback
  • Length: 237 pages
  • Dimensions: 5.5 × 8.25 in
  • Published: July 16, 2012
  • Imprint: IVP
  • ISBN: 9780830837939
Other Formats:

There are some things we just don't talk about.Things like sex, particularly when our sexuality is a matter of personal struggle.Things like the vulnerabilities of our pastors, who must maintain a façade not merely of respectability but of moral and psychological superiority.We don't talk about things that make us feel insecure, that make us feel unsettled. But the nature of spiritual growth, even the story of Christian faith, is a matter of being unsettled from the comfortable compromises we've made and set on a course together toward wholeness and mutually supportive community.Pastor T. C. Ryan takes us on an unsettling journey through his lifelong struggle with sexual addiction, one that predated and pervaded his pastoral ministry—onewhich for far too long he faced in secrecy and isolation, separated from the brothers and sisters in Christ who were called to bear one another's burdens.Ashamed No More doesn't cast blame or argue for looser moral standards. It does, however, call us to the unsettling ministry that a God who is love calls us to—the unsettling grace that is the audacious gospel of Christ.

"Tom Ryan has written a remarkable confessional. In Ashamed No More he confesses his years-long addiction to sex, describing with truth, clarity and compassion the hopelessness he felt as an addict. But this book is also confessional in that it declares this reality: liberation is possible through Jesus Christ, and hope is a present reality for people who want a different story than enslavement to addiction. This book is a gift to the church and to the many men and women who long for a path to freedom and companionship along the way."Tim Keel, pastor of Jacob's Well (Kansas City, Missouri) and author of Intuitive Leadership
"A genuinely important book."Walter Wangerin Jr., from the foreword
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CONTENTS

Foreward by Walter Wangerin Jr.
Preface
1. Living a Divided Life
2. Sexuality and Spirituality
3. Coming to Know the Enemy Within
4. Shame and "Morality"
5. Excavating Origins
6. Genuine Spiritual Transformation and the Recovery Movement
7. Transformation, Struggle and What I Learned
8. In the Darkness, He Is There
9. God, Brokenness and Life in the Mindful Calm
10. Brokenness and Healthy Spiritual Community
11. Biblical Ethics and Sexual Behavior
12. Broken Leaders and Spiritual Rehab
Appendix
Acknowledgments
Notes
Bibliography

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T. C. Ryan

T. C. Ryan was founding and senior pastor of a large church for nearly twenty years. He now provides counseling and spiritual direction for pastors and ministry leaders.