Product Overview
"This is a book that will guide you home to yourself.” —Gemma Hartley, author of Fed Up and No One Loves an Angry Woman
"Read this. And then pass it to every woman you know.”—Christy Angelle Bauman, author of Theology of the Womb and Her Rites
For centuries, patriarchal Christian spaces and interpretations of Scripture have distorted women’s understanding of God, their bodies, and their place in the world. Faithfully Dissident Daughters invites anyone who has felt unseen or diminished by their faith tradition to reimagine and reclaim what it means to love God and embrace themselves.
Raised in evangelical churches, Chelsea Kim Long had a clear vision of the Christian woman she was born to be: a doting wife and mother, filled with the joy of the Lord and love for her family. But after suffering a traumatic birthing experience, postpartum depression, and further reproductive loss, she found that vision—and her faith in a God who would mandate that singular role for women—shattered.
Working through the pain of these deeply feminine experiences opened her eyes to the broader ways the patriarchal Christian worldview undermined not only her but womanhood in general. The faith she’d been handed had no room for questions or nuance and even less room for the bodies, feelings, or the spiritual authority of women’s lived experience.
Through raw personal narrative and rich theological reflection, Chelsea explores the false limits the church has placed on women and how the demand for unquestioning obedience silences women’s natural intuition and erodes self-trust. Chelsea shares her search for and embrace of feminine expressions of the Divine, uncovering long-neglected images of God as Mother, Wisdom, and Spirit that have always lived within the Christian tradition. Steeped in Scripture and diverse, historic Christian traditions, this book will inspire and empower readers to become faithfully dissident by stepping into a faith that feels honest and whole through honoring women’s bodies, emotions, experiences, and innate wisdom.
Perfect for Book Clubs!
Download the Book Club Guide! Plus, you can invite the author to your book club or meet her one-on-one with this video where she describes what inspired her to write the book and what her hopes are for readers.
Reviews
"The wisest teachers, prophets, and storytellers don’t simply serve answers: they teach us how to ask difficult questions. And I often tell my children that God loves questions. Questions invite closeness, clarity, and connection. If we love someone or something, our inquiry honors and feeds that love. And if something is true, our questions cannot diminish or destroy it. That is why I have always appreciated Chelsea’s voice. She asks brave questions with humility, spice, and fierce love for God and for people. Rather than imploding our faith constructs, Faithfully Dissident Daughters invites us into more integrated, more honest, and ultimately more beautiful ones. I am grateful for Chelsea’s relentless question asking and for the way it gently draws us all toward greater intimacy with God, ourselves, and one another."—Mariko Clark, author of The Book of Belonging
"Many readers will relate to what Chelsea calls a ‘crisis of theology’ rather than a crisis of faith. The reality for many spiritual seekers today is that the version of Christianity they grew up with no longer fits their lived experience. In sharing her own experience and offering resources from the Christian tradition, both ancient and contemporary, Chelsea provides a way through the wilderness toward a compassionate, embodied, wholehearted faith."—Lee Hull Moses, pastor and author of More Than Enough
"Chelsea shares a journey that is uniquely hers and also one that many women know too well: the product of a religious upbringing that separated them from their bodies, leading them to mistrust their own instincts and experiences. This book offers a deeply human account of how to leave behind those harmful belief systems and fully embrace a faith that can make us well. Her personal narrative woven together with social and biblical commentary provide a living witness to the liberating love of God."—Erin Wathen, pastor and author of Resist and Persist
"Chelsea offers a courageous invitation to faithful dissent. Challenging the patriarchal structures that have silenced women, she reimagines Christian faith as a place where women can actually reclaim their voices, embrace their truest selves, and belong without compromise."—David Hayward (a.k.a. NakedPastor), pastor-turned-artist
"For any woman who has been taught that God does not look, think, or act like her, this book is for you. Chelsea’s thorough examination of the Divine Feminine in the Christian faith finally gives women permission to trust themselves."—Meghan Tschanz, author of Women Rising and host of Faith and Feminism podcast
"I grew up with a version of God that kept women small, but I see now it was the God of patriarchy that was small all along. Chelsea doesn’t just dismantle anti-woman theology—she keeps going, offering a way back to a God worth trusting. Faithfully Dissident Daughters is more than feminist theology; it’s a manifesto, a summons to a new vision of discipleship. Tender, rigorous, and unafraid of the hard questions, this is a book I’ll be recommending for a long time."—Brian Recker, author of Hell Bent
"There is a tradition, ancient and unbroken, of women who knew that the Divine was bigger than the men describing it —and Chelsea stands squarely in that lineage. This book is not a departure from Christianity—it’s a contribution from its deepest truths."—Scott Erickson, author of Honest Advent
"Do you need to reclaim wholeness and liberation? How would the world change if we believed that God is as feminine as God is masculine? Are women’s bodies and lived experiences sacred spaces where God dwells? In Faithfully Dissident Daughters, Chelsea unflinchingly tackles such questions and produces a manifesto wherein women can put together the fragments of their faith in ways where purity culture and problematic evangelicalism have torn faith apart. This is a must-read for those who are reconstructing faith."—Angela N. Parker, Associate Professor of New Testament and Womanist Thought, Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary
"Faithfully Dissident Daughters understands something I have staked my clinical and spiritual life on: the body does not lie. This work will give countless women permission to stop apologizing for being exactly who God made them to be. Read this. And then pass it to every woman you know."—Christy Angelle Bauman, author of Theology of the Womb and Her Rites
"‘Faithfully dissident’—if those two words don’t seem to match, think about Jesus. Or think about Mary. Or think about St. Francis and St. Clare, or Rosa Parks and Dr. Martin Luther King. When you read Chelsea Kim Long’s beautiful, insightful, and compassionate new book, you’ll want to add your own name to the list of the faithfully dissident. I highly recommend this book!"—Brian D. McLaren, author of Faith after Doubt and The Great Rift
"Chelsea is an author and thinker to watch. With Faithfully Dissident Daughters, she delivers a wise, accessible guide to carry and share as we reclaim our God-given freedom. This book redeemed decades of bad, broken, and lazy theology. It is a must-read for all who long for a faith that does not inflict harm."—Shannan Martin, author of Counterweights, Start with Hello, and The Ministry of Ordinary Places
"Faithfully Dissident Daughters deconstructs harmful theology and reconnects you with the inner wisdom that allows true faith to flourish. This is a book that will guide you home to yourself."—Gemma Hartley, author of Fed Up