Saved by Grace, Liberal in Mercy

In proud tradition of the Southern storyteller, author Mike Cowan shares stories from his life that have molded him into the rarest of creatures, a White, evangelical Christian and a bleeding-heart, liberal Democrat.

From conversion as a child through spiritual formation as an adult, Cowan recounts the struggles he has faced in a church that was founded in defense of the evil of slavery and the consequent vestiges of systemic racism, in a church that has increasingly dallied with the chauvinism of Christian nationalism, and in a church that is currently in a season of reckoning about congregant sexual abuse by clergy and the disgrace of deception by executive denominational leadership.

Through it all, from the enduring influence of parents and grandparents, yellow-dog Democrats all, Cowan details his commitment of the next season of his life in support of voting rights, public education, gun control and the science of climate change.

The longer we live, the more we understand life is a delicate balance of competing forces. In Saved by Grace, Liberal in Mercy, Cowan navigates one of our greatest cultural divides and lives to celebrate it.