The Gift of the Outsider, Alicia J. Akins
The Gift of the Outsider, Alicia J. Akins
List: $19.99 | Sale: $13.99
Club: $9.99

The Gift of the Outsider
What Living in the Margins Teaches Us About Faith

Author: Alicia J. Akins, Jen Oshman

Narrator: Kellye A. Saunders

Unabridged: 7 hr 5 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 09/05/2023

Synopsis

Embracing the Spiritual Lessons of Unbelonging

Too often, cultural belonging becomes a battle, and its winners gain the world: access, comfort, safety, community. Yet for those on the margins—set apart from their culture by differences such as ethnicity, class, ability, and faith—God offers something even greater.

The Gift of the Outsider celebrates the blessings found in unbelonging—and calls Christians of all backgrounds to love and listen to their community's outcasts. As a Christian, a Black American, a woman, and an expatriate, author Alicia J. Akins offers heartfelt reflections on her own experiences as an outsider. She illuminates how we can

● cherish the unique gifts that God bestows on those who endure loneliness and adversity

● encourage and humbly receive the invaluable insights outsiders of all kinds have to offer

● delight in how the differences within God’s people reflect his majesty—and how Christ's reign unifies all believers

Compassionate and biblically grounded, The Gift of the Outsider enriches today's broader conversations surrounding diversity and inclusion, and is sure to encourage and challenge outsiders and insiders alike.

About Alicia J. Akins

Alicia J. Akins is a writer and recovering expat based in DC. After living and working in Asia for five years, she considers it a second home. She is a Masters of Arts in Biblical Studies student at RTS, Washington, and serves as a deaconess in her church, Grace DC Downtown.

Reviews

Goodreads review by Aaron on October 16, 2023

How can outsiders find a home in the church? In The Gift of the Outsider, Alicia J. Akins writes what living in the margins teaches us about faith. In just over 200 pages, this book celebrates the blessings found in unbelonging while calling Christians to love and listen to the outcasts of this worl......more

Goodreads review by Michelle on September 01, 2023

This thought-provoking, soul-stretching, wise, prophetic book is about the gifts outsiders bring to us as individuals, church communities, and cultures. Excellent reflection questions at the end of each chapter call us to apply and live the message. We will not mature, nor will we learn to see beyon......more

Goodreads review by Dorothy on September 22, 2023

Akins' brilliance as a writer/thinker shines through here. She leans on her experiences as one often living on the margins to explore the inherent value such individuals can bring to relationships and institutions. This book will not only validate those who, like Akins, find themselves living as out......more

Goodreads review by Prasanta on November 15, 2023

Akins presents us with a thoughtful and wise offering on the gifts of being an outsider. The author draws from her own experiences of being an outsider in several contexts, such as in places of worship and in other countries and cultures. We're presented also with the gifts of suffering, and are cha......more

Goodreads review by Letitia on March 21, 2024

I was so pleased to read this second book by Alicia Akins, and honestly, I got way more out of it. It is undoubtedly somewhat due to content, because let's face it, when have I not felt like an outsider? But it's also because Akins has clearly grown as a writer and I found the maturity of her writin......more

Add to Cart
Add to Wish List