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Nerd Faith: 60 Second Sprints of Spiritual Guidance for the Occasionally Uncool
Not yet published
Expected 5 May 26From TikTok's Nerdy Priest comes thoughtful and inspirational reflections on large theological questions through the lens of pop culture.
In a series of short, easily digestible questions and answers, Faith and Fandom aims to provide alternative perspective on big theological questions. True to her handle, she draws inspiration from her Ph.D. in Medieval Studies and her favorite books, movies, and shows, such as The Chronicles of Narnia, Star Wars, Star Trek, Ted Lasso, E.T., and more, to deliver relatable, bite-sized sermons in a fun and engaging tone.
Following four key themes of Wonder, Faith, Hope, and Love, and with topics ranging from Biblical authority and contradictions, deconstructing and reconstructing Christianity, what it means to love our enemies, and more, Rachel Kessler, offers spiritual reflections to show glimpses of God’s wonder and mystery. She tackles questions about her understanding of the Trinity or the Virgin Birth, how she understands Jesus's crucifixion beyond a substitutionary punishment for our sins, what faith means to her, and more. Meant for people who believe in or struggle with Christianity, either as Christians or ex-Christians, as well as the spiritually curious, Faith and Fandom perfectly combines theology and pop culture as an easy entrance into important spiritual topics.
In a series of short, easily digestible questions and answers, Faith and Fandom aims to provide alternative perspective on big theological questions. True to her handle, she draws inspiration from her Ph.D. in Medieval Studies and her favorite books, movies, and shows, such as The Chronicles of Narnia, Star Wars, Star Trek, Ted Lasso, E.T., and more, to deliver relatable, bite-sized sermons in a fun and engaging tone.
Following four key themes of Wonder, Faith, Hope, and Love, and with topics ranging from Biblical authority and contradictions, deconstructing and reconstructing Christianity, what it means to love our enemies, and more, Rachel Kessler, offers spiritual reflections to show glimpses of God’s wonder and mystery. She tackles questions about her understanding of the Trinity or the Virgin Birth, how she understands Jesus's crucifixion beyond a substitutionary punishment for our sins, what faith means to her, and more. Meant for people who believe in or struggle with Christianity, either as Christians or ex-Christians, as well as the spiritually curious, Faith and Fandom perfectly combines theology and pop culture as an easy entrance into important spiritual topics.
176 pages, Paperback
Expected publication May 5, 2026
7 people want to read
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Review of advance copy received from Netgalley
Once in awhile, I find myself getting a little grief because the vast majority of my reviews lean toward the positive. It's not so much that I'm inherently positive, though I suppose I suppose I do lean toward optimism. Instead, I think it comes down to the fact that I know what I like to read and I tend to have pretty darn good discernment about books that I'll connect to in one way or another.
On occasion, however, a book surprises me by either not being what I expected and/or simply being a book with which I simply couldn't connect.
Rachel Kessler's "Nerd Faith: 60 Second Sprints of Spiritual Guidance for the Occasionally Uncool" may very well fall into both of those categories for me.
To be sure, I wasn't familiar with Kessler, apparently known as the TikTok Priest, before picking up "Nerd Faith." As someone who regularly gets ARCs from this publisher, Morehouse Publishing, I have a really great track record with them and am consistently in the 4-5 star range when it comes down to reviews. "Nerd Faith," which must have originally been known as "Faith & Fandom" given the current book cover on Goodreads, looked like it would be an engaging, somewhat breezy, and fun read. Truthfully, I read a lot of books around faith and the genre could use a little more fun.
Early on, I struggled to connect with "Nerd Faith." This was partly because I wasn't quite grasping the "60 Second Sprints" and partly because I just couldn't tell if this was supposed to be light reading or soundbyte theological reading. The cover looks fun, for sure, but I kept feeling like "Nerd Faith" couldn't decide what it was supposed to be.
I suppose the obvious thing here is that "Nerd Faith" is comprised of 60-second essays centered around four themes - wonder, faith, hope, and love. Kessler has a Ph.D. in Medieval Studies and it shows, though she really keeps the core focus on pop culture by grabbing her inspiration from the likes of The Chronicles of Narnia, Star Wars, Star Trek, E.T., Ted Lasso, and a whole lot more. These essays read in such a way that they likely play incredibly well on TikTok, though over the course of an entire book, even a relatively short one, I found myself wanting more.
I'm not sure I ever fully accepted these mini-essays as "spiritual reflections," though they are certainly centered around Biblical topics and a sort of reconstructed Christianity. As a minister who has led worship services at sci-fi conventions, there's undeniably an audience for a book like "Nerd Faith." Heck, I expected to be that audience. However, I truly just never connected to it in a meaningful way.
Did I hate it? Absolutely not. There were essays I enjoyed and even times I felt engaged along the way. However, for the most part "Nerd Faith" never lured me in and simply never grabbed me liked I'd hoped it would.
"Nerd Faith" is an intriguing idea that feels like it got whittled down into something more palatable for the easily triggered Christian reader. It reads safer than I would expect a book named "Nerd Faith" to be.
On occasion, however, a book surprises me by either not being what I expected and/or simply being a book with which I simply couldn't connect.
Rachel Kessler's "Nerd Faith: 60 Second Sprints of Spiritual Guidance for the Occasionally Uncool" may very well fall into both of those categories for me.
To be sure, I wasn't familiar with Kessler, apparently known as the TikTok Priest, before picking up "Nerd Faith." As someone who regularly gets ARCs from this publisher, Morehouse Publishing, I have a really great track record with them and am consistently in the 4-5 star range when it comes down to reviews. "Nerd Faith," which must have originally been known as "Faith & Fandom" given the current book cover on Goodreads, looked like it would be an engaging, somewhat breezy, and fun read. Truthfully, I read a lot of books around faith and the genre could use a little more fun.
Early on, I struggled to connect with "Nerd Faith." This was partly because I wasn't quite grasping the "60 Second Sprints" and partly because I just couldn't tell if this was supposed to be light reading or soundbyte theological reading. The cover looks fun, for sure, but I kept feeling like "Nerd Faith" couldn't decide what it was supposed to be.
I suppose the obvious thing here is that "Nerd Faith" is comprised of 60-second essays centered around four themes - wonder, faith, hope, and love. Kessler has a Ph.D. in Medieval Studies and it shows, though she really keeps the core focus on pop culture by grabbing her inspiration from the likes of The Chronicles of Narnia, Star Wars, Star Trek, E.T., Ted Lasso, and a whole lot more. These essays read in such a way that they likely play incredibly well on TikTok, though over the course of an entire book, even a relatively short one, I found myself wanting more.
I'm not sure I ever fully accepted these mini-essays as "spiritual reflections," though they are certainly centered around Biblical topics and a sort of reconstructed Christianity. As a minister who has led worship services at sci-fi conventions, there's undeniably an audience for a book like "Nerd Faith." Heck, I expected to be that audience. However, I truly just never connected to it in a meaningful way.
Did I hate it? Absolutely not. There were essays I enjoyed and even times I felt engaged along the way. However, for the most part "Nerd Faith" never lured me in and simply never grabbed me liked I'd hoped it would.
"Nerd Faith" is an intriguing idea that feels like it got whittled down into something more palatable for the easily triggered Christian reader. It reads safer than I would expect a book named "Nerd Faith" to be.
Displaying 1 of 1 review