Real Austin: The Homeless and the Image of God

Synopsis: Christianity is simple. Love God. Love your neighbor. The rest is commentary. Simple in theory becomes much more difficult when your neighbor is a man in a dress who stinks like urine and a decaying unwashed body. And yet thats exactly who you find on a downtown bus: the homeless the unsavory the just plain weird. Drawing on the wisdom of the Desert Fathers and Mothers this book explores one womans complex and ambivalent interactions with the homeless. Stories about a persistent failure to acknowledge and honor the humanity of the homeless are evidence of the pervasive reality of human sin. But at the same time there are moments of genuine kindness and humanity that stand as reminders that God brings new life from the brokenness of sin. These stories of days spent on a downtown bus move from unflinching self-reflection to a new awareness of Gods presence. This is where the abstract becomes local and where theology finally gets real. Endorsements: Annie Vocature Bullocks honest gritty storytelling is a gift to be savored! In this beautiful tapestry of narrative theology and culture Bullocks insights are woven into a volume that inspires challenges and transforms. --Margot Starbuck www.MargotStarbuck.com Author of Small Things with Great Love: Adventures in Loving Your Neighbor (2011) Through her engaging style and vivid stories of the homeless men and women encountered on the city bus Annie Bullock invites the reader into a deeper understanding of sin--not the sin of the homeless not the sin of the system but her own sin. With tremendous candor and humility Annie names her sin and our sin--the sin of not seeing the divine or even seeing the human in another person. --Wendy McCaig founder and executive director of Embrace Richmond Author of From the Sanctuary to the Streets: How the Dreams of One Citys Homeless Sparked a Faith Revolution that Transformed a Community (2010) Author Biography: Annie Vocature Bullock is an adjunct faculty member at St. Edwards University and teaches at Regents School of Austin a Classical Christian high school in Austin Texas.