Nadia Bolz-Weber

Nadia Bolz-Weber (born April 22, 1969) is an author, Lutheran minister and public theologian. She served as the founding pastor of House for All Sinners and Saints, a congregation of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America in Denver, Colorado, until July 8, 2018.[1] She is also a three-time New York Times bestselling author.[2]

Nadia Bolz-Weber
Born
Nadia Bolz

(1969-04-22) April 22, 1969
NationalityAmerican
Education
OccupationPublic Theologian
Spouse(s)Matthew Bolz-Weber (1996–2016)
ChurchEvangelical Lutheran Church in America
Ordained2008
WritingsPastrix: The Cranky, Beautiful Faith of a Sinner & Saint, Accidental Saints: Finding God in All the Wrong People, Salvation on the Small Screen? 24 Hours of Christian Television
Congregations served
House for All Sinners and Saints
Websitewww.nadiabolzweber.com

Bolz-Weber is known for her unusual approach to reaching others through her church.[3] Heavily tattooed, her work in the church is considered part of "a new Reformation" by scholar and writer Diana Butler Bass.[4]

Biography

Bolz-Weber grew up in Colorado Springs with a fundamentalist Christian family.[5]

In 1986, at age 17, Bolz-Weber started getting tattoos, and the ones on her arms mark the liturgical year and the story of the Gospel. Bolz-Weber briefly attended Pepperdine University before dropping out and moving to Denver.[6] She says that she became an alcoholic and drug abuser and often felt like one of "society's outsiders".

By 1991, Bolz-Weber became sober and, as of 2020, has remained so for twenty eight years.[5] Prior to her ordination, she was a stand-up comedian and worked in the restaurant industry.[7]

Bolz-Weber felt that she heard the call to service in 2004 when she was asked to eulogize a friend who had committed suicide.[8] In 2008, Bolz-Weber was ordained as a pastor.[7] She started her own church, the House for All Sinners and Saints, which is often shortened to just House.[8] One third of her church is part of the LGBT community, and she also has a "Minister of Fabulousness", Stuart, who is a drag queen.[6] Her church is also very welcoming to people with drug addiction, depression, and even those who are not believers of her faith.[9] Bolz-Weber spends nearly twenty hours each week writing her weekly ten-minute sermon.[7]

A feminist, in 2018 she called for women to send her their purity rings to be melted down into a vagina sculpture as part of healing the psychic damage of the purity movement of the 1990s.[10][11] At the Makers conference on Valentine's Day, February 14, 2019, Bolz-Weber gave the sculpture to American feminist and political activist Gloria Steinem.[12]

Bolz-Weber speaks at conferences across the world.[13][8] She has also given talks about how faith and feminism can co-exist.[14]

Books
  • Salvation on the small screen?: 24 hours of Christian television. New York : Seabury Books, 2008. ISBN 9781596270862, OCLC 221174864
  • Pastrix: the cranky, beautiful faith of a sinner & saint, New York ; Boston ; Nashville : Jericho Books, 2014. ISBN 9781455527076, OCLC 868044878
  • Accidental Saints: finding god in all the wrong people. Convergent, 2016. ISBN 9781601427564, OCLC 934193175
  • Shameless: A Sexual Reformation. Convergent Books, January 2019. ISBN 978-1601427588, OCLC 1035435905.

References
  1. Suderman, Brenda (2013-09-28). "Sinner and a saint". Winnipeg Free Press (MB), September 28, 2013, p D15 Abstract: Call her cranky, call her a sinner, but please don't call Lutheran minister Nadia Bolz-Weber "pastrix".
  2. http://www.nadiabolzweber.com/
  3. Green, Emma (3 September 2015). "Why Every Church Needs a Drag Queen". The Atlantic. Retrieved September 29, 2015.
  4. Sentilles, Sarah (5 March 2012). "My Take: Five Women In Religion to Watch". CNN. Retrieved September 29, 2015.
  5. O'Connor, Colleen (10 September 2015). "Nadia Bolz-Weber, Tattooed 'Pastrix,' Ministers to Sinners and Saints". The Denver Post. Retrieved 2015-09-29.
  6. Little, Jane (6 July 2015). "Nadia Bolz Weber: A Pastor For America's Outsiders". BBC News. Retrieved 29 September 2015.
  7. Draper, Electa (April 23, 2011). "Pastor turns heads by blending tradition and irreverence: Guided by Resurrection, and a dose of insurrection". Denver Post. Denver, Colorado: Digital First Media. Retrieved November 4, 2013.
  8. Michelle Boorstein (2013-11-03). "Bolz-Weber's liberal, foulmouthed articulation of Christianity speaks to fed-up believers". Washington Post. Retrieved 2013-11-04.
  9. Gross, Terry (17 September 2015). "Lutheran Minister Preaches A Gospel Of Love To Junkies, Drag Queens And Outsiders". NPR. Retrieved 2015-09-29.
  10. Mouser, Jessica (November 29, 2018). "Pastor to Make Controversial Sculpture Out of Purity Rings". Church Leaders.
  11. https://www.huffpost.com/entry/purity-rings-vulva-sculpture-nadia-bolz-weber_n_5c63354ee4b07115222adfc5
  12. Kuruvilla, Carol (14 February 2019). "Feminist Pastor Unveils Vulva Sculpture Made Of Old Purity Rings". Huffington Post. Retrieved February 24, 2019.
  13. Preyss, Jennifer. "Revelations: Nontraditional 'Pastrix' preaches to reporter", Victoria Advocate (TX) October 11, 2013
  14. https://www.makers.com/videos/5b032422c269d6796835e567
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