Faith That Hurts, Faith That Heals

Arterburn and Felton wrote this book for people who have been hurt by religious institutions, and it shows in the care and pastoral warmth they bring to a genuinely difficult subject. The concept of toxic faith — using religion to avoid reality or control others — is clearly defined and compassionately explained, and the book helped establish language that Christian counseling still uses today. The 1992 context makes some institutional examples feel dated, but the core framework holds up.