
Motherhood
A Confession
Failed to add items
Add to Cart failed.
Add to Wish List failed.
Remove from wishlist failed.
Adding to library failed
Follow podcast failed
Unfollow podcast failed
$0.99/mo for the first 3 months

Buy for $17.19
No default payment method selected.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
-
Narrated by:
-
Sarah Zimmerman
-
By:
-
Natalie Carnes
About this listen
What if Augustine's Confessions had been written not by a man, but by a mother? How might her tales of desire, temptation, and transformation differ from his? In this memoir, Natalie Carnes describes giving birth to a daughter and beginning a story of conversion strikingly unlike Augustine's - even as his journey becomes a surprising companion to her own.
The challenges Carnes recounts will be familiar to many parents. She wonders what and how much she should ask her daughter to suffer in resisting racism, patriarchy, and injustice. She wrestles with an impulse to compel her child to flourish, and reflects on what this desire reveals about human freedom. She negotiates the conflicting demands of a religiously divided home, a working motherhood, and a variety of social expectations, and traces the hopes and anxieties such negotiations expose.
The demands of motherhood continually open for her new modes of reflection about deep Christian commitments and age-old human questions. Addressing first her child and then her God, Carnes narrates how a child she once held within her body grows increasingly separate, provoking painful but generative change. Having given birth, she finds that she herself is reborn.
©2020 Board of Trustees of the Leland Standford Junior University (P)2020 TantorListeners also enjoyed...
-
Reading with Patrick
- A Teacher, a Student, and a Life-Changing Friendship
- By: Michelle Kuo
- Narrated by: Michelle Kuo
- Length: 8 hrs and 29 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Recently graduated from Harvard University, Michelle Kuo arrived in the rural town of Helena, Arkansas, as a Teach for America volunteer, bursting with optimism and drive. But she soon encountered the jarring realities of life in one of the poorest counties in America, still disabled by the legacy of slavery and Jim Crow. In this stirring memoir, Kuo, the child of Taiwanese immigrants, shares the story of her complicated but rewarding mentorship of one student, Patrick Browning.
-
-
Fantastic book with an upsetting reminder we have much to do
- By Lorraine Salmon on 11-14-17
By: Michelle Kuo
-
Showing: What Pregnancy Tells Us About Being Human
- By: Agnes R. Howard
- Narrated by: Kate Rudd
- Length: 6 hrs and 47 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When we talk about pregnancy, we too often end up talking clinically and sentimentally. Pregnancy is medical details and a whirl of emotions. It is vitamins and baby showers and feelings. But it is so much more. In Showing, Agnes Howard takes us beyond clinical reductionism and fluffy sentimentality to show us how to take pregnancy seriously as hard but important work. It is not just a bodily process, she argues, but an active work of care - one that underscores the generosity and mutual dependence we all require in order to live.
By: Agnes R. Howard
-
Prayer in the Night
- For Those Who Work or Watch or Weep
- By: Tish Harrison Warren
- Narrated by: Sarah Zimmerman
- Length: 5 hrs and 57 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Framed around the nighttime prayer of Compline, Tish Harrison Warren, author of Liturgy of the Ordinary, explores themes of human vulnerability, suffering, and God's seeming absence. Where do we find comfort when we lie awake worrying or weeping in the night? This book offers a prayerful and frank approach to the difficulties in our ordinary lives at work, at home, and in a world filled with uncertainty.
-
-
Loved it.
- By Jenny M. on 08-27-21
-
Flow
- The Ancient Way to Do Contemporary Worship
- By: Lester Ruth
- Narrated by: David Cochran Heath
- Length: 4 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
This practical, how-to book will help churches plan and implement passionate and invigorating worship. Step by step, author Lester Ruth and contributors Zachary Barnes, Andrew Eastes, Jonathan Ottaway, Adam Perez, Glenn Stallsmith, and Deborah Wong break down the process of re-thinking what the official or recommended order of worship is truly suggesting, so pastors and worship leaders can plan and lead a service of Word and Table that feels genuinely relevant and attuned to the congregation's culture.
By: Lester Ruth
-
The Lives We Actually Have
- 100 Blessings for Imperfect Days
- By: Kate Bowler, Jessica Richie
- Narrated by: Kate Bowler, Jessica Richie
- Length: 3 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
We live in a world that demands relentless perfection. Happy marriages and easy friendships. Bucket list–level adventures and matching family photos. But what if our actual lives don’t feel very #blessed? Might our everyday existence be worthy of a blessing too? Even an average Tuesday?
-
-
A reminder to bless everything
- By Julie Moore on 12-27-24
By: Kate Bowler, and others
-
Looking East in Winter
- Contemporary Thought and the Eastern Christian Tradition
- By: Rowan Williams
- Narrated by: Elliot Fitzpatrick
- Length: 9 hrs and 13 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In many ways, we seem to be living in wintry times at present in the Western world. In this new book, Rowan Williams, former Archbishop of Canterbury and a noted scholar of Eastern Christianity, introduces us to some aspects and personalities of the Orthodox Christian world, from the desert contemplatives of the fourth century to philosophers, novelists and activists of the modern era, that suggest where we might look for fresh light and warmth.
-
-
Beautiful and Rich Exemplification of Eastern Christian thought
- By Ushiwaka on 12-17-23
By: Rowan Williams
-
Reading with Patrick
- A Teacher, a Student, and a Life-Changing Friendship
- By: Michelle Kuo
- Narrated by: Michelle Kuo
- Length: 8 hrs and 29 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Recently graduated from Harvard University, Michelle Kuo arrived in the rural town of Helena, Arkansas, as a Teach for America volunteer, bursting with optimism and drive. But she soon encountered the jarring realities of life in one of the poorest counties in America, still disabled by the legacy of slavery and Jim Crow. In this stirring memoir, Kuo, the child of Taiwanese immigrants, shares the story of her complicated but rewarding mentorship of one student, Patrick Browning.
-
-
Fantastic book with an upsetting reminder we have much to do
- By Lorraine Salmon on 11-14-17
By: Michelle Kuo
-
Showing: What Pregnancy Tells Us About Being Human
- By: Agnes R. Howard
- Narrated by: Kate Rudd
- Length: 6 hrs and 47 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When we talk about pregnancy, we too often end up talking clinically and sentimentally. Pregnancy is medical details and a whirl of emotions. It is vitamins and baby showers and feelings. But it is so much more. In Showing, Agnes Howard takes us beyond clinical reductionism and fluffy sentimentality to show us how to take pregnancy seriously as hard but important work. It is not just a bodily process, she argues, but an active work of care - one that underscores the generosity and mutual dependence we all require in order to live.
By: Agnes R. Howard
-
Prayer in the Night
- For Those Who Work or Watch or Weep
- By: Tish Harrison Warren
- Narrated by: Sarah Zimmerman
- Length: 5 hrs and 57 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Framed around the nighttime prayer of Compline, Tish Harrison Warren, author of Liturgy of the Ordinary, explores themes of human vulnerability, suffering, and God's seeming absence. Where do we find comfort when we lie awake worrying or weeping in the night? This book offers a prayerful and frank approach to the difficulties in our ordinary lives at work, at home, and in a world filled with uncertainty.
-
-
Loved it.
- By Jenny M. on 08-27-21
-
Flow
- The Ancient Way to Do Contemporary Worship
- By: Lester Ruth
- Narrated by: David Cochran Heath
- Length: 4 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
This practical, how-to book will help churches plan and implement passionate and invigorating worship. Step by step, author Lester Ruth and contributors Zachary Barnes, Andrew Eastes, Jonathan Ottaway, Adam Perez, Glenn Stallsmith, and Deborah Wong break down the process of re-thinking what the official or recommended order of worship is truly suggesting, so pastors and worship leaders can plan and lead a service of Word and Table that feels genuinely relevant and attuned to the congregation's culture.
By: Lester Ruth
-
The Lives We Actually Have
- 100 Blessings for Imperfect Days
- By: Kate Bowler, Jessica Richie
- Narrated by: Kate Bowler, Jessica Richie
- Length: 3 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
We live in a world that demands relentless perfection. Happy marriages and easy friendships. Bucket list–level adventures and matching family photos. But what if our actual lives don’t feel very #blessed? Might our everyday existence be worthy of a blessing too? Even an average Tuesday?
-
-
A reminder to bless everything
- By Julie Moore on 12-27-24
By: Kate Bowler, and others
-
Looking East in Winter
- Contemporary Thought and the Eastern Christian Tradition
- By: Rowan Williams
- Narrated by: Elliot Fitzpatrick
- Length: 9 hrs and 13 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In many ways, we seem to be living in wintry times at present in the Western world. In this new book, Rowan Williams, former Archbishop of Canterbury and a noted scholar of Eastern Christianity, introduces us to some aspects and personalities of the Orthodox Christian world, from the desert contemplatives of the fourth century to philosophers, novelists and activists of the modern era, that suggest where we might look for fresh light and warmth.
-
-
Beautiful and Rich Exemplification of Eastern Christian thought
- By Ushiwaka on 12-17-23
By: Rowan Williams
-
Reading Black Books
- How African American Literature Can Make Our Faith More Whole and Just
- By: Claude Atcho
- Narrated by: Amir Abdullah
- Length: 8 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Learning from Black voices means listening to more than snippets. It means attending to Black stories. Reading Black Books helps Christians hear and learn from enduring Black voices and stories as captured in classic African American literature.
-
-
pure magnificent hope!
- By Lori Morrison on 09-20-22
By: Claude Atcho
-
Ragamuffin Gospel
- By: Brennan Manning
- Narrated by: Scott Brick
- Length: 6 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Many believers feel stunted in their Christian growth. We beat ourselves up over our failures and, in the process, pull away from God because we subconsciously believe He tallies our defects and hangs His head in disappointment. In this new edition - now with a foreword by Michael W. Smith, testimony by Rich Mullins and the author's own epilogue, "Ragamuffin Ten Years Later," Brennan Manning reminds us that nothing could be further from the truth.
-
-
JUST AS WE ARE, NOT AS WE 'SHOULD' BE
- By Kindle Customer...Tony Chiarilli on 08-30-12
By: Brennan Manning
-
Relentless
- The Unshakeable Presence of a God Who Never Leaves
- By: Michele Cushatt
- Narrated by: Michele Cushatt
- Length: 7 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Whether in struggle, illness, death, or failure, the presence of pain causes us to question the presence of God. We pray and watch the sky, crossing our spiritual fingers for hardcore proof of God's nearness. And in the silence, we sense something more sinister: perceived abandonment. But what if we could collect evidence that God hasn't left us? What if we could be absolutely certain of God's presence and affection, strengthening our faith against any assault? Woven throughout Scripture sits a single, extraordinary theme: God is with us.
-
-
God’s presence in the midst of suffering
- By Lisa A Stokes on 02-21-20
By: Michele Cushatt
-
(A)Typical Woman
- Free, Whole, and Called in Christ
- By: Abigail Dodds
- Narrated by: Carla Mercer-Meyer
- Length: 4 hrs and 17 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In a culture that can belittle womanhood on the one hand - making it irrelevant - and glorify it on the other - making it everything - it's hard to know what it really means to be a woman. But when we understand womanhood through the lens of scripture, we see that we need a bigger category for what God has called "woman". This book breathes fresh air into our womanhood, reminding us what life in Christ - as a woman - looks like.
-
-
I will read this over and over
- By Maddie on 12-23-21
By: Abigail Dodds
-
The Way of Saint Francis
- Teachings and Practices for Daily Life
- By: Father Murray Bodo
- Narrated by: Father Murray Bodo
- Length: 3 hrs and 1 min
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Who was medieval Italy's Francis of Assisi? Millions knew him as the saint who first received the stigmata of Christ, as a champion of the poor, and as a mystic who possessed a divine rapport with the natural world. But few know that Saint Francis also created an extraordinary system of practices to radiate a joyfulness of spirit inward to the soul and outward to the world. On The Way of Saint Francis, scholar and friar Murray Bodo reveals the life of this celebrated saint and shares specific meditations, prayers, and teachings to cultivate the 5 great keys of Franciscan spirituality: Silence, how to use inner and outer quietude to prepare a sacred dwelling place within; Purification, true forgiveness, the secret to purifying the heart; Openness, how to embrace your deeper suffering and simpler joys in the manner and spirit of Saint Francis; Response, the way of the Poor Christ, a life made rich through prayer, contemplation, and selfless service; Time, how we enter the state of the timeless divine. You will learn how to use each of these miraculous keys to open the door to the cell within - a sacred inner space of stillness and strength available to you at any time and in any situation - and to transform yourself into a true instrument of peace.
-
-
Way of St. Francis
- By Fr. Ron on 07-07-15
-
Wholehearted Faith
- By: Rachel Held Evans, Jeff Chu
- Narrated by: Daniel Jonce Evans, Jeff Chu, Jamie Wright, and others
- Length: 5 hrs and 44 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Rachel Held Evans is widely recognized for her theologically astute, profoundly honest, and beautifully personal books, which have guided, instructed, edified, and shaped Christians as they seek to live out a just and loving faith. At the time of her tragic death in 2019, Rachel was working on a new book about wholeheartedness. With the help of her close friend and author Jeff Chu, that work-in-progress has been woven together with some of her other unpublished writings into a rich collection of essays.
-
-
Orthodox but Boundary Pushing
- By Anyone on 11-14-21
By: Rachel Held Evans, and others
-
Abba's Child
- The Cry of the Heart for Intimate Belonging
- By: Brennan Manning
- Narrated by: Dan Cashman
- Length: 6 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Is an imposter robbing you of God's love? Many Christians have bought into the lie that we are worthy of God's love only when our lives are going well. If our families are happy or our jobs are meaningful, life is a success. But when life begins to fall through the cracks and embarrassing sins threaten to reveal our less-than-perfect identity, we scramble to keep up a good front to present to the world - and God. We cower and hide until we can rearrange the mask of perfection and look good again.
-
-
Mind blowing!
- By Marcia on 06-19-15
By: Brennan Manning
-
The Relentless Tenderness of Jesus
- By: Brennan Manning
- Narrated by: Arthur Morey
- Length: 7 hrs and 16 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Is God a wrathful judge? A gentle healer? A father? Brother? Friend? In The Relentless Tenderness of Jesus, Brennan Manning brings you to a deeper understanding of the true nature of God. Through poignant and unforgettable stories and challenging observations, Manning helps you stretch your mind and reject simplistic explanations of who God really is.
-
-
Beautiful, Poetic, Convincing
- By Elizabeth Doonan on 12-03-22
By: Brennan Manning
-
Be Healed
- A Guide to Encountering the Powerful Love of Jesus in Your Life
- By: Bob Schuchts
- Narrated by: George W. Sarris
- Length: 7 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Based on the popular program first used in dioceses across the United States to form the hearts and minds of Catholic clergy, Be Healed offers a trusted process for finding inner peace and healing, helping people recognize their brokenness and find hope in the risen Christ. This renowned program for spiritual restoration is steeped in scripture and the wisdom of the Catholic Church.
-
-
This is the most important book I’ve ever read(listened to)
- By Steve, Detroit on 07-19-18
By: Bob Schuchts
-
Becoming Myself
- Embracing God's Dream of You
- By: Stasi Eldredge
- Narrated by: Stasi Eldredge
- Length: 8 hrs and 18 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
God has dreams - just for you. Becoming Myself is a hope-filled audiobook for anyone who wonders if her life will ever change - if she will ever change. In Stasi Eldredge’s most intimate work yet, she shares her own struggles with self-worth, addiction, and her past as she shows listeners how God is faithfully bringing us to a life of freedom and wholeness. God desires to restore us, and he is able to restore us - the real us. As he heals our inner life he calls us to "rise to the occasion" of our lives.
-
-
Powerful!!
- By Rick on 01-25-14
By: Stasi Eldredge
-
Life of the Beloved
- Spiritual Living in a Secular World
- By: Henri J. M. Nouwen
- Narrated by: Henri J. M. Nouwen
- Length: 2 hrs and 37 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
How does one live a spiritual life in a secular world? Henri Nouwen responds from the depths of his heart to this dilemna posed by his friend Fred Bratman. Nouwen's own interpretive reading of the text lends a sense of immediacy to the audiobook.
-
-
Listening Is Life Changing
- By Rich S. on 12-27-13
-
Wrestling with God
- Finding Hope and Meaning in Our Daily Struggles to Be Human
- By: Ronald Rolheiser
- Narrated by: Walter Dixon
- Length: 4 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In Wrestling with God, Ronald Rolheiser offers a steady and inspiring voice to help us avow and understand our faith in a world where nothing seems solid or permanent. Drawing from his own life experience, as well as a storehouse of literary, psychological, and theological insights, the beloved author of Sacred Fire examines the fears and doubts that challenge us. It is in these struggles to find meaning, that Rolheiser lays out a path for faith in a world struggling to find faith, but perhaps more important, he helps us find our own rhythm within which to walk that path.
-
-
Still Wrestling
- By Joseph B Oberting on 10-13-20
By: Ronald Rolheiser