{"product_id":"god-in-captivity-by-tanya-erzen","title":"God In Captivity by Tanya Erzen","description":"\u003cp class=\"p1\"\u003eIt is by now well known that the United States' incarceration rate is the highest in the world. What is not broadly understood is that cash-strapped and overcrowded state and federal prisons increasingly rely on religious organizations to provide educational and mental health services. Some twenty thousand of these evangelical Christian volunteers run educational programs in over three hundred US. prisons, jails, and detention centers. Tanya Erzen gained inside access to many of these programs, spending time with prisoners, war-dens, and members of faith-based ministries in six states, at both male and female peni-tentiaries. With empathy and a critical eye, God in Captivity grapples with the questions of how faith-based programs serve the punitive regime of prison, becoming a method of control behind bars even as prisoners use them as a lifeline for self-transformation and dignity.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"p1\"\u003e\"Erzen is a talented writer whose prose is accessible and easy to digest, and she never dodges the complexities and rigor of her subject. This is an enlightening and unflinching examination of the tragedies of mass incarceration and the complicated role that faith-based ministries play in prisoner rehabilitation and the beliefs around it.\"\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"p1\"\u003e-PUBLISHERS WEEKLY, starred review\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"p1\"\u003e\"For those who operate within the carceral complex, this book is an important read. For those who seek to better understand the complicated ways in which religion and incarceration mingle, it is a required read.\"\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"p1\"\u003eCHRISTOPHER ZOUKIS, New York Journal of Books\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"p1\"\u003eTANYA ERZEN is an associate professor of religion and gender studies at the University of Puget Sound and the executive director of the freedom Education Project Puget Sound, a nonprofit that provides a college education for incarcerated women. A former Soros Justice Media Fellow, she is the author of Straight to Jesus, Fanpire, and Zero Tolerance.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Bethlehem Books","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":53403683455087,"sku":null,"price":20.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"url":"https:\/\/bethlehembookstore.com\/products\/god-in-captivity-by-tanya-erzen","provider":"Bethlehem Books","version":"1.0","type":"link"}