"Dr. Carlier's new book is a wonderful addition to pastoral care and systematic theology. She provides a much needed corrective to models of addiction that focus on blame by appealing to the lived experiences of addicts. She offers a fierce indictment of the way some atonement theories have exacerbated the suffering of addicts and proposes a refreshing antidote. As is often the case, the news from the "basement" makes available life-giving insight to the human condition and to theology's role in addressing human suffering."

—Wendy Farley, Rice Family Chair of Spirituality, San Francisco Theological Seminary

"At once theologically acute and pastorally wise, Jennifer Carlier's Finding God in the Basement merits a place at the center of conversations about how church communities can better respond to persons with addictions. The chapters on the impact of atonement theories on persons' ability to recover from addiction alone are worth the read. Carlier, however, follows up these chapters with deeply informed recommendations for how church communities can alter their own practices in order to become more hospitable to all, including their own members. 48.5 million people in the United States have addictions; churches cannot be churches without following the many insights that Carlier offers."

—Todd Whitmore, Associate Professor of Theology and Anthropology, University of Notre Dame

"There is no shortage of books on addiction, or even on addiction and the church, but none of them provides the kind of sustained reflection on Christian faith and practice found in Finding God in the Basement.  Carlier's argument, at once existentially gripping and theologically astute, offers a vision of salvation for those living with addiction that is as realistic in its analysis as it is uncompromising in its hope."

—Ian A. McFarland, Robert W. Woodruff Professor of Theology, Emory University; <

"Filled with beautiful writing, insightful critique, and concrete suggestions, Finding God in the Basement represents the very best of constructive theology oriented toward liberation and healing. Dr. Carlier offers crucial theological analysis of beliefs and practices that exacerbate shame and undermine recovery. In their stead, she highlights models and metaphors that sustain practices of healing. Finding God in the Basement is a gift to all who struggle with addiction and to the loved ones and church communities journeying with them."

—Ellen Ott Marshall, Professor of Christian Ethics and Conflict Transformation, Candler School of Theology

"Theological treatments of addiction are limited, especially ones which single out a particular doctrine as a culprit.  But Jennifer Carlier does just this, asserting that the ‘penal substitutionary’ view of the atonement (that God needs recompense for our sin in order to forgive us) is the very thing which keeps people with addiction mired in shame and guilt. She suggests that only the 'bondage of the will' aspect of original sin makes sense for sufferers. Replete with her own and others' personal stories, this book makes a good case for a more liberative theology."

—Rev. Dr. Linda Mercadante, Ph.D., Distinguished Research Professor Emerita, Methodist Theological School in Ohio, founder of HealthyBeliefs.org

"There are two kinds of people in the United States: those who feel the crushing crisis of addiction and those who will soon. Jennifer Carlier provides a much-needed resource for Christians of all kinds, offering a medical and scientific understanding of addiction, a theological grounding for the challenge, and a framework of hope for recovery. This book will undoubtedly find its way out of the basement and into seminaries, as well as into the hands of church leaders across the country. The story told is about more than addiction and recovery, but about the journey everyone must make from a place of bondage to a new life of freedom."

—Timothy McMahan King, author of Addiction Nation: What The Opioid Crisis Reveals About Us