ABOUT TYLER BLANSKI
Tyler Blanski is a writer, musician, and public speaker. He is the author of “An Immovable Feast: How I Gave Up Spirituality for a Life of Religious Abundance” (Ignatius), “When Donkeys Talk: Rediscover the Mystery and Wonder of Christianity” (Zondervan), and “Mud & Poetry: Love, Sex, and the Sacred” (Fresh Air Books). He has produced two music albums, “Out from the Darkness” and “Think Out Loud”. Tyler lives in Minnesota with his wife and two children.
ENDORSEMENTS
“Blanski draws us in with a welcome and humble hand.”
“Expect great things from this man!”
“One of today’s best young Catholic writers.”
“With converts as articulate as Tyler Blanski, the Church is in excellent shape.”
“This book reads like poetry, entertains like satire, and convicts as only the truth can convict. It is a marvel of charity and a prodigy of style.”
“It is rare to find a conversion story that is not only great theology, but great literature. Enjoy Blanski’s poetic prose as he leads you to the beauty ever ancient, every new.”
“Quietly subversive, prompting the reader to see things differently, and suggesting that sometimes turning one’s world upside-down is the only way to put things right-side-up.”
“Blanski’s creative style and well-reasoned points make rediscovering God’s glory an enchanting adventure.”
“Tyler Blanski adores Jesus and downright loves Christianity, the historical kind. He holds his faith up like a flaming torch in the face of scientism and secularism. His book is a wild and joyous ride.”
“Tyler Blanski proves he’s not only a singer; he can also write…by turns zesty, grave, funny, airy, and frank.”
“In equal measure charming and mischievous, When Donkeys Talk invites us to engage a Christian world more real than our constructs of it, and Tyler Blanski shows himself a winsome voice yearning hopefully for a Christian renaissance.”
“In a bizarre text from the book of Numbers, God spoke to a guy named Balaam through his donkey. In this book, Tyler reminds us that God spoke to Balaam through his ass, and God’s been speaking through asses ever since. It’s an invitation to let God blow your mind, confound your logic, shatter your boxes, and leave you marveling at how small our imaginations are and how big our God is.”
“Tyler Blanski…is sure to grab hold of your heart and not let it go.”
“In honest, engaging and compelling prose, Blanski provides a wonderful witness to the power of the Gospel.”
“Tyler Blanski provides a welcomed, cheerful, insightful and faithful model of how to be an intelligent, joyful Catholic in the midst of a very confused culture.”
“Tyler Blanski has written an imaginative and persuasive apology for a Christianity in which God is not an afterthought, Christ is the indispensable key to creation, and the unexamined metaphors of modern secularism are never allowed to drown out the radical language of the Gospel.
“Deep, sometimes disturbing, always delightful, Blanski’s journey into God’s miraculous world leads to a moving encounter with the most astounding miracle of all, the Christ. This is a compelling Pilgrim’s Progress for today, uncovering divine truth in a way that will challenge modern readers, but also invite them into a landscape of powerful beauty they have secretly been longing to inhabit. A book to savor and to share.”
“Tyler Blanski’s crazy-ass story of the ancient-future faith reconnoiters the old-growth forests of Middle Age Christendom and discovers there that the holy lurks in every corner. Funny, insightful, and compelling, When Donkeys Talk is a faithful guide into a world of miracles, mystery, and Eucharist, leading a new generation toward a holy renaissance of the saints of yore.”
“As rich in insight as it is in wit, When Donkeys Talk is a deadly serious and God-drenched romp through some of our faith’s most tangled and most enchanted theological forests. A real tour d’ force!”
“Tyler Blanski beckons us to a ‘holy renaissance’ in When Donkeys Talk. He weaves together a many threaded tapestry that calls us back to the ‘deep magic’ of a earthy, deeply abiding, and living faith where donkeys talk, the universe is filled with God, stars proclaim the birth of a King, and Jesus gives himself to us in creation through water, bread, and wine. He calls us to step out of the materialism of ‘atomland’ and experience a sacramental universe filled by God and one wherein God dwells in us and we dwell in him.”
“What would it sound like if Balaam’s Ass channeled G. K. Chesterton for hipster Christians and cool skeptics? It would sound something like Tyler Blanski in When Donkeys Talk. If sound philosophy in a breezy, chatty style is your cup of tea, you will want to drink deeply from this book.”
“Tyler Blanski here works a deep magic in bringing to vivid life the riches of the sacramental vision.”
“We are living under a spell, says Tyler Blanski, a spell called atomland, the land of appearances, where all the mystery, miracle and magic have been drained out of life. Tyler introduces us to another spell, a spell of deeper magic that has the power to wake us from our slumber, freeing us to experience a more profound and captivating reality than anything we have experienced before. Take the enchanted journey with him; you may never be the same again.”
“It takes a gifted writer like Tyler Blanski not only to get away with using a talking donkey as invitation to a ‘holy renaissance,’ but also to make it seem like the best invitation you’ve gotten in years.”
“This book makes me want to stand and cheer!”
“Blanski artfully tells the story of heaven meeting earth within the drama of the human heart, a conversion story both personal and universal. Immediately relevant and instantly engaging, this beautiful book is for everyone who seeks, who loves, and who believes.”
“Witty, winsome, unapologetically faithful, Tyler Blanski offers a new turn on Christian Apologetics.”
“Who knew that you could present powerful Christian apologetics with tongue firmly in cheek? Tyler Blanski’s book does just what St. Augustine says our rhetoric should do: he informs, he persuades, and he delights.”
“Tyler Blanski’s book aims to challenge anyone whose God is too safe and too small, which includes me. He dares us to be so bold as to countenance miracles.”
“Honest, whimsical, deeply theological, at times even comical and very accessible. Tyler is a contemporary apologist of an unusual sort, in an era that claims that apologetics are dead. Not so! In the light of the Gospel he helps us think about and call to account many issues at play in today’s culture; casting a vision for a different God-filled way of living.”
“Blanski is on a mission to shake up Christianity…his edgy and hip prose breathe new life.”
“Tyler Blanski is a fresh voice in faith and spirituality. He is a friend and well worth listening to.”
“I’m pretty sure the good Augustine would resonate with Tyler Blanski’s 21st-century confessions.”
“Blanski is a voice we should listen to.”
“Filled with grace, intelligence, and integrity, [Blanski] shows us that St. Augustine’s prayer is as true today as it was over 1500 years ago when he first uttered it: ‘You have made us for Yourself, Oh Lord, and our hearts are restless until they rest in Thee.’”
“Blanski’s book, told in gritty, lyrical language, welcomes you to delve into the messy and wonderful expressions of Christian sex and marriage. He shows that a Christian single’s walk of faith can be a purposeful journey into a deeper communion with Christ. Blanski understands that the through-thick-and-thin promise is fulfilled in moments of joys, trials, everydayness, and grace. As one happily married for thirty-plus years, I can say he got it right. He beautifully illustrates the duality of humanness, that we are both mud and poetry: needy biology and a spiritual, creative reflection of our Creator.”
“Tyler Blanski speaks for many people in today’s culture as he shares his unlikely journey of finding true spiritual freedom in religion.”
“[Blanski’s writing] has everything: searing honesty, theological depth, a prose style that at times reaches the heights of poetry, and an all-pervasive sense of humour.”
“Engaging transparency, sparkling prose and crisp enthusiasm.”
“I knew I had found a kindred spirit… In his quest for the true richness of Christian faith, I saw my own journey mirrored. I was so inspired and reawakened to the beauty of our faith through this wonderful book and I would highly recommend it no matter where you are in your journey, interested in a pilgrimage, traveling through the dark ancient forests of Christianity, or ready to reach journey’s end.”
“Teachers are especially proud when their pupils write good books. When Donkeys Talk is now the second time Tyler Blanski has made me especially proud. His latest book is clear, clever, articulate, insightful, and memorable. It’s classical spirituality dressed in modern garments and spoken in accessible language. In short, it’s very, very good.”
“Can a young single Christian guy write a great book about sex and marriage? Tyler Blanski has done it! This book is fun but practical, very well-written, with a wonderful lyrical rhythm. Even an old fart like me, married for thirty-two years, found it helpful.”
“It has been a very great pleasure indeed to read [Tyler Blanski], so many pages of perfect prose! Of the many testimonials from Evangelical Christian believers who have found their way into the ancient Catholic Church, I would place Mr. Blanski’s work at the very top. I highly recommend it.”
“How many times have you heard someone say, “I’m spiritual without being religious.” Now you have a response: hand them this book.”
“Elegantly written and engagingly honest, this is a stirring account of one man’s struggles to ‘taste and see’ the Body of Christ with ever-increasing levels of sensitivity and sincerity.”
“Replete with humor, wisdom, and verve, Tyler Blanski intertwines the fascinating personal journey of a modern young hipster with hard-won insights on the timeless truths sought out by every generation. His story can inspire people of all ages to spit out the superficial spirituality so often served up today and feast upon the joyful abundance of fulfilling and life-transforming religion.”
“Blanski reads as the best theologians have read through the centuries: seeing Scripture as a complex unity, reading in the company of the saints and for the sake of entering into the kingdom of God.”