Making sense of an immigrant Christian upbringing, with Arthur Boers

Arthur Boers, an Ontario professor and pastor, is the author of the memoir Shattered: A Son Picks Up the Pieces of His Father’s Rage (Eerdmans, 2023), which reflects on coming of age in 1960s and 1970s Canada in a Dutch Calvinist immigrant family scarred by the Nazi occupation and outbursts of violence passed from father to son.

His journey included leaving the Reformed tradition in which he was raised for the peace-oriented Mennonite tradition and now worshipping in a liturgical Anglican tradition. On the podcast he talks with host Bill Fledderus about the benefits of being curious about how our upbringings shaped us, particularly our faith and our idea of gender roles.

Arthur Boers is an Anglican priest and author of several award-winning books, including:

  • The Way Is Made by Walking: A Pilgrimage Along the Camino de Santiago
  • Living into Focus: Choosing What Matters in an Age of Distractions
  • Servants and Fools: A Biblical Theology of Leadership.

He holds a DMin from Northern Baptist Theological Seminary and an MFA from Seattle Pacific University. He has also pastored in urban, suburban, rural and inner-city settings in Ontario and the Midwest and taught at several seminaries.