Also by this author: Gaslighted by God: Reconstructing a Disillusioned Faith
Published by Eerdmans on March 30, 2026
Genres: Non-Fiction, Christian Life
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A creative guide to reengaging with faith
In this beautifully written book, Tiffany Yecke Brooks helps readers find their way forward after faith deconstruction. She likens the process to Dante’s ascent from the underworld: when he emerges from the depths, he steps out into an expansive space where he can “rebehold the stars.” Encountering God anew is at the heart of Brooks’s approach to faith formation after deconstruction. She teaches readers how to enliven their religious vocabulary, cultivate fresh spiritual practices, recognize holiness in unexpected places, find new faith communities, and more.
Fans of Brooks’s earlier examinations of faith―Gaslighted by God and Holy Ghosted―will welcome this newest addition to her writing on the topic. Designed for both individual and group study, To Rebehold the Stars guides readers through a wide variety of exercises, practices, and disciplines to help illuminate this essential stage of the journey out of deconstruction and into a more vibrant, authentic life of faith. The book is enriched by Brooks’s passion for writing and literature, as evidenced in her lively discussions of language and apt use of literary examples. For readers yearning for creative approaches to faith reconstruction, To Rebehold the Stars points the way toward new and deeply meaningful encounters with God.
I have been a Tiffany Yecke Brooks fan since first picking up her book Gaslighted by God some years ago. That book, subtitled Reconstructing a Disillusioned Faith, spoke to any number of folks who had gone through a reckoning of their belief system and torn down toxic systems of faith. For Brooks, deconstruction wasn’t the end but the beginning. Reconstruction was the goal. In her book, she gave readers a pathway toward developing a kinder, wider, deeper faith. Her second book, Holy Ghosted, covered different methods of control found in toxic religious communities and how to respond to them in building a healthy faith. Now, in her third book To Rebehold the Stars, Tiffany Yecke Brooks offers readers a creative guide for reengaging with faith after deconstruction.
Through fifteen chapters, To Rebehold the Stars guides readers to re- something. Rename, reimagine, recognize, review, revisit, and so on. Brooks understands that returning to faith isn’t easy. For many, it’s like returning to the scene of the crime. Faith carries with it all the negative connotations of the toxic religion in your past. It’s hard to make all things new. But Brooks invites readers to revisit and redeem those places. Each chapter offers readers an opportunity to engage in a new perspective.
The title itself—To Rebehold the Stars—is taken from a line in Dante’s Inferno. As the main characters escape Hell, they emerge on the surface of the earth and “thence we came forth to rebehold the stars.” For Brooks, this new faith re-formation is like having been in Hell to now see beauty once more. That tenor vibrates throughout the whole book. Brooks writes with a zeal that is evident, exhorting exhausted and vulnerable folks who want to believe in Jesus into a space where they can co-exist with doubts and struggles and vulnerabilities. It is a book about spiritual formation meant for those who feel like they’ve dragged themselves out of Hell.
Some of the things that Brooks invites readers to reconsider in their reconstruction of faith is to consider letting go of certainty and opening ourselves up to mystery. She asks us to reassess who we are, building a faith around who we authentically are. She invites us to review our church vocabulary and give them new meanings without the personal or cultural baggage that have been attached to them. She guides us through revising spiritual traditions to make them fit this reconstituted spirituality. And the list goes on.
Perhaps my favorite chapter is the final one, where she lovingly invites readers to reengage—to find a faith community that fits where they are. I appreciate this deeply. So many who have left church to deconstruct might reconstruct but church is left out of that reconstruction. It just feels too painful. It’s too difficult to find a congregation—particularly in certain areas of the country—that fit. But the community of faith is important. To Rebehold the Stars doesn’t guide readers to a certain tradition or denomination, but shows readers what questions to ask and what things to watch for. She teaches us how to think critically about what we want in a faith community and how to find one that fits that criteria. It’s the perfect capstone of the book.
Tiffany Yecke Brooks has never failed to amaze. To Rebehold the Stars is a breath of fresh air amid the ever-burgeoning deconstruction literature. She’s a safe guide to building back better, to imagining a flourishing faith, to finding a spiritual home. She’s a soft gentle whisper telling us that we can believe again.