cover of Love Is Good Religion, by Trey Ferguson, Published by Lake Drive Books

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5.5 X 8.5, 243 pages
Releases September 22, 2026
Paperback: $18.95, 9781957687827
eBook: $9.99, 9781957687834
Audiobook: 9781957687841
Genre: Spiritual Growth | Personal Growth | Christian Living

Love Is Good Religion

Name: Love Is Good Religion
Author: David Morris

A 30-Day Journey to Compassion, Contemplation, and Connection

Trey Ferguson

What if the Bible still has something new to say—not because it has changed, but because we’ve stopped hearing it?

In Love Is Good Religion, pastor and public theologian Trey Ferguson takes well-known Bible passages and reimagines them with striking clarity in his own New Living Treyslation, cutting through layers of overfamiliarity. He then pairs each passage with fresh commentary to bring new fluency to what the text might say today, and maybe what it’s always said.

Thoughtfully and carefully, Trey returns to Genesis to argue that the first thing God calls “not good” is human isolation, revealing community itself as an act of divine love. He explores a tension behind common interpretations of Jesus's exchange with Nicodemus, shifting John 3:16 from a slogan about salvation of the unworthy to a declaration of God-affirmed value. He revisits Hagar's story to reveal a God who stands with those pushed to the margins, finding hope in an enslaved woman who names God as "the God who sees me."

With prose that is personal and affecting, Love Is Good Religion is a book for readers seeking transformation, grounding, and a faith with integrity and individual and social justice in a chaotic world. Because scripture still has something urgent to say, and it speaks our language too.

Themes: Spiritual Reflection & Theology | Hope & Renewal | Justice

Trey Ferguson, in a professional head shot

Trey Ferguson is a minister, writer, and speaker, with an MDiv from the Samuel DeWitt Proctor School of Theology at Virginia Union University. He’s the author of Theologizin’ Bigger: Homilies on Living Freely and Loving Wholly. His thoughts on faith in an evolving world can be found on the Three Black Men: Theology, Culture, and the World around Us and New Living Treyslation podcasts, in The Son Do Move newsletter, and @pastortrey05 on social media. He lives in Raleigh, North Carolina with his wife and children. Learn more at pastortrey05.com.

Praise for Love Is Good Religion

“Trey always delivers the truth—straight, with no chaser. But it’s not the kind that bowls you over. It’s the kind that puts an arm around your shoulder and walks alongside you. He never fails to remind us that we are beloved and that we can overcome evil with good.” —Tamice Spencer-Helms, author of Faith Unleavened

“Thoughtful, invitational, and timely! Ferguson’s New Living Treyslation offers a refreshing on-ramp back into the Bible—and behind its words—in a world where Christianity’s love ethic has too often been overshadowed by its usefulness in oppression.” —Gary F. Green II, author of Playing the Game

"With Love Is Good Religion, Trey Ferguson hands scripture back to us in language that actually lands. The New Living Treyslation is a gift—and a theological act." —Chelsea Kim Long, author of Faithfully Dissident Daughters

“Trey Ferguson has given the church a gift. Love Is Good Religion is wise, tender, and liberating—the kind of book that helps you remember God is love and love is always healing.” —Zach Lambert, author of Better Ways to Read the Bible

“Trey Ferguson is a pastor for the rest of us—anyone who has been hurt, alienated, or enraged by blunt force ‘faith’ and bad actors. Crammed with real talk about tough questions, Love Is Good Religion is an invitation to take the good news at its word.” —Shannan Martin, author of Counterweights, Start with Hello, and The Ministry of Ordinary Places

“In a world where Christian theology is judgmental, hypocritical, and bigoted, Ferguson’s gospel centers on love, community, and liberation. Pastors, theologians, and laypeople will benefit greatly from having Love Is Good Religion on their shelf. I expect to return to it regularly.” —Jonny Rashid, author of Jesus Takes a Side

“Love Is Good Religion is critical, inclusive, and liberating, resisting every theology built on sanitized suffering. This book transcends faith in Jesus. It's the faith of Jesus.” —Kristian A. Smith, pastor of The Faith Community Virtual and host of Holy Smokes

“Pastor Trey’s book leads us to the wholeness of the gospel by articulating the chief attribute of God: love. Not the kind of ‘love’ that would be categorized as abuse if it came from anyone else but God, but restorative, protective, inexhaustible love that relentlessly pursues us—all of us.” —Sharifa Stevens, author of When We Talk to God: Prayers and Poems for Black Women