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The Grace Effect: How the Power of One Life Can Reverse the Corruption of Unbelief Paperback – Illustrated, November 14, 2011

by Larry Alex Taunton (Author)
4.7 4.7 out of 5 stars 244 ratings
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"Simply defined, the 'grace effect' is an observable phenomenon―that life is demonstrably better where authentic Christianity flourishes."

What does Christianity give us beyond televangelists, potlucks, and bad basketball leagues? Not much, according to the secular Left. The world, they say, would be a better place without it.

Historian and Christian apologist Larry Alex Taunton has spent much of his career refuting just this sort of thinking, but when he encounters Sasha, a golden-haired Ukranian orphan girl whose life has been shaped by atheistic theorists, he discovers an unlikely champion for the transforming power of grace.

Through the narrative of Sasha's redemption, we see the false promises of socialism; the soul-destroying influence of unbelief; and how a society cultivates its own demise when it rejects the ultimate source of grace.  We see, in short, the kind of world the atheists would give us: a world without Christianity―cold, pitiless, and graceless.

And yet, as Sasha shows us, it is a world that is not beyond the healing power of "the grace effect."  Occasionally infuriating, often amusing, but always inspiring, The Grace Effect will have you cheering for the courageous little girl who shamed the academic elitists of our day.
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  1. Print length
    272 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Publisher
    Thomas Nelson
  4. Publication date
    November 14, 2011
  5. Dimensions
    5.38 x 0.8 x 8.38 inches
  6. ISBN-10
    1595554408
  7. ISBN-13
    978-1595554406
  8. See all details
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Editorial Reviews

Review

"In The Grace Effect - Larry Taunton's deeply moving and personal story of how his family adopted a Ukranian girl - we behold the staggering contrast between a culture suffused with Christian faith and one that has utterly rejected it. Atheists must assiduously avoid exposure to stories like this one. If you've ever been unsure of how much good Christianity does in the world, read this book." - Eric Metaxas, New York Times bestselling author and nationally syndicated radio host

"A very, very powerful book." - Gayle Trotter, First Things

"In his most moving Grace Effect, Larry Taunton reminds us that our lives are the best arguments for what we really believe, and that, whatever the outcome of this or that debate between atheists and Christians in the lecture hall, Christians win hands down against atheists when it comes to how the rival arguments are lived out in the details of real charity, real mercy, real sacrifice, the actual treatment of widows and especially orphans... I most highly recommend it!" - Dr. Benjamin Wiker, author of Ten Books That Screwed Up the World

"Larry Taunton's book is a captivating account of a grim reality with a truly gracious ending. It is a must read for anyone pondering adoption from the former Eastern European Bloc." - Dr. Olivera Petrovich, research psychologist, University of Oxford

About the Author

Larry Alex Taunton is Founder and Executive Director of Fixed Point Foundation, a nonprofit dedicated to the public defense of the Christian faith. Fixed Point has captured the attention of BBC, NPR, The Wall Street Journal, Fox News Network, The Christian Post, and many others. Taunton has personally engaged some of the most vociferous opponents of Christianity, including Richard Dawkins, Christopher Hitchens, and Peter Singer. He lives in Birmingham, AL.

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Thomas Nelson; Illustrated edition (November 14, 2011)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Paperback ‏ : ‎ 272 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1595554408
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1595554406
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 8.8 ounces
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.38 x 0.8 x 8.38 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.7 4.7 out of 5 stars 244 ratings

About the author

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Larry Alex Taunton

Larry Alex Taunton

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Larry Alex Taunton is an American author, columnist, and cultural commentator. A frequent television and radio guest, he has appeared on CNN, CNN International, Fox News, Al Jazeera America, and BBC. You can find his columns on issues of faith and culture in The Atlantic, USA Today, CNN.com, and The Blaze. Mr. Taunton has been quoted by Rush Limbaugh, The New York Times, The Chicago Tribune, TIME, Vanity Fair, and NPR, among others. He is the author of "The Grace Effect" and "The Faith of Christopher Hitchens."

Mr. Taunton has debated such high profile atheists as Christopher Hitchens, Daniel Dennett, and Michael Shermer as well as Muslim cleric Zaid Shakir. He has organized or chaired debates on science, religion, and ethics at Trinity College, Oxford University; The Edinburgh International Festival; the Melbourne Town Hall in Melbourne, Australia; Princeton University; and the Oxford Museum of Natural History. Taunton was born at Fort Benning, Georgia. He currently divides his time between the United States and Europe.

Customer reviews

4.7 out of 5 stars
244 global ratings

Customers say

Customers find the story powerful, happy, and full of life. They also describe the book as well-written, enjoyable, and provocative. Readers find the spiritual content insightful and heart-wrenching.

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StoryReadabilitySpiritual contentRomance
26 customers mention "Story"26 positive0 negative

Customers find the story powerful, engaging, and emotional. They say the book depicts the Gospel wonderfully in the life of Sasha and her story of adoption. Customers also say it's an amazing look at the Grace Effect.

"...It's a beautiful story that tells about a family's efforts to adopt a child that is unwanted by the world she lives in...." Read more

"This is a great book and easy to read. A powerful story of what God can do." Read more

"...The story of the adoption of Sascha is fascinating both on the emotional level as well as from a standpoint of analyzing the incredibly negative..." Read more

"...The story pulls you right in, and you genuinely feel the highs and lows of their struggle in their adoption process...." Read more

10 customers mention "Readability"10 positive0 negative

Customers find the book well-written, entertaining, informative, and easy to understand. They also say it's enjoyable and provocative.

"This is a great book and easy to read. A powerful story of what God can do." Read more

"...I cannot recommend this book enough! It's very easy to read, grips your heart, and will make you think. 10 out of 10!" Read more

"...Taunton is a good writer and a clear thinker and expertly wove together the story of his family's adoption of Sasha from the Ukraine with..." Read more

"An excellent and concise account of the way one family has unselfishly sought to imitate Jesus in their adoption of a little girl out of the..." Read more

10 customers mention "Spiritual content"10 positive0 negative

Customers find the spiritual content insightful, heart-wrenching, and transforming. They also describe the book as an interesting blend of Christian apologetics and the true tale of a family's struggle.

"...is, at turns, travelogue, history lesson, cultural criticism, spiritual journey, and all along the way the story of grace, both personal and "common...." Read more

"I just liked this book. It was an interesting blend of Christian apologetics and the true tale of a families struggle to adopt a child from Ukraine...." Read more

"...His observations are certainly food for thought. The book was particularly poignant for me as I know this vivacious young lady...." Read more

"...The book is well written and fascinating because it uses and combines the author's personal life and experience with the point he is trying to get..." Read more

4 customers mention "Romance"4 positive0 negative

Customers find the romance in the book outstanding, heart-gripping, and a great example of God's love.

"...I cannot recommend this book enough! It's very easy to read, grips your heart, and will make you think. 10 out of 10!" Read more

"...care for her, and I can certify that she is energetic, happy, affectionate, and full of life. Sasha is a delight to know...." Read more

"...Profound, yet humorous & moving. A great example of God's love & grace. Thank you, Larry, for sharing this wonderful story of Sasha...." Read more

"An outstanding tale of grace, love, and redemption..." Read more

Top reviews from the United States

Chad Edward Hensley
5.0 out of 5 stars Grace makes all the difference
Reviewed in the United States on March 18, 2023
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My wife and I read this book together as a way to understand more about what the country of Ukraine is like. It's a beautiful story that tells about a family's efforts to adopt a child that is unwanted by the world she lives in. Sasha was like millions of children around the world who are an orphanages. Many of these children live lives that your average American would find intolerable and completely unacceptable.

The author and his family navigate the overwhelming challenges created by a system that does not value human life and is actively fighting against children being freed from that system. This journey requires faith to keep the hope that one day Sasha will be able to join their family.

If you want a look inside of the corruption than is rampant in this part of the world, The Grace Effect is a peek behind a curtain that no longer may be made of Iron, but still smothers hope effectively. This is a wonderful story and would make a fine addition to any library.
2 people found this helpful
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M. Henson
5.0 out of 5 stars Thought Provoking Page Turner
Reviewed in the United States on June 19, 2024
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I appreciated the social history juxtaposed with the personal story: Sasha’s story, bureaucratic corruption, national gracelessness, Christ’s grace and redemption.
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Eve
5.0 out of 5 stars America needs to heed the warnings of this book!
Reviewed in the United States on December 28, 2023
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First, I want to thank Amazon for putting this book in front of me in some sort of "You may like this. . ." form just over 5 years ago. I bit, and then I forgot about it. It survived a whole house downsizing move across town because it was relatively new to me and I hadn't read it yet. 8,000 other books belonging to my husband and myself and my parents didn't survive the move.
I love Taunton's writing style and sometimes snarky sense of humor- and I love the quotes he chooses to help make his points. I do feel its an important book that Americans, of all faiths or no faith need to consider. The pattern of society he recounts in Ukraine has steadily been increasing here, with people trying to point out all sorts of causes that are actually just excuses. I really hope to do what I can to bring this book back in to the forefront of consideration.
One person found this helpful
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Dan B.
5.0 out of 5 stars Great book
Reviewed in the United States on January 8, 2024
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This is a great book and easy to read. A powerful story of what God can do.
One person found this helpful
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S. Peek
4.0 out of 5 stars An Intriguing Book
Reviewed in the United States on November 17, 2014
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'The Grace Effect' is a very enjoyable book on more than one level.

Written by Larry Taunton, it explores the effects of institutionalized atheism on a culture. It then contrasts that with the common grace that is still present in a place such as the United States even after secularism has been so rampant for so many years.

It does this by looking at the story of the adoption of a young Ukrainian girl by an American family and the ordeals they faced in getting that accomplished while dealing with a corrupt bureaucracy. It is very clear in showing the way that widespread atheism is so damaging to a culture.

This book is way more captivating than I had expected. I bought it mostly because I had a bit of familiarity with the author from watching him debate the famed atheist Christopher Hitchens and defeat him handily even though Hitchens was a best selling author and atheist evangelist while Taunton was previously unknown to me. I saw that there was some discussion of that debate in the book, which is why I got it, but it is really so much more.

The story of the adoption of Sascha is fascinating both on the emotional level as well as from a standpoint of analyzing the incredibly negative effects of atheism.

I think that readers will enjoy this book a lot, as I did.
3 people found this helpful
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Eric Dueck
5.0 out of 5 stars Insightful and Heart-Gripping
Reviewed in the United States on October 2, 2016
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Wow. This book was absolutely amazing! I have been to Russia twice, and will hopefully be heading back to that region of the world as a full-time missionary doing orphan care ministry. Seeing firsthand how so many children are in such dire situations in these old Soviet Union countries broke my heart. But when asked by my friends why there are so many orphans there, I could never give a great answer. In "The Grace Effect" Taunton so brilliantly and clearly explains the history of Russia/the Soviet Union and how these countries have ended up with a culture void of hope and human dignity, and unfortunately so many orphans whom are not properly cared for. But the bulk of this book revolves around Taunton and his family's journey of adopting a young Ukrainian girl, Sasha. The story pulls you right in, and you genuinely feel the highs and lows of their struggle in their adoption process. Taunton uses this heart-gripping story to demonstrate the premise that a society benefits when it has a Christian heritage, and a society deteriorates when it suppresses Christianity. I thought Taunton did a phenomenal job of proving this premise. I cannot recommend this book enough! It's very easy to read, grips your heart, and will make you think. 10 out of 10!
7 people found this helpful
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Carl H. Boening
5.0 out of 5 stars An outstanding tale of grace, love, and redemption
Reviewed in the United States on December 21, 2011
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Taunton has written a book that is, at turns, travelogue, history lesson, cultural criticism, spiritual journey, and all along the way the story of grace, both personal and "common." The story of the adoption of this little Ukranian girl will astound, infuriate, dismay and uplift all at the same time. Even the most cynical, jaded heart will be softened by Sasha's incredible journey from a Ukranian orphanage (read hellhole) to Taunton's loving family. Along the way, Taunton perfectly defends his thesis, that God's "common grace" extends to whole societies, and that grace makes all the difference in the world in terms of cultural, spiritual and historical development. The lessons to be learned from this are invaluable, one of which is that God's "common grace," unlike personal, soteriological grace, is not eternal, and is in the process of being destroyed by the New Atheists and their hatred of all things Christian, all over the world. The world they would have us live in can be seen in microcosm in the Ukranian hellhole from which little Sasha was rescued. We are fools indeed if we do not heed the warnings described in this book.

Buy a copy for yourself, your family and friends, your church, and even (and perhaps especially) for that atheist friend, who claims how destructive and terrible Christianity is (and has been) to the world. Then take the lessons learned here and make use of them in the world (including your own).
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Top reviews from other countries

Mitzi Peters
5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent
Reviewed in Canada on September 3, 2016
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I was very pleased with he service
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Mr. B. Shepherd
5.0 out of 5 stars Decent
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on December 26, 2011
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I first heard about Larry Taunton following the death of Christopher Hitchens. A Christian friend of Hitchens, whom Hitchens described in positive terms was surely worth finding out about. Upon further reading I discovered that the author was the founder of Fixed Point and so decided to look up whether he had written any books. Unsurprising he had.

The book itself is not quite what I was expecting. Whilst the author is a world leading Christian Apologist this book is notably not very apologetic in nature. Instead it focuses mainly on the daughter whom he adopted from Ukraine, and how difficult/trying the process was.

Nevertheless, whilst a book about adoption, it is also a book about Christianity, and most noticeably the `grace effect'. The central thesis here is that cultures influenced by Christianity outperform, in terms of compassion, secular/atheistic cultures. To show this to be true the author uses the Ukrainian system as his point of contrast. Being that that side of the world has tasted full on communism and state sponsored atheism, it is a worthwhile contrast.

The book itself is touching and the lengths that the Tauntons go to to adopt this little girl who has so many problems are simply speaking, nothing short of sainthood material. The circumstances she endured in Ukraine are enough to sadden even the hardest of hearts, and in this way I thoroughly enjoyed the book. You can't help but want to read on, just to find out if the girl's life has a happy ending.

Still, the book succeeds in showing that Christian cultures are more compassionate than atheistic cultures. In this respect readers of this book may also enjoy Peter Hitchens book, Rage against God - which in a similar fashion covers similar subject material. Interestingly, Hitchen's book also focuses on the Eastern block.

Also of noticeably interest are the references to the author's friendship and conversations with Christopher Hitchens. To see that Christopher actually had a nice side was likewise refreshing.
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A Scary Man
5.0 out of 5 stars Depressing but uplifting too!
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on October 9, 2018
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A very stark and depressing insight into post-Soviet Ukraine and its attitude towards the least well off in its society, and a chilling warning of what society in the West will become if the militant atheists ever get their wish to destroy religion.

On the other hand a beautiful account of what must have been a desperately difficult but ultimately successful struggle to adopt a little girl out of that terrible environment.
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Mary
5.0 out of 5 stars Well observed.
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on June 30, 2013
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Well written and observed. Topical. Insightful. Relevant. Powerful. The bigger the 'state' the smaller our God. The bigger our God the smaller the 'state'. Couldn't be illustrated better, to my mind.
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