Structured as a workbook for Christians, Living a Parable blends memoir and religious instruction into a hybrid that’s most engaging as a portrait of a faith-based, middle-class Black family. With the fervor of a self-help coach, Silvia Davis urges Christians on the sidelines to get in the game with God. Each personal parable—such as the one illustrating the difference between punishment and discipline, or the distinction between praying for your will versus praying for God’s will for you—is followed by assignments to complete and reflect upon, Bible verses to contemplate, and a prayer to recite, along with blank pages for setting down one’s own thoughts.

Above all, Davis urges Christians to accept that they must do the work: “Faith is like a muscle, and it becomes more powerful the more we put it to use.” Mining her own experience for practical wisdom, Davis relates events from her childhood (the eldest of five, she grew up near Castle Air Force Base in Atwater, California) and as an adult who’s tried to replicate the close-knit and God-fearing family life of her youth. Her vision of a Heavenly Father is reinforced by her earthly one, a strict military man who espoused Christian principles but could also laugh—in this family, raucous kids snap to attention when parents speak, while individual foibles become the subject of shared jokes.

The strength of Living a Parable is Davis’s unequivocal faith in both God and in the rightness of her upbringing. She acknowledges the fault lines that crack American life, but avoids discussing them in detail, advising “Reconnect and start again, don’t be stubborn.” So, when she details the misery of hot combs, she doesn’t dig into what straightened hair signified in the 1980s. Instead, by focusing on conscientious Christians and what they can attempt to control in their lives and homes, Davis preaches to the choir, but always reminds them that everyone could use a little more practice.

Takeaway: A nostalgic portrayal of a Black Christian family and a call to prioritize worship, this self-paced guide extols the virtue of active devotion.

Great for fans of: Khristi Lauren Adams’s Parable of the Brown Girl, Michele Clark Jenkins’s She Speaks: Wisdom from the Women of the Bible to the Modern Black Woman.

Production grades
Cover: B+
Design and typography: B
Illustrations: B-
Editing: B
Marketing copy: B