Donkey
The Making (and Breaking) of an Ass
Donkey: The Making (and Breaking) of an Ass is Shawn McCraney’s unfiltered autobiographical account of a life shaped by conviction, stubbornness, faith, and repeated humiliation. Tracing his journey from Mormonism to evangelical Christianity and eventually into theological exile, McCraney recounts decades of public ministry, controversy, personal loss, and hard-earned clarity. The title is intentional: a self-aware acknowledgment of the role pride, certainty, and spiritual ambition played in both his rise and his undoing.
Rather than offering a victory story or a defense, Donkey is a confession. McCraney reflects honestly on the cost of speaking publicly about faith, the damage caused by religious systems, and the slow dismantling of his own assumptions about God, truth, and authority. The book is not an argument for a theology so much as a record of being broken by reality and reshaped by humility. It is a story for anyone who has discovered that sincerity does not prevent error, and that clarity often comes after despair.
*Out of limited resources, this book is raw and unedited. We look forward to polishing and editing in the future; for now, enjoy Shawn's unadulterated writing !
Sample: Advice from the Author
There is a three-stage process for how truths are initially received: first, they are ridiculed, then violently opposed, and finally, they are accepted as self-evident.
- Arthur Schopenhauer
Who has let the wild ass go free? Who has loosed the bonds of the swift ass, to whom I have given the steppe for his home, and the salt land for his dwelling place? He scorns the tumult of the city; he hears not the shouts of the driver. He ranges the mountains as his pasture, and he searches after every green thing.
- Job 39:5-12
To get the most out of this autobiography I recommend the reader play/listen to each song referenced when it is presented to them in the text as I believe these tunes amplify the meaning and message of the story and serve as an emotional backtrack that I hear in my heart relative to the time and place described. The following playlist for the book Donkey can be found on Spotify.
- Sympathy for the Devil The Rolling Stones
- Cisco Kid War
- Surfin’ The Beach Boys
- Surfin’ Safari The Beach Boys
- Jungle Boogie Kool and the Gang
- Subdivisions Rush
- Bohemian Rhapsody Queen
- Do You Feel Like I Do Peter Frampton
- God Save the Queen Sex Pistols
- One Way or Another Blonde
- Last Caress Misfits
- Dog and Butterfly Heart
- Marie, Marie! The Blasters
- Sunday Girl Blondie
- My Sharona The Knack
- Mother Pink Floyd
- What’s so funny bout Elvis Costello
- Under the Milky Way The Church
- Mailman Soundgarden
- The Cure Metallica
- All the Man I Need Whitney Houston
- The Card Cheat The Clash
- Superman Five for Fighting
- Hell’s Bells AC/DC
- Time to Say Goodbye Bocelli/Brightman
- Second Chance Shinedown
- The Wanderer U2 and Johnny Cash
- Unforgiven III Metallica
- Show Me What I’m Carolina Liar
- Another One Bites the Dust Queen
- The Boxer Simon and Garfunkel
- Shine on, You Crazy Diamond Pink Floyd
- Guaranteed Eddie Vedder