Bowery Mission
Grit and Grace on Manhattan’s Oldest Street
by Jason Storbakken
A colorful history of lives rescued on New York City’s infamous boulevard of broken dreams.
The Bowery has long been one of New York City’s most notorious streets, a magnet for gangsters, hucksters, and hobos. And despite sweeping changes, it is still all too often the end of the road for troubled war veterans, drug addicts, the mentally ill, the formerly incarcerated, and others generally down on their luck. Against this backdrop, for 140 years, Christians of every stripe have been coming together at the Bowery Mission to offer hearty meals, hot showers, clean beds, warm clothes – and, for thousands of homeless over the years, the help they need to get off the streets and back on their feet.
Jason Storbakken, a recent Bowery director, retraces that colorful history and profiles some of the illustrious characters that have made the Bowery an iconic New York institution. His book offers a lens through which to better understand the changing faces of homelessness, of American Christianity, and of New York City itself – all of which converge daily at the Bowery Mission’s red doors.
REVIEW
5 out of 5
If you know anything about NYC, you’ve probably heard about the Bowery. This book gives us a peek into it’s history through the eyes of a Christian mission based there. I’m often hesitant to read Christian-based books, fiction and non-fiction alike, but this proved to be one of the good ones. We get to see the changing faces of those the mission helped, as well as those who helped support the mission. An interesting history book for those interested in this small piece of NYC history.
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Jason Storbakken is a storyteller, radical theologian and Mennonite minister.
Jason served as Director of Chapel and Compassionate Care at the Bowery Mission for nearly ten years and currently oversees and provides support to the spiritual life of the organization and those they serve. Jason also serves as pastor at Manhattan Mennonite Fellowship. And with his wife Vonetta he founded Radical Living, a Brooklyn-based community organization.
He is the author of “Radical Spirituality: Repentance, Resistance, Revolution” (Orbis), “Last Stop on the Z Train,” and the forthcoming “Bowery Mission: Grit and Grace on Manhattan’s Oldest Street” (Plough).
He obtained his MDiv from Union Theological Seminary in the City of New York, and is completing his DMin from Boston University School of Theology.