Donkey

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.