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Dana Trent
Trent at the launch of Between Two Trailers at Quail Ridge Books in Raleigh, NC. 2024.
Born
Judith Dana Lewman

(1981-04-11) April 11, 1981 (age 43)
Arcadia, California, U.S.
Alma mater
Occupations
  • Author
  • professor
  • podcaster
Years active2013–present
Websitejdanatrent.com

Dana Trent (née Lewman / lumən / ; born April 11, 1981), known professionally as J. Dana Trent, is an American author, teacher, and minister.[1] Trent is a full-time humanities faculty member at Wake Tech Community College in Raleigh, North Carolina.[2] Trent's debut memoir from Penguin Random House, Between Two Trailers, received a starred review from Library Journal.[3] Kirkus Reviews calls it a "A powerfully intimate look into the struggles of American poverty and mental illness."[4] Publisher's Weekly compared Trent's work to Jeannette Walls and Tara Westover.[5]

Early Books

[edit]

She is the author of four books: Saffron Cross: The Unlikely Story of How a Christian Minister Married a Hindu Monk (2013),[6] For Sabbath's Sake: Embracing Your Need for Rest, Worship, and Community (2017),[7] One Breath at a Time: A Skeptic's Guide to Christian Meditation (2019),[8] and Dessert First: Preparing for Death While Savoring Life (2019).[9]

Early life

[edit]

Trent's father, Richard Lewman, was a recreational therapist diagnosed with schizoaffective disorder.[10][11][12] Her mother had mental illness too. The couple met in a locked inpatient psychiatric institute four years before she was born.[11] Her parents followed televangelist Robert Schuller to Los Angeles before she was born to be near the Crystal Cathedral.[11] They hoped Schuller's message of self-healing and self-empowerment would allow them to conceive a child. About a year later, Trent was born in Los Angeles and named for the Indiana town where her father was from.[11] 

Trent was born in Los Angeles, and moved to Dana, Indiana as an infant. According to Religion News Service, Trent grew up in a trailer in the small town of Dana, Indiana, the daughter of parents who sold and used drugs.[13] Trent’s father trained her in the drug business; her street name was “Budgie.”[11] The name is a label given to parakeets.[14] She lived in Indiana until age six, when her parents divorced and she moved with her mother to North Carolina.[1] Trent attended Reidsville High School in Reidsville, North Carolina, and won a Rockingham Community College sponsored speech contest for high schoolers in 1996.[15] She was the 1998 winner of the “I Dare You Leadership Award.”[16]

Podcast

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Trent first publicly shared her drug-trafficking upbringing in “Breaking Good,” a podcast produced in conjunction with the Lilly Endowment-funded Louisville Institute.[11] Trent is writing a book version of the podcast that will tell the story in greater depth.[11] Her agent is Mark Tauber.[17]

Controversy

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Trent is one of only 2,500 women total ordained in the Southern Baptist tradition.[18] She is publicly critical of Beth Moore, criticizing Moore's stance on complementarianism.[19] On State of Belief with Welton Gaddy, Trent questioned Moore's apology and timing of leaving the Southern Baptist Convention.[20] Trent says that Moore was unwilling to abandon complementarianism all together, suggesting that Moore believes there are circumstances in which complementarianism is appropriate and that Moore benefits from a "neutral posture" on complementarianism.[19]

Career

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Trent is one of the few female ordained Southern Baptist ministers in the United States. She graduated from Duke Divinity School with a Master of Divinity in 2006.[21] After graduating from Duke at the age of 25, she served as a UNC Health intensive care resident chaplain where she worked with terminal patients and bore witness to 200 deaths in one year.[22] Publishers Weekly called Trent's fourth book, Dessert First, “hilarious and poignant.”[22] According to Englewood Review of Books, Dessert First decidedly is not a treatise expounding traditional Christian views on death. Trent’s focus instead is starting the conversation about death early and often, regardless of the reader’s faith background.[23]

Personal life

[edit]

Trent married Fred Eaker in July 2010 after meeting him on eHarmony.[24]

Works

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  • Trent, J. Dana (2013). Saffron Cross: The Unlikely Story of How a Christian Minister Married a Hindu Monk. Fresh Air Books. ISBN 978-1-935205-16-6.
  • Trent, J. Dana (2017-10-01). For Sabbath's Sake: Embracing Your Need for Rest, Worship, and Community. Upper Room Books. ISBN 978-0-8358-1721-9.
  • Trent, J. Dana (2019-01-01). One Breath at a Time: A Skeptic's Guide to Christian Meditation. Upper Room Books. ISBN 978-0-8358-1857-5.
  • Trent, J. Dana (2019-09-10). Dessert First: Preparing for Death While Savoring Life. Chalice Press. ISBN 978-0-8272-0669-4.

References

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  1. ^ a b Bennett, Mark (30 January 2021). "'Breaking Good' in rural America". Terre Haute Tribune-Star. Retrieved 2021-07-08.
  2. ^ "Wake Tech Humanities Faculty". 7 April 2024.
  3. ^ Miller, Denise. "Between Two Trailers: A Memoir". Library Journal. Retrieved 7 April 2024.
  4. ^ "Between Two Trailers: A Memoir". Kirkus Reviews. Retrieved 7 April 2024.
  5. ^ "Between Two Trailers: A Memoir". Publishers Weekly. Retrieved 7 April 2024.
  6. ^ "Dana Trent – Saffron Cross [Review]". Englewood Review of Books. 15 November 2013.
  7. ^ "For Sabbath's Sake: Embracing Your Need for Rest, Worship, and Community". The Presbyterian Outlook. 2017-10-19. Retrieved 2021-06-08.
  8. ^ "One Breath at a Time: A Skeptic's Guide to Christian Meditation". The Presbyterian Outlook. 2019-07-15. Retrieved 2021-06-08.
  9. ^ Trent, J. Dana (2019). Dessert first : preparing for death while savoring life. St. Louis, Missouri. ISBN 978-0-8272-0669-4. OCLC 1089904694.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  10. ^ Tribune-Star, Mark Bennett (20 November 2021). "Revisiting a hard past to help others". Terre Haute Tribune-Star. Retrieved 2023-01-16.
  11. ^ a b c d e f g Shimron, Yonat (September 24, 2021). "J. Dana Trent turns her drug-dealing childhood into a podcast about poverty and faith". Religion News Service. Retrieved January 16, 2023.
  12. ^ Schumer, Lizz. "Read an Excerpt from J. Dana Trent's Powerful New Memoir About Her Time as a 'Preschool Dropout with a Knife' (Exclusive)". People Magazine. Retrieved 16 April 2024.
  13. ^ "J. Dana Trent turns her drug-dealing childhood into a podcast about poverty and faith". Religion News Service. 2021-09-24. Retrieved 2023-01-16.
  14. ^ Indiana, Mark Bennett CNHI News (20 November 2021). "Revisiting a hard past to help others". Kokomo Tribune. Retrieved 2023-01-16.
  15. ^ "HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS VIE IN SPEECH CONTEST". Greensboro News and Record. 28 March 1996. Retrieved 2021-06-09.
  16. ^ "STUDENTS HONORED FOR ACHIEVEMENTS". Greensboro News and Record. 29 August 1998. Retrieved 2021-06-09.
  17. ^ "The Watermark Agency". January 16, 2023. Retrieved January 16, 2023.
  18. ^ Shaw, Susan M. (June 1, 2021). "How women in the Southern Baptist Convention have fought for decades to be ordained". The Conversation.
  19. ^ a b Trent, J. Dana (2021-04-12). "Dear Beth Moore: Your Apology for Complementarianism Reeks of Complementarianism". Religion Dispatches. Retrieved 2023-01-16.
  20. ^ "More on Beth Moore - State of Belief". 2021-04-17. Retrieved 2023-01-16.
  21. ^ "Baptist minister Dana Trent details marriage to Hindu monk in just-released 'Saffron Cross'". Baptist News Global. 2013-10-29. Retrieved 2021-06-09.
  22. ^ a b "Religion Book Review: Dessert First: Preparing for Death while Savoring Life by J. Dana Trent. Chalice, $16.99 trade paper (160p) ISBN 978-0-8272-0669-4". Publishers Weekly. Retrieved 2021-06-09.
  23. ^ Smith, C. Christopher (2019-11-14). "J. Dana Trent – Dessert First – Review". The Englewood Review of Books. Retrieved 2023-01-16.
  24. ^ "Baptist minister Dana Trent details marriage to Hindu monk in just-released 'Saffron Cross'". Religion News Service. 2013-10-25. Retrieved 2021-06-09.
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