ABOUT
Elaine Kelly Author brings healing and hope to those who feel forgotten, sidelined, or silenced. She writes historical fiction and blogs about women in the Bible, church history, and biblical studies empowering women and affirming LGBTQ+.
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After thirty years as a financial advisor, she noticed that the movement towards equal rights and opportunities for women faced a strong counter-movement from Christians opposing full freedom for women and girls. As a Christian, she felt betrayed that people who shared her faith opposed her freedom. As a financial advisor, she knew that Jesus engaged women as patrons and equipped and empowered female disciples. As a mother of three daughters, she wanted to show how the Bible empowers women to speak and act boldly. She chose to write fiction set in biblical times to put the reader in the biblical narrative and stimulate deeper contemplation of Scripture.
Elaine Ricker Kelly HBA MBA graduated from the Ivey Business School at Western University in Ontario, earned the Certified Financial Planner (CFP) and Certified Kingdom Advisor (CKA) designations, and became a Fellow of the Canadian Securities Institute (FCSI). She gave these up in 2021 to focus on her writing and advocacy for equal rights and opportunities for all people, regardless of gender, race, class, or sexual orientation. She brings a research-based approach and an empathetic tone to her writing and speaking. ​Readers who are questioning their faith, deconstructing evangelicalism, or investigating egalitarian and LGBTQ+ affirming Christian perspectives will appreciate her refreshing, life-giving words.
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Elaine R. Kelly, her husband, and their little dog live near Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. She and her husband have hiked the 900 km Bruce Trail and enjoy nature, tennis, music, history, and culture. They worship in the mainline Protestant Christian tradition.
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Thank you for visiting the website.
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Click her Blog tab to see her research on biblical equality, biblical interpretation, women in the Bible and church history, empowering women, and affirming LGBTQ+, to use their gifts to speak and act at home, church, and society.
You can find out more about her beliefs here.
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On the Freebees tab, you can obtain free samples of her writing and other free downloads.
Click Contact Me with any comments or questions or to schedule to host a reading, event, or interview.
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On her Books tab, find details of her books:
📘Forgotten Followers from Broken to Bold (Book 1) is a Silver CIPA EVVY award-winning historical fiction about women in the Bible. It retells the Gospels through the eyes of female disciples and brings healing and hope to those who feel forgotten, sidelined, or silenced in the Christian church. It features Mara (Mary of Clopas), healing recovering from trauma and abuse, and Joanna, a financial patron of Jesus, grappling with racism and imposter syndrome.
📘Because She Was Called: from Broken to Bold, Book 2, A Novel of the Early Church, features Joanna, torn by grief, and Susannah, pulled between romance and following her call to preach. The novel, based on Acts 2-11, shows women, Palestinians, LGBTQ+ and other marginalized people adopted as full members of the family of faith. A finalist in the 2024 Literary Global Independent Author awards, it can be read as a stand-alone novel.
📘The Sword: A Fun Way to Engage in Healthy Debate on What the Bible Says about a Woman's Role is a non-fiction book introducing diverse views on biblical passages about men and women. The 104 flashcards employ a fencing motif to showcase complementarian (hierarchal) views side-by-side with egalitarian (mutualism) views. Useful for adult or teen Christian education; it concludes with 180 end notes for further study.
📘 Walk with Mara on Her Healing Journey: 21 Steps to Emotional Resilience is part story, part memoir, part psychology, part theology, all to help readers heal from emotional and spiritual wounds and step boldly into their rightful inheritance of God's abundant life.​
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Author Photo Credit: @storyunlocked
