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A review by socraticgadfly
Faitheist: How an Atheist Found Common Ground with the Religious by Chris Stedman
2.0
Disclosure: I am a Facebook friend of Chris.
First, I agree with his take on Gnu Atheism. Very much so.
I also agree with the idea of trying to find common ground with people of faith, though perhaps not to the degree he tries to seek it out.
Second, a relatively minor issue, but I wonder about someone this young writing a memoir. (Along with that, sorry, the book's not even 208 pages. It's 180 of body text. Kind of slim, especially at list price of 22.95.)
But, there's the more serious reasons I can't rate this higher. (And, how I can even sympathize with one or two two-star readers who didn't feel engaged by the second half.)
Chris notes the power of "story." Well, I see a few "disconnects" here and there, for one thing.
Related to that, some of those "disconnects" make me wonder just how much of an atheist he is, and if, to the degree he is one, this is just one stop on the road of his being a "seeker" of some sort.
Here's some excerpts from a long blog post I've written about the book.
1. Chris clearly was an "old soul" as a kid. I relate. He was also naive as a kid, at times, it seems. Maybe even clueless. I also relate. However, he also doesn't always seem aware of that in hindsight. That is shown in part by ...
2. The first time he visited a conservative church, he talks about how felt "moved" by the embrace from the "welcomer," and he later notes that was probably a budding gay sexuality issue. However, he never explicitly says that that was part of why he joined the church.
3. He joined this church for community. Only later did social justice drives arise. Since he had gotten his mom more interested in church then, why didn't they go back to her family's Methodism?
4. His dad gets almost no mention. Yes, his parents divorced, but it seems Chris as at least 10 when that happened. What was, and is, their relationship? Good, bad, nonexistent?
5. Another family issue. If Chris had gotten his mom more involved at that conservative evangelical church, how did she know to have him talk to this particular liberal Lutheran minister immediately after she read his journal? Did she already suspect he was gay? Chris gives us no background.
5A. It's depersonalized in other ways; we never hear names of his siblings and other things. None of their reactions to his "journey" are related to us. For that matter, neither is his mom's reaction.
6. Was Chris really "that much" of an atheist in his early years after "coming out"? Several things in teh book tell me now. He says that, at the end of his undergrad time at Augsburg, he felt jealous of progressive theologians, and he felt angry that he couldn't be and believe the same. He went to a graduate divinity school. And, after getting to Chicago, he only discovers "atheist community" after a full year of active involvement with Interfaith Youth Core?
Chris, Minneapolis is a big and diverse enough place; Chicago even more so. It sounds like "atheist community" was not that important to you, at least not until after extensive involvement with Interfaith Youth Core; is there a marketing/branding related issue? And, related to that we have:
7. A comment like this, page 130:
Anyone who looked remotely religious ... was given a suspicious sideways glance by my nonreligious friends as they went outside for their continual cigarette breaks.
Sorry, but I find that last clause gratuitous, even gratuitous with baggage.
For more of these thoughts, please visit my blog post at http://socraticgadfly.blogspot.com/2012/11/so-how-good-is-faitheist-whats-it-about.html
I reserve the right to bump the rating back up, but, as I write further and put some of it on my blog, too .... I've moved this down to 2 stars. The more and more I think about some of the "depersonalization" aspects of the book, not just vis-a-vis his family but primarily there, I just had to do that.
First, I agree with his take on Gnu Atheism. Very much so.
I also agree with the idea of trying to find common ground with people of faith, though perhaps not to the degree he tries to seek it out.
Second, a relatively minor issue, but I wonder about someone this young writing a memoir. (Along with that, sorry, the book's not even 208 pages. It's 180 of body text. Kind of slim, especially at list price of 22.95.)
But, there's the more serious reasons I can't rate this higher. (And, how I can even sympathize with one or two two-star readers who didn't feel engaged by the second half.)
Chris notes the power of "story." Well, I see a few "disconnects" here and there, for one thing.
Related to that, some of those "disconnects" make me wonder just how much of an atheist he is, and if, to the degree he is one, this is just one stop on the road of his being a "seeker" of some sort.
Here's some excerpts from a long blog post I've written about the book.
1. Chris clearly was an "old soul" as a kid. I relate. He was also naive as a kid, at times, it seems. Maybe even clueless. I also relate. However, he also doesn't always seem aware of that in hindsight. That is shown in part by ...
2. The first time he visited a conservative church, he talks about how felt "moved" by the embrace from the "welcomer," and he later notes that was probably a budding gay sexuality issue. However, he never explicitly says that that was part of why he joined the church.
3. He joined this church for community. Only later did social justice drives arise. Since he had gotten his mom more interested in church then, why didn't they go back to her family's Methodism?
4. His dad gets almost no mention. Yes, his parents divorced, but it seems Chris as at least 10 when that happened. What was, and is, their relationship? Good, bad, nonexistent?
5. Another family issue. If Chris had gotten his mom more involved at that conservative evangelical church, how did she know to have him talk to this particular liberal Lutheran minister immediately after she read his journal? Did she already suspect he was gay? Chris gives us no background.
5A. It's depersonalized in other ways; we never hear names of his siblings and other things. None of their reactions to his "journey" are related to us. For that matter, neither is his mom's reaction.
6. Was Chris really "that much" of an atheist in his early years after "coming out"? Several things in teh book tell me now. He says that, at the end of his undergrad time at Augsburg, he felt jealous of progressive theologians, and he felt angry that he couldn't be and believe the same. He went to a graduate divinity school. And, after getting to Chicago, he only discovers "atheist community" after a full year of active involvement with Interfaith Youth Core?
Chris, Minneapolis is a big and diverse enough place; Chicago even more so. It sounds like "atheist community" was not that important to you, at least not until after extensive involvement with Interfaith Youth Core; is there a marketing/branding related issue? And, related to that we have:
7. A comment like this, page 130:
Anyone who looked remotely religious ... was given a suspicious sideways glance by my nonreligious friends as they went outside for their continual cigarette breaks.
Sorry, but I find that last clause gratuitous, even gratuitous with baggage.
For more of these thoughts, please visit my blog post at http://socraticgadfly.blogspot.com/2012/11/so-how-good-is-faitheist-whats-it-about.html
I reserve the right to bump the rating back up, but, as I write further and put some of it on my blog, too .... I've moved this down to 2 stars. The more and more I think about some of the "depersonalization" aspects of the book, not just vis-a-vis his family but primarily there, I just had to do that.