A review by theresa_maria
Surprised by Christ: My Journey from Judaism to Orthodox Christianity by James A. Bernstein

slow-paced

0.25

This book was recommended to me and I have no idea why. The author’s writing is not difficult but the book itself is so irritating that it’s difficult to read. I had expressed concern that a book by a former evangelical pastor would contain some aggressive bigotry and I was told that wasn’t the case but that absolutely was the case. The author hates Catholics so much that he makes up the word “romophobic” (similar to the word for hating the Romani people but with an -o instead of an a) and spews the same old lazy apologetics that are typically thrown around by evangelicals. He also complained that the movie “the Passion of the Christ” was about Christ’s Passion rather than specifically about his Resurrection… like hellooooo … that’s the name of the movie???? Don’t make me defend Mel Gibson???? I don’t even like that movie…. He also complains about hippies and college students having sex too much in the 60s. Don’t worry though his hatred isn’t reserved for only Catholics he’s not just “romophobic” but also blatantly Islamophobic in the last chapter for whatever reason. Out of the blue he insinuated that all Muslim martyrs are terrorist extremists? Like for real I hated this book and even though I’m a convert to Orthodox Christianity I would not recommend this book to anyone, ever. He doesn’t quote a single orthodox Christian woman saint for any of his quotes either btw. It’s an easy read though so if you’re a masochist like me and willing to force yourself to get through the entire book at least it’s easy to bust through extremely quickly. 
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