The Secret Thoughts of an Unlikely Convert: An English Professor's Journey Into Christian Faith PB

"Conversion put me in a complicated and comprehensive chaos. I sometimes wonder, when I hear other Christians pray for the salvation of the "lost," if they realize that this comprehensive chaos is the desired end of such prayers. Often, people asked me to describe the "lessons" that I learned from this experience. I can't. It was too traumatic. Sometimes in crisis, we don't really learn lessons. Sometimes the result is simpler and more profound: sometimes our character is simply transformed." -Rosaria Butterfield

Rosaria, by the standards of many, was living a very good life. She had a tenured position at a large university in a field for which she cared deeply. She owned two homes with her partner, in which they provided hospitality to students and activists that were looking to make a difference in the world. There, her partner rehabilitated abandoned and abused dogs. In the community, Rosaria was involved in volunteer work. At the university, she was a respected advisor of students and her department's curriculum. And then, in her late 30s, Rosaria encountered something that turned her world upside down-the idea that Christianity, a religion that she had regarded as problematic and sometimes downright damaging, might be right about who God was, an idea that flew in the face of the people and causes that she most loved. What follows is a story of what she describes as a "train wreck" at the hand of the supernatural. These are her secret thoughts about those events, written as only a reflective English professor could.

Newly Expanded Edition features over 50 pages of bonus material, including:

...two open letters from Rosaria
...Pastor Ken G. Smith's story of reaching out to Rosaria
...Pastor Kent Butterfield's testimony of Christian hospitality
...FAQs, psalms to sing, and more resources

Table of Contents:

1. Conversion and the Gospel of Peace

2. Repentance and the Sin of Sodom

3. The Good Guys: Sanctification and Public Worship 

4. The Home Front: Marriage, Ministry, and Adoption

5. Homeschooling and Middle Age

Reaching Rosaria

Our Shared Journeys

Letters from Rosaria

Frequently Asked Questions

Psalms