RELIGION |
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I suddenly realized as I look through this list none of whose titles I've read that I could look at all of the pages on this site as a college syllabus. That one has not read any of the books on this page certainly does not necessarily mean that one is ignorant of this topic. But it might be a clue, as it is in my case, that I should consider reading a couple of these titles. |
To read reviews about a book or order it, click on its title. To quickly reach one of the subtopics immediately below, click on it.
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| Amish/Mennonites| Buddhism | Catholicism | General | |
Bender, Sue. Plain and Simple: A Woman's Journey to the Amish. HarperOne, 1991. Modern-day career woman and homemaker lives among the Amish seeking a peaceful life.
Staebler, Edna. Food That Really Schmecks. Wilfrid Laurier Univ. Press, 2006. History of Mennonite culture and cooking, told with stories and recipes.
Shainberg, Lawrence. Ambivalent Zen: A Memoir. Vintage. 1997. Author casually picks up Zen Buddhism in the fifties as a way to improve his basketball skills, and finds himself hooked on a spiritual path.
Bissell, Beryl. The Scent of God: A Memoir. Counterpoint, 2007. Account by an American former nun, who fell in love with an Italian priest and married him after they both left their calling.
Chater, Veronica. Waiting for the Apocalypse: A Memoir of Faith and Family. W.W. Norton & Co., Inc., 2009. Childhood in an extremely conservative Catholic family relocated from California to Portugal.
Mairs, Nancy. Ordinary Time: Cycles in Marriage, Faith and Renewal. Beacon Press, 1994. Exploration of author’s relationship with the Catholic church and her family.
Norris, Kathleen. The Cloister Walk. Riverhead Trade, 1997. Although raised Protestant, author serves as Benedictine layperson, living in monastery.
Plante, David. American Ghosts: A Memoir. Beacon Press, 2006. On finding religion and identity between a French Catholic primary school, Boston College, and adulthood.
Straub, Gerard Thomas. The Sun and Moon Over Assisi: A Personal Encounter with Francis and Clare. St. Anthony Messenger Press, 2008. Former soap opera producer tells the stories of Saints Francis and Clare as he describes his own journey of faith.
Weakland, Rembert. A Pilgrim in a Pilgrim Church: Memoirs of a Catholic Archbishop. William B. Eerdmans Pub. Co., 2009. Caught up in scandal regarding his sexual orientation, former clergyman explores the details of his public drama, and recalls his life since boyhood.
Wilkes, Paul. In Due Season: A Catholic Life. Wiley, 2009. Author’s spiritual quest.
Episcopalian Moore, Honor. The Bishop's Daughter: A Memoir. W.W. Norton & Co., 2009. Moore offers a painfully honest memoir of her father, Paul Moore (1919–2003), New York Episcopal bishop of the diocese of New York from 1972 to 1989.
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Amish/Mennonites| Buddhism | Catholicism | General | |
Campbell, Susan Dating Jesus: A Storyof Fundamentalism, Feminism, and the American Girl. Beacon Press, 2009. The world of fundamentalism and the role of women.
Sweeney, Jon M. Born Again and Again: Surprising Gifts of a Fundamentalist Childhood. Paraclete Press. 2005.
Sheikh, Bilquis and Schneider, Richard H. I Dared to Call Him Father: The Miraculous Story of a Muslim Woman's Encounter with God. Kingsway Publications, 1979. Author recounts her journey towards a deep faith and the strong effects it had on her life.
Patel, Eboo. Acts of Faith: The Story of an American Muslim, the Struggle for the Soul of a Generation. Beacon Press, 2008.
Wolff, Michael. The Hadj: An American Pilgimmage to Mecca. Grove Press, 1998. An American-born writer and recent Muslim convert recounts his experiences on the Hadj.
Anderson, Joan. The Second Journey: The Road Back to Yourself. Voice, 2009. Quest to restore balance in life.
Bauer, Carlene. Not That Kind of Girl: A Memoir. Harper, 2009. Author’s search for fundamental answers in life and religion, and her occasional ambivalence concerning religion.
Bender, Sue. Everyday Sacred: A Woman's Journey Home. HarperOne, 1996. Treating everyday events as sacred encounters.
DeMuth, Mary E. Thin Places: A Memoir. Zondervan, 2009.
Grumbach, Doris. Fifty Days of Solitude. Beacon Press, 1995. Author briefly lived as a hermit.
Grumbach, Doris. The Presence of Absence: On Prayers and an Epiphany. Beacon Press, 1999. Author feels God’s presence once, and searches to find it again.
Isaacs, Susan. Angry Conversations with God: A Snarky but Authentic Spiritual Memoir. FaithWords. 2009. Author describes her process of “marriage counseling” with God, a journey that begins in therapy and concludes with her realization of the complexities and flaws not of God, but of herself.
Jeffs, Brent W. Lost Boy. Broadway, 2009. Author chronicles sexual abuse as a child in the Mormon Church, filing a lawsuit in 2004.
Morton, Nelle. The Journey is Home. Beacon Press, 1986. On religion and the women’s movement.
Roose, Kevin. The Unlikely Disciple: A Sinner's Semester at America's Holiest University. Grand Central Publishing, 2009. Raised with both liberal beliefs and lifestyle, author describes his experiences at Liberty University, the number one fundamentalist Christian school in America.
Schaeffer, Frank. Crazy for God: How I Grew Up as One of the Elect, Helped Found the Religious Right, and Lived to Take All (of Almost All) of It Back. DaCapo Press, 2008. A former evangelical leader, raised in a Swiss utopian community founded by his evangelical parents, follows his father into the ministry until he becomes disillusioned and rejects Christian evangelism.
Shea, Suzanne Strempek. Sundays in America: A Yearlong Road Trip in Search of Christian Faith. Beacon Press, 2009. Author visits a different church every Sunday for a year.
Schmidt, Susan Ray. Favorite Wife: Escape from Polygamy. The Lyons Press, 2009. Author describes her marriage to a Mormon cult leader at the age of fifteen, and her escape from the oppression her married life entailed.
Spencer, Irene. Shattered Dreams: My Life as a Polygamist's Wife. Center Street, 2008. After making the choice to live in polygamy at the age of sixteen, author experienced the financial and emotional struggles come with a family of 9 wives and 56 children, and ultimately turns to a life of monogamy.
Taylor, Barbara Brown. Leaving Church: A Memoir of Faith. HarperOne, 2007. A preacher for two decades, Taylor documents her choice to leave the church and to explore her faith and ability to reach others in different ways.
Wakefield, Dan. Returning: A Spiritual Journey. Beacon Press, 1997. Author’s mid-life return to church and new life of health.
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| Amish/Mennonites| Buddhism | Catholicism | General | |
Castro, Joy. The Truth Book: Escaping a Childhood of Abuse Among Jehovah's Witnesses. Arcade Publishing, 2005. Author tells how she survived horrific abuse at the hands of her stepfather without any help from the church that held him in high esteem.
Abramovitch, Stanley. From Survival the Revival: A Memoir of Six Decades in a Changing Jewish World. Gefen Publishing House, 2008. Author describes how after moving from Poland to England just before World War II, he began helping Jews in need around the world.
Auslander, Shalom. Foreskin's Lament: A Memoir. Riverhead Trade, 2008. An Orthodox man struggles with the fear of God’s wrath instilled in him from a young age.
Dubner, Stephen. Choosing My Religion: A Memoir of a Family Beyond Belief. Harper Perennial, 2006. A man whose Jewish family converted to Catholicism chooses to return to their original faith.
Ehrlich, Elizabeth. Miriam's Kitchen: A Memoir. Penguin, 1998. Author describes with humor her journey from ambivalent Jew to a woman who observes tradition and teaches her children about their ethnic heritage, particularly, but not only via Jewish food.
Roth, Matthue. Yom Kippur a Go-Go: A Memoir. Cleis Press, 2005. An Orthodox Jew with a taste for contemporary secular culture tells the stories of his colorful life.
Ruttenberg, Danya. Surprised by God: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love Religion. Beacon Press, 2009. On going from an atheist to a rabbi.
Shapiro, Dani. Devotion: A Memoir. Harper, 2010.
Shapiro, Dani. Slow Motion. Mariner Books, 1999. Author leaves the life of mistress to high-powered NY attorney to care for her parents and return to her Orthodox Jewish roots.
Solotaroff, Ted. Truth Comes in Blows: A Memoir. W.W. Norton & Co., Inc., 2000. On growing up in a Jewish working class home.
Winner, Lauren F. Girl Meets God. Random House, 2003. A convert to Orthodox Judaism (born of an originally Christian mother), finds herself moving between her parents’ faiths as she struggles to choose one.
Neumark, Heidi. Breathing Space: A Spiritual Journal in the South Bronx. Beacon Press, 2004. A young white woman’s 20 years of experience as Lutheran pastor of a Hispanic and African-American congregation in the south Bronx.
Turner, Harry. Dear Frank: A Memoir. Daniel & Daniel Publishers, 2008. Author’s difficult but colorful life, from his Depression era childhood to the birth of his son, an event that changed things for the better.
Mormons (Church of Latter-Day Saints)
Baker, Elna. The New York Regional Mormon Singles Halloween Dance: A Memoir. 2009.
Beck, Martha. Leaving the Saints. By daughter of Mormon apologist Hugh Nibley. Crown, 2005.
Jeffs,Brent W. Lost Boy. Broadway 2009. On sexual abuse author experienced as a child & his related lawsuit.
Geer, Thelma. Mormonism, Mama and Me. Moody Publishing, 1986.
Jessup, Carolyn. Escape. Broadway, 2007. By a former polygamist.
Laake, Deborah. Secret Ceremonies: A Mormon Woman's Intimate Diary of Marriage and Beyond. Morrow, 1993.
Morin, Brad L. and Morin, Chris. Suddenly Strangers: Surrendering God's and Heroes. Aventine Press, 2004. Two brothers leave the Mormon church.
Pearson, Carol Lynn. Goodbye, I Love You. Cedar Fort, 2006. Mormon woman married to gay man.
Robertson, Judy. Out of Mormonism:A Woman's True Story. Bethany House, 2001.Irene.
Schmidt, Susan Ray. Favorite Wife:Escape from Polygamy. The Lyons Press. author describes her marriage to a Mormon cult leader at age 15, and her escape from the oppression her married life entailed.
Spencer, Irene Shattered Dreams: My Life as a Polygamist Wife. Center Street, 2008.
Spencer, James R. Beyond Mormonism: An Elder's Story. A convert to Mormonism leaves it to become a minister in a non-Mormon church.
Wall, Elissa. Stolen Innocence: My Story of Growing Up in a Polygamous Sect, Becoming a Teenage Bride, and Breaking Free of Warren Jeffs. William Morrow, 2008.
Worthy, Jack B. The Mormon Cult: A Former Missionary Reveals the Secrets of Mormon Mind Control. See Sharp Press, 2008
Sri Chinmoy
Tamm, Jayanti. Cartwheels in a Sari: A Memoir of Growing Up Cult. Harmony, 2009. Recollection of a horror of a childhood as the chosen disciple of the leader of a religious sect among whose millions of adherents are celebrities and heads of state.
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| Amish/Mennonites| Buddhism | Catholicism | General | |