Secret Thoughts of an Unlikely Convert: An English Professor's Journey into Christian Faith By: Rosaria Champagne Butterfield

Secret Thoughts of an Unlikely Convert: An English Professor's Journey into Christian Faith

By: Rosaria Champagne Butterfield

(If I may borrow John Barber’s word “bragamony” from his book My Almost for His Highest.)

This book is not about the “bragamony” of an English Professor’s journey into Christian faith. It is about God’s grace being manifested in a sinner’s life.

“When I was 28 years old, I boldly declared myself lesbian. I was at the finish of a PhD in English Literature and Cultural Studies. I was a teaching associate in one of the first and strongest Women’s Studies Departments in the nation” (p. X).

What would your church do if someone like Rosaria came to your church for help? There are churches out there that don’t believe that gay people can be transformed by Christ (p. 25), there are churches out there that would encourage her to think that it is okay to “have Jesus and her lesbian lover” (p. 16), and there are churches that would have farmed her out to para-church ministries, “specializing” in “gay people”, in which Rosaria was thankful that her pastor did not do, but remained faithful in shepherding (p. 24).

This is a book I highly recommend all pastors, church leaders, and those who serve in the mercy ministry to read. I have learned this from my personal life—that many church leaders are quick to write off anyone that comes to them for help, and they will send that person elsewhere (i.e. professional help) or make quick decisions without thinking about how to help that person in the long run.

It is sad to see that there are churches that have sublet their Sunday School classes to so-called “Psychotherapy Specialists”. Please buy a few copies of this book and pass them out, first to your pastor and church leaders, and then to those who serve in the mercy ministry.