In Something Other than God Jennifer Fulwiler chronicles her conversion from atheism to Catholicism. Born and raised as an atheist, Jennifer always held a particular disdain for Christianity—she wanted nothing to do with those crazy people (who can blame her?). Yet, a certain sense of despair in regards to her mortality hung over her like a dark cloud her entire life. This acute awareness of her foreboding finite nature would eventually lead her to the most unexpected of places, the Catholic Church.
This book had been on my radar for a while and so I decided to request it as a Christmas present. Good life choice.
I read the entire book in a single weekend; so it’s definitely an easy read. Jennifer’s humor and writing style makes it easy to follow; I hardly realized I had spent 5+ consecutive hours with the book in hand. Oops!
This is a book that’s all about the journey, not the outcome (considering we all know how the story ends). What makes Jennifer’s story so enthralling are the details of her slow and steady walk with Christ. Jennifer’s is no St. Paul conversion. She doesn’t get knocked off her horse or hear literal voices from the sky imploring her to repent. Instead, Jennifer lets us see a glimpse into the gentle and quiet ways the Lord slowly worked on her heart. Whether it be through a random book she stumbled upon, a fossil she found in her youth, or an impromptu decision to start a blog, Jesus was reaching out to her at every step of the way.
That’s what I love about Jennifer’s story so much, her struggle for Truth is incredibly relatable. Despite the fact that I am a cradle Catholic, I have grappled with many of the same questions and doubts Jennifer dealt with on the road to Christianity. How could a God that is good and loving allow so much pain and destruction? If Jesus was a real life human being, how could he possibly be God as well? Christianity has been riddled with hypocrisy and scandal throughout history, how could God be a part of that?
To find out how Jennifer reconciles these questions, you’ll just have to read the book yourself! 🙂
In the meantime what we can take from Jennifer’s beautiful story is, that at the end of the day, we are all the same. No matter who we are or what we believe in, Jesus is present in our lives and He is constantly in pursuit of each of our frail hearts. We just have to be open along the way.
Catholic Realist 