This isn't your Christian youth group leader's testimony. These “un-testimonies” of growing up evangelical, edited by Notess, creative writing editor of Mars Hill Graduate School's The Other Journal
, are “not necessarily linear, may not have had a tidy resolution, and may not lead to an earth-shattering change in our beliefs.” This compilation of 22 stories covering a range of topics (education, worship, etc.) is the first in a new “Experiences in Evangelicalism” series. Written by experienced women writers from diverse evangelical Christian backgrounds, the tales are honest, approachable and revealing. Each author has put aside her inhibitions about exposing the flaws of her home church—from power struggles to the indoctrination of shame—and takes evangelicalism to task for its “carefully filtered” yet ambiguous conventions. Yet all of the authors tell of a more realistic, meandering faith, enduring even while rife with doubt. Readers will be inspired to re-examine their own beliefs and perhaps even create their own un-testimonies. (Sept.)
