Girl Meets God: On the Path to a Spiritual Life [Hardcover]

Lauren F. Winner (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 16, 2002

Like most of us, Lauren Winner wants something to believe in. The child of a reform Jewish father and a lapsed Southern Baptist mother, she chose to become an Orthodox Jew. But as she faithfully observes the Sabbath rituals and studies Jewish laws, she finds herself increasingly drawn to Christianity. Taking a courageous step, she leaves behind what she loves and converts. Now the even harder part: How does one reinvent a religious self? How does one embrace the new without abandoning the old? How does a convert become spiritually whole.

In GIRL MEETS GOD, this appealingly honest young woman takes us through a year in her search for a religious identity. Despite her conversion, she finds that her world is still shaped by her Jewish experiences. Even as she rejoices in the holy days of the Christian calendar, she mourns the Jewish rituals she still holds dear. Attempting to reconcile the two sides of her religious self, Winner applies the lessons of Judaism to the teachings of the New Testament, hosts a Christian seder, and struggles to fit her Orthodox friends into her new religious life.

Ultimately she learns that faith takes practice and belief is an ongoing challenge. Like Anne Lamott's, Winner's journey to Christendom is bumpy, but it is the rocky path itself that makes her a perfect guide to exploring spirituality in today's complicated world. Her engaging approach to religion in the twenty-first century is illuminating, thought-provoking, and most certainly controversial.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Raised by a lapsed Baptist mother and secular Jewish father, Winner feels a drive toward God as powerful as her drives toward books and boys. Twice she has attempted to read her way into religion to Orthodox Judaism her freshman year at Columbia, and then four years later at Cambridge to Anglican Christianity. Twice she has discovered that a religion's actual practitioners may not measure up to its theoretical proponents. (Invariably the boyfriends or their mothers disappoint.) It is easier to say what this book is not than what it is. It is not a conversion memoir: Winner's movement in and out of religious frames, but does not tell, her tale. It is not a defense of either faith (there is something here to offend every reader); and Winner, a doctoral candidate in the history of religion, is in her 20s young for autobiography. Because most chapters, though loosely related to the Christian church year, could stand alone, it resembles a collection of essays; but the ensemble is far too unified to deserve that label. Clearly it is memoir, literary and spiritual, sharing Anne Lamott's self-deprecating intensity and Stephen J. Dubner's passion for authenticity. Though Winner does not often scrutinize her motives, she reveals herself through abundant, concrete and often funny descriptions of her life, inner and outer. Winner's record of her own experience so far is a page-turning debut by a young writer worth watching.
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

From School Library Journal

Adult/High School-This memoir explores the transition from childhood to adulthood in a voice that is often sophisticated and learned, and occasionally naive and almost gossipy, as the author shares with candor her family ties, friendships, and love affairs. Winner is the daughter of a Reform Jewish father and a Southern Baptist mother, neither of whom talked much about God during her early years. She describes growing up in a liberal synagogue and experimenting with body tattoos, even though "-Jewish law forbids tattoos, plain and simple." As a teen, she questioned everything, and her search became inextricably bound to her social and intellectual life. She writes as one would recall pivotal events in life's journey, and not in a linear fashion. After fervently embracing Orthodox Judaism during college, she was drawn to Christianity, each change following much reading and soul-searching. Mentored by an Anglican priest during her years as a graduate student at Cambridge, she eventually took comfort in becoming a "lifestyle evangelist," which she describes as "-living a good, God-fearing, Gospel-exuding life." Now she is a doctoral student at Columbia. She admits to both a "cherished intellectual snobbery" and to being "faintly embarrassed about the role Jan Karon's Mitford novels played in my conversion." Not a treatise on comparative religion, this is an engaging story of one bright young woman's quest for faith.
Molly Connally, Chantilly Regional Library, VA
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 288 pages
• Publisher: Algonquin Books; 1 edition (September 16, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1565123093
• ISBN-13: 978-1565123090
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.8 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (56 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #526,892 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #95 in Books > Religion & Spirituality > Other Practices > Messianic Judaism

More About the Author

Lauren F. Winner teaches Christian spirituality Duke Divinity School, in Durham, North Carolina. Her favorite things include October weather, mystery novels, and doodling prayer (see Sybil MacBeth's Praying in Color if you'd like to know more about that last one).

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

38 of 40 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An evangelical mold-breaker, October 31, 2002

By 

Tom Hinkle (Tulsa, OK USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Girl Meets God: On the Path to a Spiritual Life (Hardcover)

Lauren Winner is not your typical evangelical Christian (if there is such a thing as "typical" anyway). For one thing, the path that brought her to evangelical Christianity passes directly through orthodox Judaism. Therefore, her insights in comparing and contrasting Christianity and Judaism are extremely enlightening. Scholars have debated over the years about whether Christianity is a continuation (or "progression") of Judaism or whether it is a clean break, a radical departure, if you will. Lauren's experience indicates, in a sense, that it's both: to convert to Christianity she had to "divorce" herself from Judaism, yet her Jewish background vigorously informs her Christianity. For this reason, she chose to join the Episcopal church, since it's liturgy seemed to be more on the same wavelength as Jewish ritual. I found this aspect of the book to be the most educational, and hopefully Lauren will someday publish a scholarly evaluation of the Jewish/Christian dichotomy.

The fact that she is a scholar, operating in the heady world of esoteric academia, and swam against the skeptical tide that seems to challenge faith at every turn, is quite admirable, almost remarkable in this day and age. Yet instrumental in her conversion was Jan Karon's unpretentious Mitford series, which helps bring Lauren's testimony within reach of the most humble seeker. (Just because I personally found the Mitford books unremittingly dull doesn't mean I don't appreciate the way the Spirit uses them to bring people to faith).

Another way Lauren breaks the mold is the almost shocking openness with which she puts her life on display. That's not a unique thing among Christian authors (such as Anne Lamott), but it's rare if not unique among self-identified evangelicals. The personal quirks that may be off-putting to some (like her tattoos or her unshaven legs!) are endearing to others, and she's not afraid to share failures reluctantly whispered in a confessional with her readership, including the taboo area of sex. But part of the reward of reading a brutally honest spiritual autobiography is the feeling that you really get to know the author in a personal manner, even having never met her, which is why I continually refer to her in this review by her first name. I almost feel like a Lauren's personal friend and confidant, although we will probably never meet face-to-face.

Lauren indeed breaks the mold, and there is enough here to offend almost everybody: Jew, Christian, conservative and liberal alike. But it is those who break the mold (C.S. Lewis, Simone Weil, and Thomas Merton, for just three examples) who have the most impact that lasts even beyond their lifetimes. This book is, hopefully, only the beginning volume in Lauren's spiritual autobiography. The world will hear a lot more from Lauren Winner in the future.

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Witty, intelligently written spiritual journey; a great read, April 6, 2003

By 

J. Lizzi (Costa Mesa, CA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Girl Meets God: On the Path to a Spiritual Life (Hardcover)

This a spiritual autobiography in which the author, Lauren F. Winner, a very well-read and erudite young woman, has many profoundly revealing things to say about how both Judaism and Christianity can hold special places in the heart and soul of a person who strives to be closer to God. I fully expected "Girl Meets God" to be one of those books that compels me to spend time contemplating words of wisdom between every chapter; instead, I read the whole thing in two sittings. It's that good.

I have to admit that I'm as impressed with the author as I am with her story, which involves converting to Orthodox Judaism and then leaving this for a deep and abiding Christianity. "Girl Meets God" reads like a conversation rather than a sermon. Although she's as clever as she is intelligent, Ms. Winner doesn't talk down to the reader, so you won't have to worry about feeling guilt or shame as a result of religious ambivalence or spiritual shortcomings. Instead of myriad revelations, she's just telling her story, and she's happy to have you listen in.

If you've ever "felt funny" about praying, there's a chapter you can relate to. Don't get as much out of worship services as you expected? She's been there. Surely, there are many far more formidable hurdles in the spiritual path. In the chapter called "Holy Week," a roadblock appears in Ms. Winner's realization that many Jews hated Christ and were responsible for His death. At this point she's a Christian who can have no malice toward Jews. Her reconciliation of her faith(s) comes later in a chapter entitled "Pentecost" which contains some rather profound words about spiritual lessons.

Ms. Winner's journey through Judaism to Christianity will be particularly interesting to those who find both beliefs palatable. I happen to believe that God upholds a virtually identical set of morals and ethical values for both Jews and Christians, so it's easy for me to learn about both. Of course, the two hold some divergent precepts; however, Ms. Winner goes beyond calling them out. She studies various angles of interpretation, works her way through the Jewish and Christian history and writings (her knowledge of biblical language is extensive), finds common ground, and seems to be truly grateful for the realization that God speaks forcefully to two different sets of believers. I'm just grateful for a little understanding and a lot more to consider . . . and for the fact that she saved me from spending years in the library trying to sort this stuff out. This book is truly a gem.

23 of 28 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars she should have waited, March 10, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: Girl Meets God: On the Path to a Spiritual Life (Hardcover)

Sure, I guess you ought to read this, if the topic interests you - it's honest, engaging, and fairly well written, even if the title is silly and has nothing to do with the book. The Jewish-Christian material is probably more useful than I, a Gentile, can comprehend. The non-linear movement is attractive (to me). And I do appreciate the messiness and the genuineness, which I suppose is what has inspired invocations of Lamott (although Lamott is miles beyond Winner in both prose skill and spiritual depth).

"Girl Meets God" has a few serious flaws. The first is that Winner simply does not have enough distance on her experience to choose how it will be best presented. Some key spiritual moments are related in a coy way or skimmed over, so that you can't tell from the prose how and why they were transformative. Then on the other hand, it's hard to understand why certain other moments were included and how she thinks they contribute to the story -- this is, probably, what prompts the common criticism of self-indulgent writing. I suspect actual self-indulgence isn't the problem; I just don't think she's learned how to make meaning through judicious cuts yet.

Second, though Winner clearly is spiritually serious and a person of great intelligence, she is early enough in her life as a Christian that she has an annoying habit of relating fairly common personal insights as if they were unusual. Several of her narratives (I think particularly of her tongues story and her conversation with a priest about how Christ is present in the Eucharist) reach so far to wrest A Moment Of Siginficant Insight out of a fairly ordinary occurrence in the Christian life that they are almost embarrassing to read. Don't get me wrong, I'm sure they were genuine for her at the time she lived them, but the level of narrative cliche is high.

And she does the same thing with her writing per se -- she's ending a passage, and you can just see her stretch for A Clever Turn of Phrase.

I enjoyed reading the book, and I would certainly recommend it as a pretty-well-written personal reflection by a voice who will, I'm sure, make significant contributions to Christian writing over the next decades. However, to suggest that this transiently interesting book will take a place next to autobiographical works by writers like Lamott, Merton, Weil, or Lewis is far, far overblown.