My Faith So Far: A Story of Conversion and Confusion [Hardcover]

Patton Dodd (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 12, 2004 | ISBN-10: 0787968595 | ISBN-13: 978-0787968595 | Edition: 1

In this frank, funny, and often challenging memoir about life in and out of the church, twenty-something Patton Dodd reveals his quest for an authentic experience of God. On his journey he attempts to pinpoint and justify his belief in God, first with the fervent absolutes that characterize a new believer’s faith but then with a growing awareness of the cultural complexities that define his faith and encompass his understanding of Christianity. 

When a spiritual awakening in his last year of high school wrenches Dodd out of his rebellious party days, he embarks on a quest for God. He exchanges pot smoking for worship dancing, gives up MTV for Christian pop, and enrolls at a Christian university. Soon, however, he finds himself ill at ease with the other Christians around him and with the cloying superficiality of the Christian subculture. Dodd tells his story in contradictory terms—conversion and confusion, acceptance and rejection, spiritual highs and psychological lows. With painstaking honesty, he tries to negotiate a relationship with his faith apart from the cultural trappings that often clothe it. 

Dodd’s moving story paints a nuanced and multilayered portrait of an earnest quest for God: the hunger for genuine faith, the bleak encounters with doubt, and the consuming questions that challenge the intellect and the soul. This is a story that will resonate with the emerging generation of young adults attempting to break new ground within their own faith tradition.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Starred Review. Too much pot. Too many beers. Tired of lying to his parents, Patton, 18, is ready to come clean. He goes looking for God at a charismatic megachurch where people are "unabashedly excited about Jesus," and his life turns around. He speaks in tongues, dances spontaneously during worship services, enrolls at Oral Roberts University. And he prays incessantly: "My prayers cover the nation, the world. They pour out of my mouth and gush through the air, rumbling up the foothills of Pikes Peak and leaping into the sky, splashing down into the plains and rushing across into the towns and boroughs and metropolises, seeping under people's windowsills and covering their entire homes like a film that won't come off." Now a grad student and contributing editor to the webzine killingthebuddha.com, Dodd engagingly recreates two years of passionate faith and excruciating doubt, weaving historical notes and sociological observations into his personal narrative. Though his experience as a fanatically "evangelical, Bible-believing, chest-pounding Christian" was short-lived, Dodd's tone is sympathetic as well as wryly humorous, and his analysis is usually kind: "ORU is not a place of insincere devotion; it is a place of extreme devotion sincerely and frequently expressed." This lively coming-of-age story succeeds both as literary memoir and as an intimate look at a popular variety of American religious experience.
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From Booklist

There is nothing new about the crisis of faith that afflicts adolescents as they question and rebel against the religion, or lack thereof, of their parents. What is new is what Dodd brings in this personal, sometimes embarrassing, always pithy and articulate account of his own journey through the valley of doubt. En route from his Southern Baptist roots, he gave up pot smoking and philandering, plunged headlong into the evangelical charismatic movement, chose to strengthen his faith by attending Oral Roberts University, but then dropped out, only to pick up his education later at a secular university. In an engaging writing style that allows him to be both protagonist and dispassionate observer, Dodd stands outside himself and, with insight and humor, presents a young man's search for God, piety, and the answers to all life's imponderables. In conclusion, "the only honest way for this story to end," he says, "is for it to come to silent rest right in the middle," where he has found two out of three. Donna Chavez
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 208 pages
• Publisher: Jossey-Bass; 1 edition (November 12, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0787968595
• ISBN-13: 978-0787968595
• Product Dimensions: 6.3 x 0.9 x 9.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #212,314 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Patton Dodd is the executive editor of Bondfire Books and a contributing editor at large for Patheos. He is the author of The Tebow Mystique: The Faith and Fans of Football's Most Polarizing Player and My Faith So Far: A Story of Conversion and Confusion. His writing on religion and culture has appeared in a wide range of publications, including the Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, Newsweek, Slate, Financial Times, Christianity Today, Cineaste, Books & Culture, The Shambhala Sun, and The Revealer. Patton taught writing, literature, and film at the United States Air Force Academy, and holds a Ph.D. in religion and literature from Boston University.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

16 of 16 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars My Review So Far November 18, 2004

By mars hill brandon

Format:Hardcover

My Faith So Far is a brilliant, close-up look into the life a conflicted, but well-intentioned young man. It's the sort of book that allows you to examine your own experiences and how you might have handled those offered by the writer. Mr. Dodd's ability to mix nostalgia, razor-sharp-wit, and an honest, even painful self-appraisal make this one of the best memoirs I've ever read.

The book centers on 2 years encapsulating his experiences in college and life as they pertain to the building and deconstructing of his world-view. It's whimsical and sardonic at once and has, at least for me, a great contemplative feeling.

You won't read too many books from Christian authors that have this depth of honesty. And the rawness with which he handles his emotional/intellectual experiences is the real treasure found in the pages of MFSF. An author's ability to connect with the reader via memoir is closely linked to his ability to be transparent, Patton Dodd allows you to feel what he feels, examine what he thinks, and come to your own conclusions about faith,life and God.

If you're trying to:

a. Get a grasp on your belief system,

b. Understand contemporary Chrsitian culture,

c. Have a good read before you go to bed at night,

Then this book is for you.

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars provocative and lively January 3, 2005

By L. J. Barker

Format:Hardcover

With rare honesty and at times gut-twisting vulnerability, Patton Dodd presents a unique perspective on wrestling with one's faith. His experience touches on the nearly universal longing to believe, a longing wrought with the fear of placing one's faith in something that doesn't warrent such whole-hearted commitment. As he gives himself over to what he hopes will be a life-changing conversion, he soon learns that nothing comes easily. And as life becomes littered with doubts, he finds himself wondering what to do with the faith that remains. Dodd's thought-provoking, often-humorous account of his faith journey thus far will resonate with all those who have abandoned their faith over similar doubts, those who cling to their faith despite their doubts--and those who have yet to admit such doubts, even to themselves.

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Great for High School Youth Groups December 1, 2004

By J. A. Porter

Format:Hardcover

Patton Dodd does a fantastic job pulling away the curtain from a very curious American subculture--Charismatic Pentecostal Evangelical Christianity. For many of us whose history has touched this subculture, My Faith So Far helps put into words many of the feelings and anxiety that repelled us from it and, in some cases, from Christianity entirely. Patton provides a hopeful story about the struggle to find or at least journey toward authentic faith.

While most readers probably won't identify with Patton's over-the-top, radical, other-worldly embrace of Charismatic worship, his critique of the Charismatic culture will resonate with anyone who has earnestly observed this brand of Christianity and walked away scratching his/her head.

My Faith So Far is a very brisk read and easy to get through in one or two sittings. It's not a scholarly read, but it does put the Charismatic movement into context and may help lead readers into a deeper discussion about the oddities of faith and the struggle to become authentically Christian.

This would be a great book for high school youth groups, especially evangelical youth groups.