Fleeing Fundamentalism: A Minister's Wife Examines Faith

By: Carlene Cross

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Synopsis: A “brave memoir” by a woman who left her husband and her church to find her own spiritual path (Kirkus Reviews, starred review). Carlene Cross joined the world of evangelical Christianity as a teenager, and after attending Bible college and marrying a charismatic young man who appeared destined for greatness as a fundamentalist minister, she thought the pieces of her life had fallen into place. But her feelings of hope and promise started to crumble when she realized that her husband had fallen victim to the same demons that had plagued his youth. When efforts to hold their family together failed, she broke away—despite the condemnation of the congregation and the anger of many she had considered friends. Once outside, she realized that the secular world was not the seething cauldron of corruption and sin she had believed, and found herself questioning the underpinnings of the fundamentalist faith. In this “absorbing” account, Cross tells of waiting tables, going on welfare in order to earn a degree and support her children, and making peace with her past; and offers a plea for greater tolerance and understanding in an era when religion so often divides people instead of uniting them (Publishers Weekly). “A painfully candid account of faith gained and faith lost, of forgiveness, and of the often rocky road of spiritual growth.” —Booklist