I read Mathewes-Green's account of her conversion to Orthodoxy shortly before I was baptized; it seeded my imagination with images of what Christian community could be.
When I sat down to write my own memoir, I went back to Gallagher's account of her return to the Episcopal Church. My favorite line: "In my thesaurus, one of the synonyms for Eucharist is windfall." It is simple and perfect.
Ehrlich, who grew up in a secular Jewish home, narrates her midlife decision to keep a kosher kitchen. I always tell Christians that if they are going to read one book about Judaism, it should be this one.
This is Hampl's account of trying to learn to pray. "Prayer only looks like an act of language," she writes. "[F]undamentally it is a position, a placement of oneself." Amen.
In this amazing 19th-century text, Jacobs provides an account of her life in and escape from slavery. She describes her time in the attic and subsequent freedom in Christological terms—as a kind of going down into the tomb and then being redeemed.
Lauren Winner is author of several books, including Girl Meets God.
The Texas judge behind the political strategy for the “conservative resurgence” molested and assaulted teenage boys, according to allegations eight men made in court.