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Average rating4.5
A memoir of leaving the evangelical church and the search for radical new ways to build community. Jeanna Kadlec knew what it meant to be faithful--in her marriage to a pastor’s son, in the comfortable life ahead of her, in her God--but there was no denying the truth that lived under that conviction: she was queer and, if she wanted to survive, she would need to leave behind the church and every foundational building block she knew. Heretic is a memoir of rebirth. Within, Kadlec reckons with religious trauma and Midwestern values, as a means of unveiling how evangelicalism directly impacts every American--religious or not--and has been a major force in driving our democracy towards fascism. From the story of Lilith to celebrity purity rings, Kadlec interrogates how her indoctrination and years of piety intersects with her Midwest working-class upbringing. As she navigated graduate school, a new home on the East Coast, and a new marriage, another insidious truth began to reveal itself --that conservative Christianity has both built and undermined our political power structures, poisoned our pop culture, and infected how we interact with one another in ways that the secular population couldn’t see. Weaving the personal with powerful critique, Heretic explores how we can radically abandon these painful systems by taking a sledgehammer to the comfortable. Whether searching for community in the face of millennial loneliness or wanting to reclaim a secular form of fellowship in everyday life, Kadlec envisions the brilliant possibilities that come with not only daring to want a different way but actually striking out and claiming it for ourselves.
Reviews with the most likes.
Book CW: RA, SA, DA.
Wow, what a journey and I'm still unpacking what I just read. Processing of religious trauma is unique to everyone, but I personally felt a lot of those parallels even though I was not raised Evangelical.
Kadlec draws from LGBTQ+ literary luminaries and other psychology and self-help professionals to thoroughly explain her deconstruction. She also doesn't shy away from acknowledging when she could've handled situations better, and she constantly checks back in with herself to learn what she could do differently going forward.
I feel like Kadlec did an incredible job of sorting through the lies we tell ourselves for the sake of other people, and the damage resulting from living in a predetermined box our parents shove us into instead of recognizing and realizing our own agency.
Great read.