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My Review of "Misfit Faith"

Jason Stellman's Misfit Faith:  Confessions of a Drunk Ex-Pastor was not quite the book I had expected it to be.  It was so much better!

Jason Stellman was a Presbyterian pastor, but he became a Roman Catholic.  I expected Misfit Faith to be, therefore, a semi-autobiographical work of Catholic apologetics.  I read of Scott Hahn's mentorship of Stellman, and expected Misfit Faith to be a new, milder version of Hahn's scholarship.  But I did not see any defense of Peter being the first pope in Misfit Faith, or any criticism of Sola Scriptura, or an explanation and defense of the Catholic understanding of justification.

Instead, I read the story of Stellman's own spiritual journey.  From the opening confession that Stellman had flirted with Christian universalism, I knew this wasn't going to be a Catholic apologetic.  I wouldn't even characterize Misfit Faith as an apologetic at all.  Because if there's one thing Stellman isn't sure on, it's how to be dogmatic.  About anything.

So as I read this lovely narrative, I kept coming back to one question:  "Why then are you a Catholic?"  Stellman is drawn to the Roman Catholic view that grace enhances the natural rather than replacing it.  Stellman states that the Catholic view that the church is a mother, with open doors, influences him to have a more charitable view towards those with contrary ideas, rather than defining himself by who and what he is against.  Stellman is also drawn to the liturgical life of the Catholic church, and he appreciates Catholicism's enchanting supernaturalism, which the Enlightenment repudiated.  There is a part of him that is drawn to stories and fairy tales, and that is a factor that underlies his attraction to Catholicism.

In the end, Misfit Faith is a thoughtful story about coming to a faith that a committed life to Jesus Christ, but one that isn't quite sure of very much.  And in that way, Misfit Faith turned out to be a gem of a book -- like I said, not quite what I expected.

But readers beware:  Misfit Faith is also peppered with salty language, and its prose is conversational, so I may not be the perfect literary diet for theologians.  But there's quite enough here to appeal to all sorts of readers outside the academy and on the fringes of the Church.  The book is worth it if for nothing else than all its Star Wars references.  It'll probably most fit the literary diet of people who really aren't sure about following Jesus -- people disenfranchised with the disenchanted worlds of secularism and Evangelicalism.  It'll help you see the mystery in Christianity -- and that's a great place to begin.

If nothing else, there's a valuable spiritual test in the covers of this book:  Would you be happy or sad if God chose to save everyone?  That's an important question I think no one -- believer or nonbeliever -- can simply ignore.

I received a free copy of this book as part of the Blogging for Books program in exchange for my honest review here.

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