Something Other Than God: An Interview with Jennifer Fulwiler (Video)

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In Augustine’s Confessions, the first Western autobiography ever written, we discover the probing journey of a brilliant man, traveling through a maze of philosophies before emerging into the light of Christianity. The destination brought him to tears for though he sensed Christianity to be true, it was the last place he expected to turn.

Years later, when Oxford professor C.S. Lewis embarked on his own pursuit of truth, he too ended up at Christianity, converting with great hesitancy: “I gave in, and admitted that God was God … perhaps that night the most dejected and reluctant convert in all England.”

And then there was Jennifer Fulwiler. When Jennifer stood in a Catholic Church on Easter 2007, preparing to become Catholic, there was hardly a more unlikely convert. Born and raised in a skeptical home, which valued Carl Sagan more than Jesus, Jennifer developed an ardent atheism. She rejected God, mocked religion, promoted abortion, and chased happiness above all through pleasure, work, money, and partying.

But then she met Joe. Joe was brilliant. He had multiple degrees from Ivy League institutions and was rapidly climbing the corporate ladder. Yet, strangely, he identified as a Christian. “How could such a smart man believe something so ridiculous?” Jennifer wondered.

Something Other Than GodThat led her to rigorously examine the claims of Christianity, if only to prove them wrong. She gorged on books. She frequented online comment boxes and discussion boards. She even started a blog which invited Christians to counter her atheism. This painstaking research, combined with difficult questions about meaning, death, and existence, slowly led Jennifer to believe that God existed, and even more that Jesus was God in the flesh. Though obviously troubling, she could have accepted this “mere Christianity” and moved on. But after exploring many Protestant churches, she distressingly realized that the evidence was pushing her toward a far more unsettling destination: the Catholic Church.

Like Augustine and Lewis before her, Jennifer recounts her compelling journey of conversion through a colorful and stirring memoir, Something Other Than God: How I Passionately Sought Happiness and Accidentally Found It (Ignatius Press). The book’s deep soul, humor, and addictive readability help explain why Dean Koontz admitted to enjoying the entire book in just one sitting.

I recently sat down with Jennifer to discuss her conversion and new book, including how she moved from atheist to Catholicism, what books influenced her journey, and how her conversion was “a discovery of a long lost home.”

Watch or download our interview below:

 

Video


Watch the video here (13 minutes)

Audio

[audio:http://brandonvogt.com/wp-content/uploads/Jen-Fulwiler-BV.mp3]
Download the interview here (13 minutes)

Topics Discussed:

1:45 – What were your early religious experiences like?
2:48 – Why didn’t you find Protestantism as compelling as Catholicism?
4:31 – How did you handle Catholicism’s teaching on contraception?
7:40 – What books most influenced your conversion?
10:27 – How was your conversion “a discovery of a long lost home”?

Jennifer’s Recommended Books

Follow Jennifer’s writing at ConversionDiary.com and be sure to pick up her magnificent new book, Something Other Than God: How I Passionately Sought Happiness and Accidentally Found It.

(After you buy the book, visit Jennifer’s blog to win tons of gift cards, iPads, and other prizes!)

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If you liked this discussion you’ll find several more on my Interviews page. Subscribe free via feed reader or email and ensure sure you don’t miss future interviews.