Project Conversion: One Man, 12 Faiths, One Year

by Andrew Bowen

On January 1st, 2011, Andrew Bowen embarked on the most challenging journey of his life. Once consumed with hatred toward religion and the faithful, he fully immersed himself in 12 faiths and philosophies for one year in order to discover the humanity within them all. His objective: dissolve his animosity by experiencing a first person perspective into each faith and its followers. But his road was wrought with trials. Now, join Andrew as he recounts his year-long struggle toward a peace he thought impossible, and an awakening he never imagined.

Genres: Religion, Nonfiction, Spirituality, Christianity, True Story

318 pages, Paperback

First published January 29, 2013

About the author

Andrew Bowen, once a fervent enemy of religion, is now a perpetual student and champion for inter-religious peace and reconciliation. In 2011, Andrew created Project Conversion, a year-long personal immersion into the culture, practices, beliefs, and rituals of 12 belief systems from around the world as a personal intervention after years of animosity toward faith.

He now speaks and writes about his pluralistic adventures and efforts to end the war between, within, and outside the world of faith.

Reviews

[Emily · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm fairly possessive of my favorite books. When I read a book that strikes a chord deep within me, it becomes "mine" in a far truer sense than can be conveyed by simply owning a collection of papers with words printed on them. So when I say I feel more ownership of Project Conversion: One Man, 12 Faiths, One Year than I usually do over my favorite books, it means something. Project Conversion fundamentally changed the way I view and approach those of other faiths, and deepened my appreciation for my own.

Read the rest of my review on my blog at Build Enough Bookshelves

[Melanie · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a book of a man immersing himself in a different faith each month for a year. Before discovering this book I had told Ben I wanted to do something similar (but with a much smaller scope and for different reasons), so I was very excited to read this book. I loved learning about the various faiths. A lot of preconceived notions disappeared and greater love and more understanding appeared. It was interesting to read about Bowen's experience in my faith. This book is not for someone who sees things as black and white. It's for those who are willing to see God and faith through a myriad of lenses. Bowen's spiritual experiences/visions were very interesting and beautiful to me. A book well worth reading.

[Michelle · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really liked SO MUCH of this book. I really believe the world would be a much better place if we understood each other's religions much better, and this book is GREAT for that! I learned a LOT reading this story of a man who chooses a different "religion" each month of a year; he really learns all he can, lives it as honestly as he can and tries to see the world through each religion's eyes. LOVED that!
What I wasn't so crazy about---over-the-top emotiveness. Not exactly an even-keel sort of guy, the author has what he feels to be a desperately anguishing past, and EVERY FEW PAGES of this book, some event in his life "devastates" him, "turns his world upside down", etc. What sort of things? Um, a car running out of gas. A dog getting sick. Nasty comments on a blog. Weird visions he says he sees sitting on a river bank. Where his childhood imaginary friend tells him he's going to die. Oh, and one month he decides his "spirit animal" is a giant multicolored chicken. Then he invents his own religion he calls The Fluid Life. Then he converts to Catholicism. This part of the book exhausted me.

[Liz · Rating 3 out of 5]

I admire Bowman's goal to become more compassionate. I would have liked it if the book was more about what he experienced with each religion. The long philosophical ponderings were no doubt useful and powerful to him, but I was hoping for more facts and events and less stream of consciouness. I don't feel like I learned much about any of the religions, what Bowman did to practice them or what the end result was. He was so in the moment that it felt like reading a draft of a journal rather than a finished book. I admire the concept and the goal; I just wish I knew more than the book told me.

I must say, that as someone who was raised Mormon, his description of his interactions with the Mormon missionaries left me laughing. It was spot on. Focusing on feelings over facts, pleading for conversion, using the same scriptures over and over and blaming the investigator when God doesn't respond how the missionaries promised God would is classic missionary behavior.

[Phannie · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a fantastic read. Quick read, easily understood, and emotionally moving. I would recommend this book for sure. Anyone interested in religion, experience, and transformation will surely love this book. LOVED it!

[Sally · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very interesting read about one man's journey away from religious bigotry. But the whole time I was thinking Mr. Bowen's wife is the one who is a saint!

[Wendy · Rating 4 out of 5]

It was inspiring to read about all his month long deep dives into 12 different religions. I admired him for doing this project to try & get the hate out of his heart towards religious groups & religion in general!

He was very devout at living each religion, but also to the detriment of not spending enough time with his wife & kids as well as becoming broke financially!

My faith is The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (one of his months). Although, he did learn some of our doctrine & was able to release the extreme animosity he used to have towards our faith, I felt like he didn't really dive as deep into our doctrine & practices as he did the other religions. Maybe the people from the other 11 religions felt the same way on their month?

I'm happy for him that he found a church that worked for him. I do believe in absolute truth, but I also feel like we can all get to it eventually in this life or in the eternities & we all have different paths to get there! I feel like all religions do have some truth & like he said that Satan is constantly trying to deceive us, so we need to constantly be vigilant in our religious practices and our relationship with God.

I didn't fully understand why he chose to be Catholic, but I'm glad he feels fulfilled & at peace with God!

[Kris · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very interesting and a lovely conversion story into the Catholic faith. The writing was not the best with tense problems and his flow was choppy. The author made me nervous with his immersion into certain prayers and meditations to gods/goddesses but that is from my own Christian faith perspective. Worth reading.

[Brian Bohmueller · Rating 1 out of 5]

An array of magical thinking that continues to undermine the true compassion and planetary stewardship we humans need to cultivate.

[Sarah Bringhurst Familia · Rating 3 out of 5]

First of all, I hate to rain on the feel-good parade, but this guy is in serious need of a copy editor. As in, besides the obvious typos, he's never even heard of the past perfect tense. Also, I wonder when the year-long personal quest/book deal fad will finally run its course.

That said, this book did have some redeeming qualities. So even though it's really only a two or 2.5 star book, I'm going to go ahead and cut Andrew Bowen some slack and give him three stars, just for the significant personal achievement of going from closed-minded bigot to advocate for everyone he used to hate in one short year.

This book chronicles how Bowen, a self-described bitter atheist (and former intolerant Christian), lived a different faith every month for a year. In many ways, it's similar to Flunking Sainthood: A Year of Breaking the Sabbath, Forgetting to Pray, and Still Loving My Neighbor, except that Bowen goes well beyond Christianity, devoting months to faiths as diverse as Buddhism, Wicca, and Zoroastrianism. He even spends a memorable month meeting with the Mormon missionaries.

I enjoyed reading about his plunge into each faith and don't doubt his sincerity, but I remain skeptical that a month inside a faith with no plans for long-term commitment is long enough to really understand it. There's always some hubris involved in these sorts of projects, and Bowen is no exception. He even considers going off and starting his own religion.

Still, if the goal was getting to know some members of each faith and trying to listen and learn respect for other religions, then Bowen has ably accomplished it. There are better introductions to each particular faith than this book, but for an interesting and sincerely-written testimonial of the virtues and unexpected joys of religious toleration, it does quite well.

[Jami · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was fascinating. The author was once a fundamentalist Christian who turned away from God in response to the loss of his unborn child. He became a fiery ball of hatred toward all religion. After some family conflict, he decides that he needs to change how he views religion. This project is an effort to develop empathy and understanding toward many world religions, religions he had previously condemned or knew nothing about. Once a month he immerses himself into a new belief system and culture.

He tackles:

Agnosticism/Atheism
Baha'i
Buddhism
Catholicism
Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
Hinduism
Islam
Jainism
Judaism
Sikh
Wicca
Zarathushti (Zoroastrian)

Two things are perfectly clear. One, his wife is a saint. Two, he is a zealot, whatever he belief system he practices. I'd be willing to place a bet that he's going to be a fiery ball of something his whole life long. I loved his honesty and his earnestness. If you have any interest in comparative religion, I think you will really enjoy this memoir.

[Nicolette Froelicher · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am so sad that I finished this book, I did not want it to end, So good. Just WOW! I got goose bumps throughout this book!!! Andrew Bowen kudos, 2 thumbs up! He is such a gutsy, determined, courageous man! I learned so much from this book and his blog which I have been following from the beginning of his journey.I don't even know Andrew except for an occasional chat with him on facebook and his blog but I am proud of him. This book should be read by everyone on this planet regardless of faith, belief, religion, spirituality and race and especially for those who are interested in religion. It needs to be read. I wish their were more people in this world like Andrew Bowen the world needs it. I loved this book so much it is apart of me now. I can't get it out of my mind. Again I did not want it to end I want more. Seriously one of the best books I have ever read in my whole entire life and this book will stay with me the rest of my life. Kudos again to Andrew Bowen for doing what he did and Kudos to his family for being there for him through this Journey.

[Stephanie · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a really interesting read for me. While firmly rooted in my own religious traditions, I do believe that the great majority of religions teach some truly good principles and that we have more in common than we often care to recognize. The author's journey was fascinating, but certainly not something I would recommend to the masses. It clearly took a toll on his marriage and family, and frankly, in some ways, was very selfish. I do think his motivation and intentions were good. He seemed to do an excellent job of approaching each religion with an open mind and willing heart, and was able to identify and embrace some good in even the most prickly of experiences. His conclusions are less ... conclusive than I expected, but I appreciate the homework he did because it gave me a deeper insight into many different religious beliefs. It's an understanding I'm happy to have via reading rather than living it out like he did. I think the book's overall message is an important one about humanity in general.

[Paula · Rating 4 out of 5]

I followed Mr Bowen's journey in 2011 when he was writing his blog about his mission of experiencing 12 different religions for the year. I enjoyed his experience reading his blog. I learned a lot. This book was a little different. Though I enjoyed it, I did feel it was missing something, missing more. I wanted more. I wanted a little more of the religion experience. I am a student by nature and read different things, so it wasn't about wanting to be educated by Andrew Bowen, but give a little more of the religion. Some of the religions didn't even have the basics.

Overall it was a good starter book but it left me wanting more....

[Dee · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed reading this journey of the author as he lived each faith fully immersed for a year, one month at a time. Particularly of interest are the musings and thoughts/reflections on what the author is experiencing during each experience. As the reader progresses on the journey into the yearlong transformation, we can take away comparisons along with the author on how each faith differs from the other and how they are similar. I enjoyed reading this book. It is nice to follow along as the author comes to understand faith and ultimately how he fits into the bigger picture of the universe.

[Julie · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a fascinating roller coaster of a journey. It has much to say about dealing with our flaws, especially intolerance, and it has much to say about faith. If you followed the Project Conversion Blog, this fills in the spaces between the blog posts, and tells Andrew's personal story of this experience, rather than being detailed about the 12 faiths. (He did that in the Blog and on Interfaith Voices and such.) It's rather amazing to be part of his transformation. Highly recommend this book to anyone interested in interfaith relations or personal transformation.

[Eric · Rating 5 out of 5]

Written wih strength and courage Andrew Bowen produced a wonderful Memoir about finding one's faith and meaning in life. Through exploring 12 different faiths, Bowen came to a peace within himself which he hadn't had for over a decade. Each month within a faith brought many challenges especialy with in his family. But as many struggles do this journey created a new reality for Andrew and a greater peace.

[Marty Watson · Rating 5 out of 5]

The author was totally immersed for a month in each religion, which conveniently was scheduled to include major holidays. It was an education into some faiths I’d never learned about. His poor family had to put up with the new faiths and practices. I was surprised with his final choice of religion that satisfied his beliefs. Anchored in my faith, I surprised myself by even reading this, but a chance review drew me to this book and the author drew me in. Thank you!

[Margy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting and respectful though (by necessity) fairly superficial exploration of various faiths. I was especially intrigued by the changes in his thinking about religion and spirituality, his interactions with people, and his engagement with different kinds of spiritual practices. I think his efforts to engage were sincere.

[❀Aimee❀ Just one more page... · Rating 4 out of 5]

I found the book interesting. Still thinking about the book as a whole and trying to figure out what I'm taking from it. The author's experience is laid out for better or worse, how he was feeling from moment to moment. Kudos for the transparency.

[Jennifer · Rating 2 out of 5]

I had high expectations for this book and was truly let down. I thought it would be more informative on the various religions, but instead it was mostly filled with useless information about his life and complaints. He is a whiner and I had to force myself to complete the book.

[Alisha S · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good idea

Good idea

I thought that the idea for Project Conversion was a great one, however because it was a personal journey I feel like the descriptions of each religion were sometimes inconsistent. I think it's a great idea but maybe not the best book.

[Skylar · Rating 5 out of 5]

Since joining Goodreads last September, I've read 130 books. This is one of the best books I've ever read. In my life. I just finished reading it, and it's 4am.

[Sławek Karwasz · Rating 5 out of 5]

Bardzo interesująca opowieść podróżnicza. Niestety najbardziej mnie ciekawiące opcje 'poleciane' po łebkach.

[Chris Schaben · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very unique look at one man's journey to explore different religions. Bowen gives really personal examples to help you understand every experience and feeling he has had.

[Laura · Rating 4 out of 5]

I appreciate Andrew going through this transformation and recognizing the good in religion. Now I want to read the sequel and see what led to his conversion to Catholicism!

[Alison]

kindle 320 (metaphysical)