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God Land: A Story of Faith, Loss, and Renewal in Middle America
In the wake of the 2016 election, Lyz Lenz watched as her country and her marriage were torn apart by the competing forces of faith and politics. A mother of two, a Christian, and a lifelong resident of middle America, Lenz was bewildered by the pain and loss around her--the empty churches and the broken hearts. What was happening to faith in the heartland?
From drugstores in Sydney, Iowa, to skeet shooting in rural Illinois, to the mega churches of Minneapolis, Lenz set out to discover the changing forces of faith and tradition in God's country. Part journalism, part memoir, God Land is a journey into the heart of a deeply divided America. Lenz visits places of worship across the heartland and speaks to the everyday people who often struggle to keep their churches afloat and to cope in a land of instability. Through a thoughtful interrogation of the effects of faith and religion on our lives, our relationships, and our country, God Land investigates whether our divides can ever be bridged and if America can ever come together.
From drugstores in Sydney, Iowa, to skeet shooting in rural Illinois, to the mega churches of Minneapolis, Lenz set out to discover the changing forces of faith and tradition in God's country. Part journalism, part memoir, God Land is a journey into the heart of a deeply divided America. Lenz visits places of worship across the heartland and speaks to the everyday people who often struggle to keep their churches afloat and to cope in a land of instability. Through a thoughtful interrogation of the effects of faith and religion on our lives, our relationships, and our country, God Land investigates whether our divides can ever be bridged and if America can ever come together.
168 pages, Hardcover
First published July 19, 2019
154 people are currently reading
4200 people want to read
About the author
Lyz Lenz
6 books310 followersLyz Lenz is a journalist and the author of God Land and Belabored. She has written for Insider, The New York Times, Marie Claire, and The Washington Post. Lenz also writes the newsletter Men Yell at Me, about the intersection of politics and personhood in red-state America. She lives in Iowa with her two kids.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 251 reviews
May 27, 2019
A moving story of an authentic quest for faith. Many who have found their faith at a breaking point due to the effects of Trumpian Evangelical Christianity will find a welcome companion on their journey in these pages.
The author on her journalistic and faith journey, rightly calls out many hypocrisies in white evangelical Maga Christianity while at the same time lifting up the sincerity and loving hearts of many within it. She is truthful about her thoughts and makes several brave confessions of not only her believes but her own shortcomings as well. She is humble, critical, angry, forgiving, spiritually homeless but longing for home. She’s the kind of person that you can really appreciate as one who refuses to walk an inauthentic Faith. This is to be applauded, even if you find that her conclusions come out differently from your own. After all, unity is not uniformity.
I always want to be slow to criticize a person’s journey because every journey is sacred. If I had one helpful critique to offer however, as a fellow believer, I think it would be to seek to allow your CHRISTIAN faith to guide your liberalism rather than letting your liberalism guide your Christian faith. In my experience, Christians are always going to be more liberal on some issues than conservatives and more conservative in some issues than liberals. The Kingdom of God doesn’t fit well into either category and in fact calls all our allegiances to submission.
The author on her journalistic and faith journey, rightly calls out many hypocrisies in white evangelical Maga Christianity while at the same time lifting up the sincerity and loving hearts of many within it. She is truthful about her thoughts and makes several brave confessions of not only her believes but her own shortcomings as well. She is humble, critical, angry, forgiving, spiritually homeless but longing for home. She’s the kind of person that you can really appreciate as one who refuses to walk an inauthentic Faith. This is to be applauded, even if you find that her conclusions come out differently from your own. After all, unity is not uniformity.
I always want to be slow to criticize a person’s journey because every journey is sacred. If I had one helpful critique to offer however, as a fellow believer, I think it would be to seek to allow your CHRISTIAN faith to guide your liberalism rather than letting your liberalism guide your Christian faith. In my experience, Christians are always going to be more liberal on some issues than conservatives and more conservative in some issues than liberals. The Kingdom of God doesn’t fit well into either category and in fact calls all our allegiances to submission.
August 18, 2019
I spent the better part of my day today reading this book. It was earth-shattering for me. I dug out my sticky page-markers so I could remember all the beautiful, brilliant, true passages. This country is falling apart (let's stop pretending otherwise), and Christianity--white, evangelical, conservative Christianity, to be precise--has had a hell of a lot to do with that. Lenz is a Christian saying she's been deeply, deeply on the inside and, yeah, it's really bad, but she wants to keep fighting. This is a feminist book. I think it took a ton of guts to write.
August 8, 2019
“A white Christian pastor, ignoring the violence against Muslims while perpetuating a victim narrative for Tim Tebow, is part of the story of faith, most notably the stories we fail to tell. And these silences are inextricably linked to race, power, and class.”
“And if we want to know what is happening with faith in America, we have to look at the effects of faith, even the violent ones. Even if we believe we are not that kind of Christian, not that kind of white person, not that kind of man, not that kind of woman. Even if we don’t believe we are racist and we say we love our fellow man, if we have sat in a church that was silent to suffering, we are complicit. If we have turned the other way when children were being tear gassed, that violence is now our religion. And we have to grapple with that, we have to hold it in our hands, so we never forget.”
One thing I have struggled with in recent years is that I grew up in the rural south, in a trailer in fact, and yet the narrative is that people like me don’t understand the white working class. Now, I have certainly encountered people who didn’t know that some people still get their water from wells and who were surprised that I didn’t have cable until college (just a big old antenna click click click) but many people in cities do understand the rural part of our country. Many of us are from those places and know that culture. It is also true that many of the rural parts of our country operate, as Lenz describes, like “a clenched fist.” Many of those places are suspicious of people who are different or who seem like outsiders. It would be nice if our understanding was expected to go both ways. I think Lyz Lenz does a great job pushing for that understanding when it comes to faith and community and culture in this book. Recommended.
“And if we want to know what is happening with faith in America, we have to look at the effects of faith, even the violent ones. Even if we believe we are not that kind of Christian, not that kind of white person, not that kind of man, not that kind of woman. Even if we don’t believe we are racist and we say we love our fellow man, if we have sat in a church that was silent to suffering, we are complicit. If we have turned the other way when children were being tear gassed, that violence is now our religion. And we have to grapple with that, we have to hold it in our hands, so we never forget.”
One thing I have struggled with in recent years is that I grew up in the rural south, in a trailer in fact, and yet the narrative is that people like me don’t understand the white working class. Now, I have certainly encountered people who didn’t know that some people still get their water from wells and who were surprised that I didn’t have cable until college (just a big old antenna click click click) but many people in cities do understand the rural part of our country. Many of us are from those places and know that culture. It is also true that many of the rural parts of our country operate, as Lenz describes, like “a clenched fist.” Many of those places are suspicious of people who are different or who seem like outsiders. It would be nice if our understanding was expected to go both ways. I think Lyz Lenz does a great job pushing for that understanding when it comes to faith and community and culture in this book. Recommended.
September 14, 2019
This is an honest, unflinching look at faith in middle America and the author’s struggle to reconcile it with her own beliefs. Lenz grew up in an Evangelical household and married a conservative Christian. Gradually, she became conflicted about the Evangelical church’s restrictions and exclusionary rules. This book is about her search to find her own place, while also taking a hard look at the current cultural divide and the church’s role in it.
August 20, 2019
This one hit really close to home. Lenz combines reporting from churches throughout the Midwest with deeply personal stories about her faith, the evolution of her politics, dissolution of her marriage, and a failed church plant. Her stories show the good (community! potlucks! lovely traditions! mutual care in rural areas!), but don't shy away from the messy. It's a deep, nuanced, complicated--even diverse--look at the Midwest. She lives in Iowa and spends time getting to know communities and congregations; this isn't an NYTimes reporter dropping in to photograph some chipping paint on a barn and chat up a guy in a MAGA hat at a diner.
Lenz captured a feeling that I've had a hard time putting my finger on from my time as a woman who spent a lot of time in white evangelical spaces: that feeling of needing to make yourself smaller to fit in, of being blamed for being the one to make things uncomfortable, the weight of those countless tiny decisions of when to speak up or not. After years of struggling with patriarchal views in churches and other faith-based organizations, she also doesn't absolve herself from being slow to see the white supremacy in these spaces.
"The truth is more likely that we live in a place that does both. A place where we dine at the houses of our neighbors, but post cruelties about them on Facebook. Where we will give the shirt off our back for someone in need, but vote against them at the ballot box... the dissonance is as deep and real and painful as any part of American history. And it's tempting to look away from it to instead focus on the positive. Look at all the good that is done. But the violence is still part of the story of faith and religion."
Lenz captured a feeling that I've had a hard time putting my finger on from my time as a woman who spent a lot of time in white evangelical spaces: that feeling of needing to make yourself smaller to fit in, of being blamed for being the one to make things uncomfortable, the weight of those countless tiny decisions of when to speak up or not. After years of struggling with patriarchal views in churches and other faith-based organizations, she also doesn't absolve herself from being slow to see the white supremacy in these spaces.
"The truth is more likely that we live in a place that does both. A place where we dine at the houses of our neighbors, but post cruelties about them on Facebook. Where we will give the shirt off our back for someone in need, but vote against them at the ballot box... the dissonance is as deep and real and painful as any part of American history. And it's tempting to look away from it to instead focus on the positive. Look at all the good that is done. But the violence is still part of the story of faith and religion."
August 26, 2019
When I started following Lyz Lenz on Twitter, I thought she was a stand-up comedian. It turns out she is a journalist and memoirist who has created a searing and thoughtful (but also funny and compelling) book about what it means to be an evangelical Christian right now in the midwestern United States. I enjoyed the book tremendously and have recommended it to friends. So often Christian women are pressured to tamp down their exuberance, leadership ability, anger, and disappointment, and this book helps to upend that problem.
September 4, 2019
This book is fine...but with a little more time and MUCH better editing, it could have been great. (I really cannot stress how abysmally poor the editing is. They done you wrong, Lyz!) This feels like a book that was written in a hurry—lots of repeated statistics, facts, and arguments make it pretty clear this thing was a rush job. And that’s a shame because Lenz dances around some pretty compelling arguments. But the book loses itself too often: right about the time Lenz zeroes in on a truly compelling point, she switches to memoir. There’s still a lot to chew on here, especially in terms of the white imperialist thrust of American Protestantism. Unfortunately, though, this book never quite realizes its full potential.
January 2, 2021
This was a good book to read as the presidency of Mcdonald Trump was taking its last desperate gasps.
I'm not a particularly religious person, but I was interested in reading "God Land" because of what I had heard about the author's life. Lyz had been married at a relatively young age to a man who later voted for Trump. Lyz decided that was her breaking point and left him. (You go, girl!)
But the book isn't a memoir of a sad marriage — although there are enough details about how horrible her ex-husband was that I wanted to buy Lyz a drink and give her a hug — but it's more a thoughtful exploration of the role religion plays in America, particularly in the Midwest, the so-called heartland. This turned out to be a fascinating subject, and I appreciated the variety of church visits and interviews with folks from different faiths that Lyz did while researching the book.
I am from Iowa, where Lyz was living when she wrote the book, and I recognized a lot of the personalities and attitudes she described. In some ways, she helped me better understand my parents and grandparents, who were all more religious than I currently am.
On a personal note, I didn't realize how grateful I was to have attended a Lutheran church as a child, which is a denomination that allows for women to become pastors. It was heartbreaking to read about Lyz's frustrations in her churches that didn't allow female religious leaders, and I understood why she didn't want to stay in those misogynistic congregations.
Recommended to those interested in how religion can function (or create dysfunction) in a society.
Meaningful Passages
"[H]ow can a nation that professes to be majority Christian become a breeding ground for hate? How can Evangelical leaders like Franklin Graham preach purity for women from the pulpit and still support as president a man who brags about grabbing women by the pussy? How can people who have seen me spend my whole life struggling to live and practice my faith call me godless?"
"In the past three years, I have been looking for faith in this land. I've been trying to understand what is changing, what is passing away, what remains, and what we hold onto. What I found was a death: crumbling churches by forgotten roads, declining attendance, hallways of abandoned organs, younger generations moving away, farm crisis, and land lost. I've also experienced my own loss — first the loss of a church, then the loss of a marriage. In losing them, I've lost my narrative consistency, the entire concept of who I thought I was supposed to be. In this way, it's no different than the way the communities I've been in feel about the closure of their own churches. Who are they now that the mainstay of their community is gone? Who and what is driving this narrative if it's not bookended by worship? So much of love and faith is about aspiration — what do you reach for when it is gone?"
I'm not a particularly religious person, but I was interested in reading "God Land" because of what I had heard about the author's life. Lyz had been married at a relatively young age to a man who later voted for Trump. Lyz decided that was her breaking point and left him. (You go, girl!)
But the book isn't a memoir of a sad marriage — although there are enough details about how horrible her ex-husband was that I wanted to buy Lyz a drink and give her a hug — but it's more a thoughtful exploration of the role religion plays in America, particularly in the Midwest, the so-called heartland. This turned out to be a fascinating subject, and I appreciated the variety of church visits and interviews with folks from different faiths that Lyz did while researching the book.
I am from Iowa, where Lyz was living when she wrote the book, and I recognized a lot of the personalities and attitudes she described. In some ways, she helped me better understand my parents and grandparents, who were all more religious than I currently am.
On a personal note, I didn't realize how grateful I was to have attended a Lutheran church as a child, which is a denomination that allows for women to become pastors. It was heartbreaking to read about Lyz's frustrations in her churches that didn't allow female religious leaders, and I understood why she didn't want to stay in those misogynistic congregations.
Recommended to those interested in how religion can function (or create dysfunction) in a society.
Meaningful Passages
"[H]ow can a nation that professes to be majority Christian become a breeding ground for hate? How can Evangelical leaders like Franklin Graham preach purity for women from the pulpit and still support as president a man who brags about grabbing women by the pussy? How can people who have seen me spend my whole life struggling to live and practice my faith call me godless?"
"In the past three years, I have been looking for faith in this land. I've been trying to understand what is changing, what is passing away, what remains, and what we hold onto. What I found was a death: crumbling churches by forgotten roads, declining attendance, hallways of abandoned organs, younger generations moving away, farm crisis, and land lost. I've also experienced my own loss — first the loss of a church, then the loss of a marriage. In losing them, I've lost my narrative consistency, the entire concept of who I thought I was supposed to be. In this way, it's no different than the way the communities I've been in feel about the closure of their own churches. Who are they now that the mainstay of their community is gone? Who and what is driving this narrative if it's not bookended by worship? So much of love and faith is about aspiration — what do you reach for when it is gone?"
August 7, 2019
God Land is an insightful and challenging critique of Christianity in Middle America. Lyz Lenz clearly still loves her Midwestern home, but laments that the predominant Christian voices are conflating Republicanism, gun culture, and male-only leadership with the message of Jesus.
God Land doesn't try to paint an overly cheery "we just shouldn't let politics divide us" picture. Lenz's own story illustrates how divisive these issues can be on a personal level. She doesn't pull punches as she recounts the end of her marriage, leaving one church, having a church plant die, and her struggles to find supportive community.
God Land's clear affection for Middle America and portraits of small-town Americans combined with Lenz' beautiful prose and painfully honest diagnosis make it a must-read in 2019 America.
God Land doesn't try to paint an overly cheery "we just shouldn't let politics divide us" picture. Lenz's own story illustrates how divisive these issues can be on a personal level. She doesn't pull punches as she recounts the end of her marriage, leaving one church, having a church plant die, and her struggles to find supportive community.
God Land's clear affection for Middle America and portraits of small-town Americans combined with Lenz' beautiful prose and painfully honest diagnosis make it a must-read in 2019 America.
August 10, 2019
Such a good book that I read it with every free reading minute I had. I got my copy from the library but also plan to buy a copy to gift.
March 29, 2020
There was so much I related to here—the search for belonging in a place you no longer recognize or feel at home, the rampant sexism found in evangelical churches, the times we stay silent in order to belong or not rock the boat, the ways we gaslight ourselves about the political divide between our loved ones and ourselves. At times it was as if Lenz had read my diary. And yet there are key differences. She attended much more conservative churches than I ever did and she’s still attending church, albeit a progressive one. She still has a feeling of hope around faith and church; I do not. But we’re both making sense of how or if to maintain relationships with people who hold such different political beliefs than we do. While this is something I’ve been trying to do for a couple of decades now, the 2016 election changed things, in some cases irrevocably, and it was very helpful to read about someone making the same reckoning.
It was repetitive in places, partly because the personal aspects Lenz recounts around her marriage and subsequent divorce were not always told in a linear manner. The transition between the memoir side and the journalism side could be jarring in places but when the synchronicity worked, it really worked well. It is, however, a very white lens and while she acknowledges it, I wish she would have also visited churches that are predominantly attended by POC. Her arguments would have been further bolstered had she also visited mainline churches because those pockets of conservatism are there as well. Her focus was more on rural churches but the churches of suburbia would have been worth including as well. Basically, I wanted a more well-rounded approach. But still, this was well worth reading.
It was repetitive in places, partly because the personal aspects Lenz recounts around her marriage and subsequent divorce were not always told in a linear manner. The transition between the memoir side and the journalism side could be jarring in places but when the synchronicity worked, it really worked well. It is, however, a very white lens and while she acknowledges it, I wish she would have also visited churches that are predominantly attended by POC. Her arguments would have been further bolstered had she also visited mainline churches because those pockets of conservatism are there as well. Her focus was more on rural churches but the churches of suburbia would have been worth including as well. Basically, I wanted a more well-rounded approach. But still, this was well worth reading.
January 1, 2020
I absolutely love this book! I feel so incredibly seen right now - everything that I've experienced in church as a child, as a teen, in Christian college and law school in the midwest, and as an adult, including my absence from the faith, feels very validated. It was not all in my head, and I'm not alone. Definitely worth reading! 5 stars
September 14, 2019
Lyz Lenz writes a memoir in which three events converge: the dissolving of her marriage, the decline of the mainline Protestant congregation (and the influence of the mainline Protestant movement), and the election of Donald Trump. She seamlessly addresses these three issues, all in the context of life in the upper midwest (Iowa, for her).
She writes with a simple elegance; here's an example: "Across the heartland, churches are dying. Some, like mine, are bright bursts that ignite then die - leaving ash. Others die more slowly - a stubborn refusal to quit despite the loss of their communities, the loss of business, the loss of homes and jobs. All of them are utopias in the dreams of their members. All of them a dangerous speculation."
I am keenly interested in the loss of the influence of the mainline Protestant movement - it is not her purpose to analyze that, but she does touch on it, especially as it relates to the general losses in rural American towns.
Lenz is a perceptive observer. When hearing from person after person, "People just don't have good values anymore; our heartland is going down the tubes", she notes, "There is some other morality at play here, an idea of a civil religion deeply connected with Christianity but also influenced by capitalism, regionalism, and politics."
The most memorable chapter for me is entitled, "Yearning for Better Days." I found her description of the role that nostalgia plays to be insightful: "Nostalgia is no small matter. It was the slogan 'Make America Great Again' that swept up the people of this region during the 2016 election - tapping into a hope and desire for a past never lived but acutely desired."
Lenz also writes about the misogyny she experienced in evangelical congregations, the masculinization of Jesus (preachers using football metaphors, for example), a thriving immigrant congregation in Bigelow, Minnesota, the white privilege celebrated in a suburban megachurch, the supportive online communities, and her own return to church.
She writes with a simple elegance; here's an example: "Across the heartland, churches are dying. Some, like mine, are bright bursts that ignite then die - leaving ash. Others die more slowly - a stubborn refusal to quit despite the loss of their communities, the loss of business, the loss of homes and jobs. All of them are utopias in the dreams of their members. All of them a dangerous speculation."
I am keenly interested in the loss of the influence of the mainline Protestant movement - it is not her purpose to analyze that, but she does touch on it, especially as it relates to the general losses in rural American towns.
Lenz is a perceptive observer. When hearing from person after person, "People just don't have good values anymore; our heartland is going down the tubes", she notes, "There is some other morality at play here, an idea of a civil religion deeply connected with Christianity but also influenced by capitalism, regionalism, and politics."
The most memorable chapter for me is entitled, "Yearning for Better Days." I found her description of the role that nostalgia plays to be insightful: "Nostalgia is no small matter. It was the slogan 'Make America Great Again' that swept up the people of this region during the 2016 election - tapping into a hope and desire for a past never lived but acutely desired."
Lenz also writes about the misogyny she experienced in evangelical congregations, the masculinization of Jesus (preachers using football metaphors, for example), a thriving immigrant congregation in Bigelow, Minnesota, the white privilege celebrated in a suburban megachurch, the supportive online communities, and her own return to church.
August 3, 2019
This is a book for anyone who has ever felt discomforted by the way the Christian church behaves around Donald Trump's presidency. This is a book for anyone who stood up against the Christian status quo and lost relationships with friends and family as a result. This is a book for those who are grieving the loss of Rachel Held Evans. This is a book for those who want to better understand, with equal measures of compassion and frustration, the conservative Christianity of Middle America. What Lenz has produced is a beautifully written and thoroughly researched memoir of her own story as well as countless others, an intimate reflection of America's divide. I cannot recommend it enough.
August 21, 2019
I picked this up because I was interested in her reporting/research on religion/faith in the Midwest (I am 100% a city kid from Cedar Rapids, IA, where Lyz now lives). And she does a great job in tying to get inside that mythos of “midwesterners are the salt of the earth and the “real” backbone of the US”, the cognitive dissonance of faith and politics, etc etc but she also ties much of it to her search for a faith community that did not make her feel small or unwelcome. I think she also did a fantastic job of presenting all her subjects fairly and with depth and avoided othering or making any of them the boogeyman which is hard when being “politically neutral” is impossible. (I had a chuckle in the chapter where she attends the ELCA pastor conference and I was like “those are my people! High five” 😂)
September 23, 2019
Incredibly thought provoking. You don't have to agree with everything she says to learn something new.
April 19, 2021
I adored this book, even if it depressed me slightly. I liked it so much because I felt seen. I have felt so much of what Lyz Lenz describes though I grew up in a completely different religious upbringing. If you live in the midwest and feel like your faith and the culture are at odds, or if you don't live in the midwest and want to attempt to understand some of the folks who we live by this is the book for you. thank you Lyz for the book!
August 2, 2019
I received an advanced reading copy, opinions are my own.
I can identify with this author’s journey through faith as I began a similar journey 20 years ago. The outcome for me wasn’t the same but the outsiderness and the loss of relationships were a very real issue for me as well.
I am interested in understanding why people want to stay with a faith that doesn’t really want them and they don’t really believe in. I guess it’s hard to give up the history of faith and family in the way that you were raised. For me I just remember the day when I finally had to choose and I while I grieved the cost of my choice, I have never regretted it.
This book is probably going to cause a commotion and I am looking forward to reading other people’s opinions and discussions.
I can identify with this author’s journey through faith as I began a similar journey 20 years ago. The outcome for me wasn’t the same but the outsiderness and the loss of relationships were a very real issue for me as well.
I am interested in understanding why people want to stay with a faith that doesn’t really want them and they don’t really believe in. I guess it’s hard to give up the history of faith and family in the way that you were raised. For me I just remember the day when I finally had to choose and I while I grieved the cost of my choice, I have never regretted it.
This book is probably going to cause a commotion and I am looking forward to reading other people’s opinions and discussions.
August 13, 2021
I really enjoy Lyz Lenz's articles and her newsletter, so I wanted to read one of her books. I do not share her faith, or upbringing, but I do share many of her frustrations and hopes. Every chapter gave me something to mull over and reflect on. Highly recommend, for anyone.
August 15, 2019
Searching, trenchant, and tender. Could have been better copy-edited, but I'm interested in reading more on this topic & others from Lenz.
December 13, 2020
The book is as its best when the author describes the pain and frustration she experienced in evangelical churches, where the "gentle grasp of patriarchy" came to feel like a stranglehold. In Lenz's telling, evangelical Christianity today has a softer, shaggier feel than it did in her childhood. But while the pastor may be wearing flannel and a three-day scruff, the repressive structures remain largely in place, and the theology is often "nothing more than a justification for white privilege."
"I wanted to fit in there. Everyone in the church is kind, well-dressed, they look and talk like some sort of variation of Chip and Joanna Gaines. The church even has reclaimed barn wood on the walls. They'd have shiplap too if this was a house instead of a renovated warehouse. I want to squeeze myself into this role assigned to me—doting wife, good mother, worshipper of the male voice, the male god, the muscular Jesus, that requires I only work in the children's ministry, or go to women's Bible studies."
December 23, 2020
Such a great look at the faith of middle America. We truly will need to see a death of American Christianity before we can see beauty rising from the ashes. Her resulting faith post divorce and disillusionment is richer and deeper than she thought possible, and I hope many of us experience the same reckoning in our own faith journeys, albeit without broken relationships if possible.
January 1, 2021
I really loved this book. From a writerly perspective, it was really helpful for the book I'm currently at work on; from an emotional standpoint as someone who has left the church due to many of the issues raised, it was comforting and infuriating (in a good way -- I related). Lyz Lenz writes in a well-researched style that also has gut punches of beautiful phrases. I really enjoyed this book.
July 30, 2020
I really didn't expect to like this as much i did but it's great. Of someone wanted an idea of what living in the Midwest is outside of large metropolitan areas, this is the book I would recommend.
March 26, 2021
This was such a beautiful, thoughtful book. So excited for everything Lenz writes next.
September 7, 2019
I'm really enjoying the story of this writer/journalist's path through and away from the Evangelical church, and how it coincides with the rise of Trumpian conservatism. But I find myself distracted and frustrated by the many grammar and punctuation errors. Please, Indiana University Press, it's worth the money to pay for copyediting. (P.S. See my LinkedIn page if you're looking for a good freelancer to help out with this!)
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August 26, 2024I just cut bait on this at page 40, not because it is not good, it seems well put together, but because it is not for me. This seems to be written for Christians who struggle with the decline of the traditional church, with the ways in which faith has been co-opted by those who turn politics and places for the preservation of patriarchy and white supremacy into faith (from Billy Graham to Joel Osteen) and for those who simply do not understand middle-America. I am Jewish. I was raised in the oppressive Christian = American suburban Detroit of the 1970's. I worked at a Christian college in rural Minnesota during the first reign of Trump (hopefully the only, but who knows.) I don't need middle-America explained to me, and I am not a Christian who believes in basic human dignity rather than whatever the hell we want to call the rageful White ugliness of Trump nation. (Have any of us forgotten the chants of "Jews will not replace us" shouted by MAGA hat-wearing mobs?) I do not feel distanced from a religion I love and where the fellowship I treasured has been replaced with ugliness and exclusion. If I were I think this would be a great book. It truly is me, not you God Land. I hope those who will grow from reading this book, or feel validated, will get their hands on a copy.
September 15, 2019
Sharp and painful and honest. Ms. Lenz has seen a lot of the things I have in evangelical church. In the church I grew up in, everyone knew the woman who planned the music/praise sessions every week, scheduled musical and vocal rehearsals, and was always on stage--but she was an assistant, while a revolving list of men held the title of "Worship Leader". Women were Sunday school teachers, nursery workers, and my pastor spoke glowingly of his incredibly organized and resourceful receptionist, but I never saw a woman preach at the pulpit. At the Church of God university I attended, I learned more than I could have imagined about my faith and Christian ethics from a woman professor--who despite her doctorate, was only ever allowed to lead a chapel service once, at that at the "secondary" chapel location across campus (although I remember with pride that the small secondary location was full to bursting that day, while the usual chapel had a lot of empty seats). Female students were encouraged towards support roles, especially children-based ones, and always with the "goal" of being a strong (but not too strong) and loving pastor's/missionary's wife.
A lot of the reasons she left her evangelical church are the reasons I've drifted from mine. How dare we take to heart the message that God's love is for literally everyone?
A lot of the reasons she left her evangelical church are the reasons I've drifted from mine. How dare we take to heart the message that God's love is for literally everyone?
September 5, 2019
She makes some good points in this memoir, but leaves a great number of loose ends. It's really primarily her story, and her journey, though she does a good job of briefly illuminating the world of a very specific population: Midwestern Evangelicals. It's by no means a comprehensive study (leaving me to wonder what exactly she was doing during those 2 years of interviews and travel) and is so narrowly focused I wonder what outcome she hopes for other than this rather brutal conclusion given by her new (non-evangelical) pastor: "Let them die." Speaking of Midwestern evangelical churches, both large and small. If you read it as a memoir, it's a spare but interesting story of her faith journey. If you read it as a study of Midwestern Evangelicalism, you'll be disappointed. There's just not much here. The Feels are the most successful component, since there's virtually no data and limited anecdotal exploration of her topics.
October 4, 2019
4.5, rounded up. In many ways, the author’s story is my own, which is perhaps why I wish it were more a memoir of the end of her marriage in the early age of Trump than a study of midwestern evangelical culture during the same - I want her, perhaps, to write my story so that I don’t have to. Regardless, it is a serious, heartrending, beautiful book.
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