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    Finding God: A Treasury of Conversion Stories
    Finding God: A Treasury of Conversion Stories
    Finding God: A Treasury of Conversion Stories
    Ebook598 pages11 hours

    Finding God: A Treasury of Conversion Stories

    By John M. Mulder

    3.5/5

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    About this ebook

    The search for God is a staple of human history. Finding God records sixty first-person accounts of Christians who found God in different ways and the impact this discovery made on their lives and on the world in which they lived.

    Ranging from the first century to the present, Finding God is a fascinating digest of conversion stories from a wide variety of people -- from the apostle Paul to the rock musician Bono. These narratives together demonstrate the remarkable diversity of spiritual journeys and the dramatic changes that can result from encounters with God. Both instructive and inspirational, Finding God will expand horizons and deepen the faith of those who seek insight into the age-old spiritual quest to find God.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherEerdmans
    Release dateAug 13, 2012
    ISBN9781467435772
    Finding God: A Treasury of Conversion Stories

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    Reviews for Finding God

    3.5/5

    18 ratings7 reviews

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    • 2/5
      American religion is, in many ways, defined by American Revivalism. According to Charles Finney, "There can be no revival when Mr. Amen and Mr. Wet-Eyes are not found in the audience." If anything, American Revialism is defined by a salvation experience.Uniquely American Christendom walks on a Roman Road. Evangelical teenage short-term missionaries practice their testimonies. The whole of faith gets packaged into a three-part testimonial form ever the bit as formulaic as the infomercial teaser--problem, purchase, benefits. Or angst, decision, joy. Or I was lost; but now am found; free at last, free at last, thank God Almighty I'm free at last. From the frontier tent's revival to the Gospel choir's swaying, we have a uniquely American theology centered in distinctively American soteriology.But...That's not how it's always been. And that's now how it is everywhere. And the stories of finding to God through Christ even in our homeland do not always fit this Americanized road to Emmaus experience.If you are an Evangelical Christian whose faith has been forged in the fires of American Revivalism, but you feel like your drawing to God hasn't necessarily processed by way of the cookie-cutter pattern of those around you that profess, you'll enjoy reading these stories. You're not alone. You'll enjoy meeting new found friends. (And hopefully explore some of their ideas and writings in the broader Christian tradition. This book seems more intentionally primer than refresher.)If you are an Orthodox or Roman Catholic or even Protestant of mainline or pietistic heritage, you'll enjoy the continuing conversation with saints of the communion.If you are of a different religion, you may wish for stories of conversion to your religion. You may find painfully inadequate the reasons for which these individuals converted.If you are anti-theistic, you'll shake your head in disillusionment at these individuals' decisions.And...If you're empathetic, you'll appreciate the struggle of everyman's journey.And enjoy these stories of Mulder's telling, one thoughtfully written nugget at a time. Paul to Plantinga. Bono and Tolstoy.Wannabe missiologists, evangelists--read, contemplate. And be patient and be generous to the other.
    • 3/5
      Finding God: A Treasury of Conversion Stories recounts the conversion experiences of 60 well known Christians. For evangelicals, for whom the idea of conversion is key, the individuals selected my not conform to the prevailing evangelical notion of conversion. John M. Mulder is careful to define what he means by conversion. Conversion “suggests the act of turning around… The turning process can be physical, spiritual, emotional, theological, or moral” (p.xiii). With this definition of conversion in mind, the book launches into chronological vignettes of a number of well known people.He begins with the most well known conversion account, the conversion of the Apostle Paul. What follows includes a “who’s who” of giants in Christianity: John Calvin, Jonathan Edwards, Charles Spurgeon, Fannie Crosby, C.S. Lewis, and Billy Graham to name a few. Some of the individuals whose conversions are recounted are some who would be viewed with suspicion in some circles: Dorothy Day who was aligned with the leftist wing of the Catholic Church, and who separated from the church for a time; Albert Schweitzer, the great humanitarian who wrote The Quest for the Historical Jesus, and Mother Teresa, a suffering servant of God, but whose devotion to the virgin Mary would sit uncomfortably with most non-Catholics.Read Finding God with the editor’s definition of conversion in mind. It will yield many encouraging stories.
    • 4/5
      I received this book as a LibraryThing Early Reviewer. The book is a collection of conversion stories of sixty important and influential Christians, from the Apostle Paul and Constantine to Alvin Plantinga and Bono (a member of the band, U2). In general, each story opens with a short introduction of the person (who he/she is/was, a short background, and his/her key accomplishments, etc.). The interesting thing is that the main "stories" are reprints of excerpts of autobiographies or books and articles about the featured person. This feature makes the book a resource of primary or secondary sources. Good scholarly attempt for the original author and the current editor indeed.To be honest, it would be dry reading if you attempt to read the book in one or two sittings. To use the book more effectively, you would either read it for research, or as daily devotion. Many of the stories are about 4 to 7 pages in length -- makes the articles quite readable for daily reading.I should also point out an interesting chapter. There is a chapter on "a Chinese Christian" -- an anonymous person in the house church movement in China. A no-name, "ordinary" Christian who practices his faith but remain anonymous because of the fear of persecution, the story reminds me of millions of other Christians in the worldwide Church who are persecuted. Good inclusion!
    • 4/5
      A collection of stories of conversion to various forms of Christianity throughout time.The stories are heavily weighted toward the modern era; one is quickly within the past 250 years, and most come from the past century or so. Most of the stories are told in the first person; others are recollections based upon conversations. While there are some notable conversions to Catholicism and some historic Protestant denominations, most of the stories come from the Evangelical world. The collection is notably multicultural, featuring conversion stories of people from India, Korea, among the Native Americans, and other people you might otherwise not know. Each story is prefaced by a short introduction describing the person, their place in "Christian history," and whatever background information is necessary to make sense of the conversion story. I found value in considering the work as a devotional, reading one conversion story a day. Most of the stories are no more than 5 pages. The work is interesting and valuable to see the range of people who convert and the reasons for their conversions.*--book received as part of an early review program
    • 4/5
      I really do like the idea of this book. It shares many of the conversions of many well known and some lesser known Christians. It often does so in their own words It also gives a brief synopsis of the individual before their conversion. It tells not only the extremely well known such as Augustine, Luther, Calvin and Edwards, but also such others as Richard Baxter, Blaise Pascal, John Bunyan and others up through the twentieth century. It Aldo does so on a chronological order. Each narrative is fairly short so that you can read several at a time or even one a day. They are all independent so you don't have to read them in any certain order. One of my only draw backs is that there are this included that Are not Christian. I have no doubt they were sincere, bit none the less not Christian. Overall I still enjoyed it and will go back and reread many of the individual accounts
    • 2/5
      This book was a bit of a disappointment as much of it is simply snippets of books that each of the individuals wrote as pertains to some portion of their conversion rather than it being more of a biography. I was hoping for a bit more details of the different events but if you're more interested in enjoying small readings of the different folks in this book, this might be a great one for you. I'm not sure exactly why this didn't touch me as much but I'm guessing I was just thinking it would be much different.
    • 4/5
      A book filled with 'coming to God' moments of unknown and some well known folks in history: Martin Luther, CS Lewis, Bono. Interesting and well-written, a great resource on the book!

    Book preview

    Finding God - John M. Mulder

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