Into the Deep: An Unlikely Catholic Conversion
Ebook
Overview
Into the Deep traces one woman’s spiritual odyssey from birthright evangelicalism through postmodern feminism and, ultimately, into the Roman Catholic Church. As a college student, Abigail Favale experienced a feminist awakening that reshaped her life and faith. A decade later, on the verge of atheism, she found herself entering the oldest male-helmed institution on the planet--the last place she expected to be. With humor and insight, the author describes her gradual exodus from Christian orthodoxy and surprising swerve into Catholicism. She writes candidly about grappling with wounds from her past, Catholic sexual morality, the male priesthood, and an interfaith marriage. Her vivid prose brings to life the wrenching tumult of conversion--a conversion that began after she entered the Church and began to pry open its mysteries. There, she discovered the startling beauty of a sacramental cosmos, a vision of reality that upended her notions of gender, sexuality, identity, and authority. Into the Deep is a thoroughly twenty-first-century conversion, a compelling account of recovering an ancient faith after a decade of doubt.
“There are events in life that leave you changed forever, right
down to the very roots and heart of your being, because they go
‘into the deep.’ Like this book. Reading it is bound to be an event
like that in the lives of two classes of readers if they dare to
read it with open minds and hearts: those who call themselves
Evangelicals and those who call themselves Christian ‘feminists.’
The theology is profoundly Christ-centered, the psychology
trustably honest, and the style winsomely alive.”
—Peter Kreeft, Boston College
“Religious conversion narratives tend to be unrealistic, focusing
on single epiphanies that are rare to most human beings. Not
Into the Deep. Abigail Favale has written a conversion
memoir that focuses on the slow process of conversion, one that
unfolds through a union of practice and intellectual inquiry
. . . She is more like a tour guide, bringing even cradle
Catholics like myself into a deeper appreciation of the mystery of
the Church. Into the Deep is Augustine’s Confessions
written for our own age.”
—Tim O’Malley, Notre Dame
"With sympathetic and smart satire that is reminiscent of Flannery
O’Connor, Favale finds both sincerity and shallowness in the waves
of ideological affiliations that tided her youth. Favale, the
unlikely convert, persuades us that by sacramental grace and the
communion of saints, the Church can see the meanest sinner hold her
breath long enough to work out Her shared salvation in fear and
trembling."
—Joshua Hren, author of Middle-earth and the Return of the
Common Good: J.R.R. Tolkien and Political Philosophy
“Into the Deep is a beautifully written story of conversion.
In this raw and compelling narrative, Favale reminds us that, in
the most mysterious of ways, God’s grace can reach all of
us.”
—Carrie Gress, best-selling author of The Marian
Option
Product Details
- Title : Into the Deep: An Unlikely Catholic Conversion
- Author: Favale, Abigail Rine
- Publisher: Cascade Books
- Publication Date: 2018
- ISBN: 9781532605024
Abigail Favale is Associate Professor of English at George Fox University, where she teaches in the William Penn Honors Program. She was awarded the J.F. Powers Prize for Short Fiction in 2017.