It is uncanny how much my story has in common with the author's. I too have experience in a Texas cult. If my first marriage had survived, our plans were to plant a church in Vermont. In the first half of the book there is a lot of talk about deconstruction and the nones and the dones. I myself am going through this deconstruction process.

But in the second half of the book, the author alienates and dismisses the experience of people who come out of deconstruction as anything less than a Progressive Christian. Those of us who don't end up back in the church are described as having an "undead zombie religion". It is insulting to people who deconstruct and find themselves at the end of belief altogether.

If you are someone deconstructing your religion and still find yourself on the side of evangelical Christianity, I think you might get something from this book. If you find yourself bordering on something between Christian and Agnostic, I wouldn't recommend. The author seems to have a very rigid idea of where deconstruction can end. And unconventionally structured beliefs about Jesus that do not call back to orthodox tradition outside of the church seem to be off limits for this author.

I received the ARC version of this book in exchange for an honest review from NetGalley.

I was fascinated by the introduction of this title, as the story of being in a cult is clearly the construct by which he views problems in the modern American church. I agree with many, if not all, of his critiques, but he has made me think about my views on the issues upon which we disagree (which should be the goal of any such book).