An Atheist Academic Lays Down Her Arms
Written by Holly Ordway.
Street Date: October 2014 (Ignatius Press).
This is the story of a glorious defeat.
Ordway, an atheist academic, was convinced that faith was superstitious nonsense. As a well-educated college English professor, she saw no need for just-so stories about God. Secure in her fortress of atheism, she was safe (or so she thought) from any assault by irrational faith.
But then something happened . . . How did she come to “lay down her arms” in surrender to Christ – and then, a few years later, enter into the Catholic Church?
This is the moving account of her unusual journey. It is the story of an academic becoming convinced of the truth of Christianity on rational grounds – but also the account of God’s grace acting in and through her imagination.
It is the tale of an unfolding, developing relationship with God, told with directness and honesty – and of a painful surrender at the foot of the Cross. It is the account of a lifelong, transformative love of reading – and the story of how a competitive fencer put down her sabre to pick up the sword of the Spirit.
Above all, this book is a tale of grace, acting in and through human beings but always issuing from God and leading back to Him. And it is the story of a woman being brought home.
Read a sample chapter here.
Dr. Holly Ordway is the director of the MA in Cultural Apologetics at Houston Baptist University. She holds a Ph.D. in English literature from the University of Massachusetts Amherst; her academic work focuses on imagination and literature in apologetics, with special attention to the work of CS Lewis and Charles Williams.
@HollyOrdway #NotGodsType
Praise
“Moving from unbelief, to Evangelicalism, and finally home to the Catholic Church, Professor Holly Ordway reveals how a gifted mind, longing for transcendence, can only appropriate it if it is wholly given by the reach and power of God’s grace.”
— Francis J. Beckwith, Professor of Philosophy and Church-State Studies, Baylor University
“Holly Ordway manages to dig into meaty intellectual topics without losing the personal, relatable elements of her story. The result is a book that has the rare combination of being both deeply intellectual and deeply human.”
— Jennifer Fulwiler, Author, Something Other Than God
“Dr. Ordway’s wonderful journey of faith shows us the necessity of engaging both the mind and the imagination when presenting the Gospel to a secular world. Never before have I read an author who could artfully weave together the philosophical arguments for the existence of God, the historical evidence for Christ’s resurrection, and the case for the Catholic Church all within a heartfelt narrative that was so good I read it in one sitting.”
— Trent Horn, Author, Answering Atheism
Review Copy
If you are media and would like a review copy of Not God’s Type, please email Kevin Wandra at kwandra@carmelcommunications.com
To download the book cover, click on the image below
