Angela, Sara, Kate, Hana, Christina, Orianne, and Kelsey are the subjects of these seven chapters. They talk about their conversions to Quakerism, Evangelicalism, Mormonism, Islam, Amish life, Catholicism, and Judaism. Their experiences are full of light, ecstatic healing, revelation, collective embrace, pastoral comfort, appealing silence, and divine femininity.
The last of those seven, Kelsey, is also the author of the book. She begins the Introduction talking about the ritual where her conversion to Judaism was confirmed: “I dunked under the water — the rabbis turned around then, although of course I couldn’t see them, to ensure every last strand of hair was submerged — and then emerged, finally a Jew.”
Each of these conversion stories is full of seeking personal truth, navigating a unique path, and finding a place to belong — as well as the ambivalence of friends and family watching from the outside. Kelsey Osgood continues, about her own experience:
“I was a young person whose inner life had been — and still is, in so many ways — dominated by existential restlessness, and Judaism was a way to both validate that restlessness and channel it. I also happened to believe it was true.” Then: “It was certainly not a transformation anyone who had known me for long saw coming.”
We believe that you’ll be drawn to these stories. Osgood is a good and curious reporter; she tells them with flair. Their experiences may leave you understanding conversion — your own or someone else’s — differently. These are women who, in differing ways, have “met God for the first time,” or even “fallen in love” with the holy. Their stories may even inspire you to do something.
Kelsey writes at the end of the book: “I believe that humans need newness, and they need to feel that they are discovering things for themselves, even things they’ve been bequeathed.” That is why, in an age when organized religion seems to be on the wane in North America, there is still so much religious conversion.
