I want to begin with a disclaimer that this review carries with it a bias. Not only is Matthew Paul turner my friend, but my wife grew up in the same church and Christian school that he did. Though he changed all the names, I know about nearly everyone that he refers to. For me and especially for my wife, this book is a real treat when you can put faces and locale on a nationally published memoir. But its also a curse because the wonderful shock value that many will experience in reading this is dulled significantly for me.
That being said, I truly believe that Churched is author Matthew Paul Turner’s breakthrough achievement. I have read nearly all fifteen of his books. Each book, beginning with Christian Culture Survival Guide, slowly shaped what would become Turner’s signature style. With each book, he strayed further from Christian advice and closer to genuine storytelling. Churched is the book he wanted to write all along. For Turner fans, this is the book you been waiting on him to write. For many Christians who routinely go to the religion section at Borders in search of their regular helping of Christian living guides, Turner’s poignant and completely hilarious memoir will be a sweet shock to the system. In fact, I think anyone of any religion or background would enjoy this.
Churched is not a seven key guide to a better spiritual life, nor is it a devotional. And he doesn’t try to tell you how to survive abusive church doctrine as the cover might suggest. It is Turner’s story, or should I say a collection of stories. His memoir is loosely chronological and uses several essays to portray a different facet of life growing up in a highly strict and fundamentalist environment. He covers everything from hypertensive paranoia of Satan to a soul winning contest where the prize is too priceless to spoil on this review. At four years old, Turner’s family decided that God no longer favored their Methodist church and converted to a fundamentalist Baptist Church plant. Matthew leaves what he described as normal childhood to an environment where fire and brimstone was delivered in bulk. Long hair was no longer allowed to touch his ears and The Smurfs were strictly forbidden. Turner, as the protagonist, portrays himself as a sincere young man who wants nothing more than to be pleasing to Heavenly Father, which is also mirrored by his high admiration for his own father. He is a constant for Matthew, who achieves a balance that keeps his feet on the ground and his head in the clouds at the same time.
At first glance, this is a book about fundamentalism; but look deeper and you will find that it’s also about boyhood innocence. Look deeper and you’ll see it’s also about the relationships we have with our parents. Look deeper and you see a story about an era in the 80’s where pop culture and evangelicals collided through the media. Peel another layer back and you see two constant themes: fear and hope. Perhaps you will see other layers that I missed, which makes this story worth reading multiple times.
This book is packed with stories that will take you off guard and cause you to laugh out loud. Because they are true makes them even funnier. In one scene, Turner describes the ‘heroism’ of a ‘Godly’ mother protecting her children from the “bad part” while watching Ben Hur. In another, a member of the church grouchily explains that smoking is a sin, as it will greatly increase the risk of giving Jesus cancer since he lives in your heart. The two signature stories that most people will talk about is the demonstration of hell in Sunday School by burning Barbies. The annual boxing match between his Pastor and Satan are worth the price of the book alone. The book could easily be dark and filled with angst, but I appreciate that Turner decided to forgo heavy emotional nuances and take on a tone that is honest, nostalgic, whimsical and sympathetic. Like good art, he shows you his world and you have the opportunity to react as you see fit. The greatest gift of this book, in my opinion, is that Turner isn’t bitter. Despite being poorly misrepresented, he still loves Jesus.
My only real criticism is that I wished that the book would have included at least a few photographs that he regularly displays on his blog (www.jesusneedsnewpr.blogspot.com) that features he and his sisters dressed for church. Given the awkward humor of the text, I think readers would benefit from the visuals as a little added proof.
In my opinion, Matthew Paul Turner has found his voice. Though he has kept his writing career alive with books on dating advice, college preparation, and relearning Christianity; Churched marks him as an author who stands alone in a new wave of Christian literature that forgoes an agenda and does the good and simple act of writing good books. He is by and large a storyteller and I hope he stays this way. Respectably, his memoir can sit as easily on a shelf next to a David Sedaris or Augustine Burroughs as it can in Family Christian stores. I certainly hope that Churched is the first of many books of this magnitude that stays with me long after I have shut it.
