by Matthew Paul Turner
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Product Description
He spent his childhood trapped within the confines of countless bizarre, strict rules. And lived to tell about it.
In this first-hand account, author Matthew Paul Turner shares amusing–sometimes cringe-worthy–and poignant stories about growing up in a fundamentalist household, where even well-intentioned contemporary Christian music was proclaimed to be “of the devil.”
churched is a collection of stories that detail an American boy’s experiences growing up in a culture where men weren’t allowed let their hair grow to touch their ears (“an abomination!”), women wouldn’t have been caught dead in a pair of pants (unless swimming), and the pastor couldn’t preach a sermon without a healthy dose of hellfire and brimstone. Matthew grapples with the absurdity of a Sunday School Barbie burning, the passionate annual boxing match between the pastor and Satan, and the holiness of being baptized a fifth time–while growing into a young man who, amidst the chaotic mess of religion, falls in love with Jesus.
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Average Customer Review:
0 of 0 people found the following review helpful:
another world, 2008-11-21
Thanks Mr. Turner for showing me another world of religious rigidity. My own childhood legacy was from the Roman Catholic indoctrination....nuns, priests and all. I learned much from Turner... about growing up in Fundamental Evangelicalism...a different world of legalism than the Catholicism of my childhood. Mr. Turner does a fine job of balancing humor, with painful memories and the neurotically driven choices of those enmeshed in a life filled with rules and fear...but also with genuine love and desire for God.
0 of 0 people found the following review helpful:
CHURCHED on the Love Boat?, 2008-11-19
I hate Matthew Paul Turner. Not really, but yes, I do. For this one line: "When writing became dull [during sermons to stay awake], I organized the contents of my mother's purse, a task akin to introducing fidelity to The Love Boat." (p.99)
Why didn't I write that? Why didn't I get a chance to use an obscure Spelling TV reference in my writing?
CHURCHED is the story of young Matthew growing up as a fundamentalist child of the 80s right-wing silent majority movement. Rock and roll is bad for you forward because backward it worships Satan, and the world revolves around Sunday morning and evening and Wednesday evening church. His memories of hellfire and brimstone, of Sunday School teachers with out of whack teaching methods, the over-instance on the right answers, the right thoughts, the right rules, doing the right things and not-doing the right things - all of these things come at the reader in short well-written vignettes with reality and humanity. I sit it on the shelf next to John Fischer's Saint Ben, except this one has the added benefit of auto-bio-memoir with the flourish of imagination that comes with time and healing and forgiveness.
But I still don't like him for coming up with that line before he's even turned 40. That's not fair.
0 of 0 people found the following review helpful:
 Interesting, I can relate!, 2008-11-14
I could definitely relate to several of the things that happened to the author in this story. I enjoyed reading it, but only a couple of chapters at a time.
There are several good points the author makes and I would recommend it for people brought up in a church of "rules". Especially for those that have learned a relationship with God should be based on His Word and not on mans rules added to it.
0 of 0 people found the following review helpful:
Funny with life lessons to be learned, 2008-11-14
Having been raised in church like the author was, I could identify with many of the stories he told. Anything but serious church music was "of the devil" and I remembering hiding my Petra cassettes under the bed so my parents wouldn't know what a wild rebel I was. Turner does a nice job of keeping it light and interesting for the most part. Many of the stories have lessons to be learned for all of us about the real Jesus and how he's not tied up in traditions of any religion, but in personal relationship. This isn't the deepest theological book you'll read this year, but it's still a fun diversion for the brief time it takes to read it.
0 of 0 people found the following review helpful:
Loved it!, 2008-11-13
I found this book to be an easy, quick read. The story was interesting and was well told.
I was unsure about the overall religion in this book and was hoping against a feel-good, born again-type ending. Thankfully, that didn't happen. However, I did think the ending was a bit soft and less focused than the hilarity offered at other times during the story.
I enjoyed the recounting of how a young boy, who has known nothing else, identifies with his relationship to Jesus and God. Made me smile often.
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