Jul 10 2008
Book Review-Heaven Without Her
Kitty Foth-Regner asked me to review her book Heaven Without Her. I’m so glad she did. I didn’t know what to think about this book when I received it. Kitty was a self-titled Feminist and an Atheist for most of her life. She was raised in a faith filled home, however Kitty chose another path. As a child of the 60’s she headed off to college in the early 70’s and found herself immersed in the “hippie” movement.
Kitty is a copywriter so it is no wonder this book is so well written. There are very few books I can say that were hard to put down but this one was. Had I been able to spend one day reading I would have done so because it is a story of her journey from being a Feminist Atheist to a follower of Jesus Christ.
The story begins in May of 2000 when her aging mother is dying. It is almost like a “24″ story. She starts the chapter telling about her mother’s last moments on earth and how she flashes back to what made her an Feminist Atheist. Then she moves ahead and explains why her mothers last moment made her re-examine the faith she had been raise in.
Kitty did not have an instant conversion. She was a full fledged Feminist Atheist. All of her friends were the same as her. But as she began to examine Christianity she started to find the claims true. But this scared her so she began looking at every religion to see if they were true too. But as she continued to research it became apparent to her that Jesus was now her Savior.
Her new faith caused her to lose many of her old Feminist Atheist friends because she told them about her new faith. Here is a quote that sums up the book for me:
As a feminist, I was concerned exclusively with myself ‘I want,’ ‘I need,’ ‘I have the right’–that’s pretty much all I thought about. Whereas Christianity teaches me to say, ‘What can I do for you?’”
I would highly recommend reading this book. I give it 4.75 hockey sticks out of 5.
10 responses so far
And we can purchase this where Kevin? Sounds like a good read.
Bill(cycleguy)’s last blog post..You Just Knew!
Bill,
go to her website above. She is a great person too. She has been very helpful to me in my quest to get my book published. In fact she got me through door #1 already.
Kevin, I don’t know your email address, so I’ll ask my question and if you want to delete it, I’ll understand…
Tell me a little about your book. You know my email address and what I do…I “might” could open a few doors, if the book goes in the right direction…
M. Steve Heartsill’s last blog post..Show Me the Money!
Steve,
I sent you an e-mail but if you don’t get it here is my e-mail:
bamabusman@yahoo.com
Does she speak more from a feminist or atheist perspective?
Does she go into detail about her life after conversion?
Would Cass, the female adult in your world, read the book with others?
I think sometimes we don’t like to read books if we think we know the outcome.
***********
Congrats on getting through the first steps for your own book publishing.
Kevin, hope it’s okay for the author to comment?
Hi Janna,
Heaven Without Her is a fairly complete “before and after” story that covers both my feminism (rooted in sin nature + Betty Friedan) and my atheism (sin nature + Darwin). I’m not sure the two can be separated, at least the way I practiced them. My brand of feminism was utterly self-centered and self-glorifying, leaving no room for a higher power of any kind — and surely not for the creator God who has revealed Himself in the Bible! It was an “eat, drink and be wildly successful” philosophy that said this life is all there is (except for my “spiritual” moments during which I thought reincarnation might be true).
I’d say I go into fairly significant detail on my life since bowing my heart to the Lord. I talk about everything from surface changes like quitting smoking (3 packs a day!) and drinking (plenty) to His deeper work of wiping out my ever-present anger and fear — as well as His gift of the absolute joy that comes from knowing where we came from, what we’re doing here and where we’re going for all eternity.
I know what you mean about knowing the ending. Someone who is determined never ever ever to go anywhere near the destination of Christianity will not like this book. So far, the genuine seekers I’ve talked with were grateful to have been shown a proven route to truth; and most of the Christians I’ve heard from seem to have enjoyed the journey. If you decide to take a look, I hope you do, too!
Blessings to you,
Kitty Foth-Regner
Kitty,
Thanks for answering. Also, thanks for your help with my book.
Janna,
I’ll have to ask Cassandra about reading. She loves to read and I think she would enjoy it. But our life is changing pretty significantly in the next few weeks since she is going back to work outside the home. So I don’t know how much time she will have.
Kevin Bussey’s last blog post..Man sues church, claiming spirit forced his fall
Kitty,
Thank-you for answering by questions. I am careful to get into non-fiction books about people especially if it will be formulamatic (hope I spelled that right I’m running on little sleep). I most appreciate your addressing how you go into your life after conversion.
Kevin,
It is ok she doesn’t have to read it especially with a full load that she will be having. Just based on some of the things you’ve said about her, I thought her perspective would be interesting. Certainly, she needs to have her focus on your new family direction. What an amazing part of yall’s journey.
So the book finally arrived about two weeks ago. After looking on the back and the front pages to see your name Kevin (and not finding it), I thought I could at least read the first pages. Well, in light of all the decisions we’ve been making at this time, I put it down cause I didn’t want to read about hospice and death. (sorry kitty but making the hospice decision reading about another death isn’t helpful and I work at a funeral home!) Anyway, I’ve been sick the past week and the decisions have been put in to place. Yesterday, I decided to open the book again. You are correct that it is a book you want to keep going with. I went about 50pages in to the book while stopping only for coughs. I look forward to learning more as I read through the journey today. Cass may like the book, from what I’ve read so far. I don’t think i would want to read it as a book club/bible study book though. At least not at what I’ve completed so far, I wouldn’t want to have a group discussion about.
And for the boy readers…It doesn’t become too touchy feely which is a huge plus!
Hi Janna,
I’m so sorry that you’re apparently facing some tough times. I’ll be praying for your peace and His wisdom, if that seems appropriate … but let me know if you have a specific prayer request. Boy, I’m glad the Lord warned us about trials. As I read recently in a commentary on 2 Corinthians 4:7 and Jeremiah 18, we’re clay jars that need to be fired to become useful, and broken so that His glory can shine forth — a comforting thought, that there is a purpose to our pain. But still.
Blessings,
Kitty