Author: Butterfield, Rosaria
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Rick Shrader‘s Review:
This is a 2023 Crossway book forwarded by Kevin DeYoung. Rosaria Butterfield is a former lesbian feminist who found Christ as Savior. The book flap includes: “Rosaria Butterfield (PhD, Ohio State University) is an author, pastor’s wife, homeschool mom, and former professor of English and women’s studies at Syracuse University. She is the author of The Secret Thoughts of an Unlikely Converty; Openness Unhindered; and The Gospel Comes with a House Key.” She adds, “And let’s not forget that I was once a gay-rights activist and tenured radical professor” (p. 28). Of her conversion she writes, “After my conversion, I noticed my affections changing. It wasn’t instantaneous–like a combustion–but union with Christ was something that I could perceive growing inside me. I started to embrace my role as a single Christian woman and a member of the Syracuse Reformed Presbyterian Church. I didn’t stop cold turkey feeling like a lesbian. Not at all. But I did register lesbian desires as sinful acts in need of repentance, not morally neutral attributes of may identily or person. No one told me to pray the gay away. Because every sermon told me to drive a nail into every sin every day, no one needed to” (p. 48).
The five “Lies” are: 1) Homosexuality is normal. 2) Being a spiritual person is kinder than being a biblical Christian. 3) Feminism is good for the world and the church. 4) Transgendersim is normal. 5) Modesty is an outdated burden that serves male dominance and holds women back.
I could not agree with Butterfield’s Reformed theology or even some of her personal convictions about separation, but the book is full of good insight into feminism, lesbianism, sexual orientation, egalitarianism, transgenderism, intersectionality, and LGBTQ+ issues. The book is 332 pages of text plus a helpful general index of authors and subjects.