Girl Meets God

By Lauren Winner

This is going to be a very difficult review to write. It has taken me so long to read this book. Partly because I’ve been through a time of reading many books at one time (I don’t know why I do that, it’s not good for me!), partly because I found it an intense read, and so only read a few pages in one sitting.

This book is a well-written, fascinating autobiography of an American girl, Lauren Winner, on a journey with God. She grows up in a household with two faiths in tension. She is raised as a Jew because of her father, even though her mum is a lapsed Christian. According to Jewish law, Judaism passes through the mother’s line which means she is never a ‘proper’ Jew. She passionately loves Judaism and decides to ‘officially’ convert to Judaism, going through tests and exams to fit in and to be accepted.

What attracts her to Judaism is the rituals, the strong family bonds and, being a passionate academic, she loves the study that is required as a Jew.

I love the way her enthusiasm and love for God seeps through the pages. She describes rituals, the reasons why they do them, how they relate to her life and, later, how they relate to her relationship with Jesus. It is incredibly powerful how she describes her initial drawing towards Jesus as a ‘love affair’. She is so immersed in Judaism that meeting Jesus, through reading the Bible and dreams, feels like infidelity.

She very intimately and honestly describes her time at college when she makes the choice to follow Jesus, through all the hurt and feelings of betrayal and ‘divorce’ in relation to her faith as a Jew. She has experienced and lived Judaism so deeply that she feels something or someone is missing, that someone is Jesus.

The reason why it took me so long to read this book is because I got so much out of it. The way Lauren feel pushed and pulled between Judaism and Christianity is because the two are so beautifully linked. She still loves Judaism and has a very powerful way of deepening her Christian faith because of all her knowledge of the Bible. The rituals she has always loved have now got an extra dimension, because all the promises in them are now fulfilled by Jesus. Her knowledge and experience of that Old testament law, somehow enables her to link bits in the Bible to such a deep and meaningful level.

I feel this review doesn’t do the book justice at all. I really recommend you read it. It’s challenging whether you are a Christian or not. Lauren asks really honest questions of herself, her relationships and her faith, which will stir a thought or few in your own head!

If you want to read about or with her, she’s got a website (click here) from where she links to her blog.