Confessions of a French Atheist: from atheist to theologian

Summary

A young Frenchman falls for an American girl, learns about Christianity and becomes a theologian.

Who I would recommend this to

Younger people. Without a doubt, Guillaume has a fun high energy life, and struggles with relationships and career. Additionally, intellectually minded seekers. He gets really into philosophy and regularly grapples with several French philosophers and their arguments that I had not heard of before this book.

Why I loved it

I love that this story relies less on the supernatural than Rahil Patel and Chuck Colson did. His conviction comes from understanding just how terrible he is for how he has treated the women in his life. I struggled with that myself, and know the healing power that can come from the cold-blooded understanding that YOU are the person who caused her all of that pain.

I love that this new faith consumed his life. When you find the perfect lord and creator of the universe… yes of course the only response is total adoration and single-minded focus. I lose sight of that truth all of the time, and part of the reason I started reading, collecting and sharing these books was to experience that freshness with each new believer who wrote it down to share.

It is nice to have a book I can see myself recommending to someone who thinks that all Christians are idiots. Guillaume has a clear passion for argument. No one could accuse him of being an idiot.

Reservations

They could, however, accuse him of being very French. I wonder whether his publisher and/or editor presented that to an American audience in this specific way, and if so how much. I’m also a middle-aged man so perhaps it has less to do with his being French and more to do with being a handsome young man.