12x12: Dating Jesus

Dating Jesus

by Susan Campbell

I got this book, like so many others, at LEAST one year ago for Christmas. It seemed sassy and interesting and perfect for me, so I have no doubt why my mom (or Santa) got it for me. :)

What I Loved:

• I really loved the author's voice. She's sweet, funny, self-depricating, and takes a very thoughtful look at herself - both now and growing up - which makes her a delight to read. You can really see the growth of her faith as she also grows up, which is most apparent when she looks back at her faith as a child, where she seems almost brainwashed into thinking a black and white world of faith is the norm, as well as the terror she feels at not being up to par with Jesus' commandments. It's interesting to see how she found a home in her church, while rebelling against it in small ways, like when she asked her Sunday school teacher why women couldn't talk in church.
• My favorite parts of the book were when she looked back on her childhood. Those parts of the book were easy to read and had so much personality!

What I Wasn't Crazy About:

• She switches pretty suddenly from stories about her childhood to the history of the Church or feminism, and I still can't really figure out how or why. It seems really disjointed in places, where I struggled to find the connection. For example, she'd tell a story about herself asking about women in the church in Sunday school, and then spent 3/4 of the chapter telling the story of Susan B. Anthony. Those tangents were clearly interesting, but I didn't always understand why they were necessary.
• I felt a little patronized on some of the tangents. On several, she talks about women in the New Testament, and as someone who's studied the New Testament and already knew all of these facts that she was telling, it came across to me like she was trying to blow my mind, when, for me at least, this wasn't anything new to me. I think that if I hadn't learned all of this already, it may have actually blown my mind or changed my perspective, but unfortuantely, that wasn't the case.

Would I Recommend This Book?

• Absolutely! I think the parts about her childhood more than make up for the weird transitions and preachy religious tangents. Honestly, if you didn't study religion intensively in college (or beyond), those parts might really blown your mind or think about the Bible differently! When I was reading it, I kept thinking, "To a person who's never studied this before, or who's coming at it from a more conservative perspective, this might actually be mind-blowing." It wasn't mind-blowing for me, but I think anyone who's interested in religion and learning more about it (and feminism) would really, really enjoy this book!

This was a really easy read for me, and I did love reading it! It was fun, it was sassy, and it reminded me a lot of my life growing up in the sense of her honesty and mind sets. It reminded me how rough it was to be in high school, and how glad I am to be out of it, haha.

Are you interested in reading this book? Have you read it before?