Sin Bravely

A Memoir of Spiritual Disobedience

By: Maggie Rowe

Narrated by: Maggie Rowe

As a young girl, Maggie Rowe took the idea of salvation very seriously. Growing up in a moderately religious household, her fear of eternal damnation turned into a childhood terror that drove her to become an outrageously dedicated born-again Christian - regularly slinging Bible verses in cutthroat scripture memorization competitions and assaulting strangers at shopping malls with the "good news" that they were going to hell.

Finally, at 19, crippled by her fear, she checked herself in to an Evangelical psychiatric facility - and that is where her journey really began. Surrounded by a ragtag cast of characters, including a former biker meth-head struggling with anger management issues, a set of identical twins tormented by erotic fantasies, a World War II veteran who insists that he's only "locked up for a tune-up", and a warm and upbeat chronic depressive who becomes the author's closest ally, Maggie launches a campaign to, in the words of Martin Luther, "Sin bravely in order to know the forgiveness of God."

Told in a voice both funny and heartfelt, Sin Bravely is a tour de force, voice-driven debut that examines how one woman finally found the middle ground between heaven and hell.

©2017 Maggie Rowe (P)2017 Tantor

Critic reviews

"Rowe's fantastic book is a born-again version of One Flew over the Cuckoo's Nest complete with a Nurse Ratched analogue." ( Publishers Weekly)

Heartbreakingly Beautiful

Maggie's struggle for spiritual assurance is powerful to read. I believe her story will help in my own spiritual quagmire. I hope it will for you, too.

Pilgrim's Progress (in Therapy)

An interesting and entertaining memoir about Rowe's battle with obsessive thoughts, which centered on whether or not she was truly, sincerely, and fully a Christian, fueled by a hyper literal view of the Bible and an above-average intelligence. While she quotes Scripture often and ponders theological issues deeply, it is really a memoir of mental illness and not an argument for or against faith. Her help came in the form of a psychiatrist whose reflections on faith went beyond tracking how she was doing on some moralistic scale. I found it reassuring that pastoral and theological wisdom played a key role in her healing versus merely giving up on Christianity itself, though the book will be nonetheless challenging for some conservative Christians. I enjoyed it.

Good and interesting but a bit slow

I really liked it! a bit slow at times but very insightful and interesting for someone hwo has barely ever talked to a religious person. The language is great and I really enjoyed the dialogues. However the story is not really going enywhere, which I guess is because it is a biography type book.