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Books By Ex-Fundies/Exposés on IBLP?


theinvisiblegirl

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I've been looking all over the place for a topic about this. If I've overlooked an existing thread or posted in the wrong area, I'm sorry!

 

I'm a complete book nerd, and I have to ask. Have any ex-Fundies, especially IBLP Fundies, written any books about their experiences as members and how they left? What about an exposé on the practices of ATI/IBLP/Gothard?

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Fake Someone Happy, by Charlie Newton. I believe it is a semi-fictional version of the Vision Forum culture, including a parody of Doug Phillips (who, as we know, is a tool). I thought the writing was a little disjointed, but it was a fast read.

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I'm not aware of any autobiographies exposing IBLP/Gothard specifically. If there are any I'd love to know. There are quite a lot of books about escaping from Fundamentalist cults though.

I highly recommend Elizabeth Esther!

Not autobiography, but Kathryn Joyce: Quiverfull: Inside the Christian Patriarchy Movement, and the Child Catchers, and practically everything else she has written ought to be required reading, IMO.

Jocelyn Zichterman's I Fired God is about escaping from Independent Fundamentalist Baptists. It is worth a look but I take some aspects of it with a bushel of salt. I'm not a Jocelyn fan.

Jeri Massi, especially on Hepzibah House.

Quite a few bloggers though. If you haven't found them yet, I recommend Recovering Grace on IBLP, Libby Anne at LoveJoyFeminism on Patheos as an exFundie, and Julie Anne at Spiritual Sounding board on spiritual abuse.

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I'm not aware of any autobiographies exposing IBLP/Gothard specifically. If there are any I'd love to know. There are quite a lot of books about escaping from Fundamentalist cults though.

I highly recommend Elizabeth Esther!

Not autobiography, but Kathryn Joyce: Quiverfull: Inside the Christian Patriarchy Movement, and the Child Catchers, and practically everything else she has written ought to be required reading, IMO.

Jocelyn Zichterman's I Fired God is about escaping from Independent Fundamentalist Baptists. It is worth a look but I take some aspects of it with a bushel of salt. I'm not a Jocelyn fan.

Jeri Massi, especially on Hepzibah House.

Quite a few bloggers though. If you haven't found them yet, I recommend Recovering Grace on IBLP, Libby Anne at LoveJoyFeminism on Patheos as an exFundie, and Julie Anne at Spiritual Sounding board on spiritual abuse.

Quiverfull was excellent, and gives a good introduction to sound of the major Christian fundamentalist players.

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Not a book, but another Patheos blog - Permission to live by Melissa. Fascinating story. She and husband were married young as usual, he was a minister, several children later, he came out to her as transgendered, she recognized her own gender issues, and they're still together, navigating this new world.

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Thank you all for the suggestions! I'm sure there are other books. I'd love as many suggestions as I can get! I'm interested in things like this, and I like to read peoples' experiences. Plus, who doesn't love a good exposé? :lol:

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I've not read it so I don't know if it's good, but I've seen A Matter of Basic Principles mentioned on Amazon and in some ex-ATI circles. Here's a link:

http://www.amazon.com/Matter-Basic-Prin ... V049H1ZZAD

Tried reading this, but it was not very well written--never managed to get through it. God's Harvard was really good, though.

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Micah Murray is an ex-ATI blogger. In his newer posts I can sense a lot of frustration - but he has some interesting articles about fundamentalism, and some of his earlier blog posts are quite good.

micahjmurray.com

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If you haven't read her story at Jen's Gems, it reads like a book and is quite the saga; involving Doug Phillips, how Jen and her husband came to join his church, and how he attempted to rip her apart from the comfort of his ivory tower (mini-man empire), only to fall from it,...well, be PUSHED from it (you go, Lourdes!) in the end. A must read. Here's part 1 of 12 (grab a drink; you'll be sucked in.):

jensgems.wordpress.com/category/jens-story-01/

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It's not an ex-Fundie book, but God's Harvard by Hanna Rosin is an excellent read. It's an expose on Patrick Henry College, the Fundie Harvard of colleges that has the mission to put God's people in the upper echelons of Washington. I found it horrifying/compelling.

http://www.amazon.com/Gods-Harvard-Chri ... 0156034999

I've heard of so many fundie colleges but oddly never of this one. Just checked out their website... :pink-shock:

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Thank you all for the suggestions! It seems like I'm going to have a lot to read.

An ex-ATI member wrote a piece on her experience with ATI and how the sexual abuse didn't exactly surprise her (http://www.salon.com/2015/05/28/i_could ... _shock_me/), and she's writing a book called "Growing Up Fundie." I'll be adding that to my to-read list as well.

ETA: Link to her website where she describes the book. brookearnold.com/growingupfundie/

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Recovering Grace is a blog that's all about IBLP etc.

Quivering Daughters is a fairly recent book.

There used to be an article Life in Perfect you could find online [Google it] about Vision Forum.

My blog, which sadly is messed up so I can't update it properly, links to all kinds of IBLP/QF/VF related stuff. Here's the url https://quiverfullmyblog.wordpress.com/

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If you haven't read her story at Jen's Gems, it reads like a book and is quite the saga; involving Doug Phillips, how Jen and her husband came to join his church, and how he attempted to rip her apart from the comfort of his ivory tower (mini-man empire), only to fall from it,...well, be PUSHED from it (you go, Lourdes!) in the end. A must read. Here's part 1 of 12 (grab a drink; you'll be sucked in.):

jensgems.wordpress.com/category/jens-story-01/

Except that a number of falsehoods and slanders are present in her pages. Don't believe everything she says. Plenty of it is just wrong.

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Recovering Grace is a blog that's all about IBLP etc.

Quivering Daughters is a fairly recent book.

There used to be an article Life in Perfect you could find online [Google it] about Vision Forum.

My blog, which sadly is messed up so I can't update it properly, links to all kinds of IBLP/QF/VF related stuff. Here's the url https://quiverfullmyblog.wordpress.com/

Life in Perfect: ingridgraceandaudrey.blogspot.com/2007/10/perfect.html

Still a great commentary on the massive fraud that was/is Vision Forum.

Here are some of the blogger's other VF-related commentaries although, really, the whole blog is worth looking at:

Kelly Bradrick's near-death experience while touring Europe with VF DAYS after giving birth via Caesarian: ingridgraceandaudrey.blogspot.com/2012/06/portrait-of-lady.html

VF's "mission" statement: ingridgraceandaudrey.blogspot.com/2009/01/by-their-fruits-you-will-know-them.html

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Except that a number of falsehoods and slanders are present in her pages. Don't believe everything she says. Plenty of it is just wrong.

Certainly read her story but you need to understand that in relation to VF Jen Epstein Fishburne was/is like a moth to the flame -- the consensus here is that even after all of the drama she would be back at Doug's & Beall's feet in a heartbeat if they crooked a finger in her direction.

The more recent stuff having to do with the fall of Doug Phillips & collapse of VF-- late 2013 on -- starts badly and gets much worse. It's hard to tell how much if any of it is true.

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I'm not aware of any autobiographies exposing IBLP/Gothard specifically. If there are any I'd love to know. There are quite a lot of books about escaping from Fundamentalist cults though.

I highly recommend Elizabeth Esther!

Not autobiography, but Kathryn Joyce: Quiverfull: Inside the Christian Patriarchy Movement, and the Child Catchers, and practically everything else she has written ought to be required reading, IMO.

Jocelyn Zichterman's I Fired God is about escaping from Independent Fundamentalist Baptists. It is worth a look but I take some aspects of it with a bushel of salt. I'm not a Jocelyn fan.

Jeri Massi, especially on Hepzibah House.

Quite a few bloggers though. If you haven't found them yet, I recommend Recovering Grace on IBLP, Libby Anne at LoveJoyFeminism on Patheos as an exFundie, and Julie Anne at Spiritual Sounding board on spiritual abuse.

The blog Heresy in the Heartland has a ton of good information about Gothard. She and her husband were raised in ATI but I think are now no longer even Christian.

heresyintheheartland.blogspot.com/p/links-to-all-gothard-posts.html

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Certainly read her story but you need to understand that in relation to VF Jen Epstein Fishburne was/is like a moth to the flame -- the consensus here is that even after all of the drama she would be back at Doug's & Beall's feet in a heartbeat if they crooked a finger in her direction.

The more recent stuff having to do with the fall of Doug Phillips & collapse of VF-- late 2013 on -- starts badly and gets much worse. It's hard to tell how much if any of it is true.

Jen's own story stands on its own merits and documentation, I think. As with anything, it should be read with the understanding that it is only one side of the story.

On the fall of Doug Phillips, Jen and her collaborator TW Eston are really not reliable at all. There may be some smidgens of truth in there but they indulge in far too much salacious gossip and paying off old scores.

I'd definitely recommend using Julie Anne at the Spiritual Sounding Board for the Doug Phillips and Vision Forum information instead.

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Another blog that might be worth your time is Diary of an Autodidact (fiddlrts.blogspot.com/ ). His post on May 23 I think is an excellent read about IBLP/ATI, the Duggars, Josh, and how Josh may have come to do what he did. Also, if you click on his user profile he links to the blogs he follows and there's a wealth of stuff there.

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Except that a number of falsehoods and slanders are present in her pages. Don't believe everything she says. Plenty of it is just wrong.

How so? I hadn't heard the "She's wrong" side of this story. Did you or do you know Jen? Is there actual proof of conflicting info online? Don't misinterpret my tone. Not insinuating anything. Just hadn't heard this before. How, specifically, do we know Jen's story to be wrong? Which parts, and how do we know? Very curious.

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I can't believe all the responses I've received. Thank you all! I hadn't even thought much about the blog aspect of it, though it seems like I'll be able to get some great insight from them as well.

I'm so interested in all of this for probably some of the same reasons you all are - I think this is an odd and destructive way to live your life, especially in the name of "religion", and I just want to know more about it. So thank you all for the suggestions. I'm obviously open to more!

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Not a book, but another Patheos blog - Permission to live by Melissa. Fascinating story. She and husband were married young as usual, he was a minister, several children later, he came out to her as transgendered, she recognized her own gender issues, and they're still together, navigating this new world.

This is one of my favorite ex-fundie tales. It gives me a lot of hope for other fundies currently trapped and really illustrates the potential for change and improvement.

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