Overview

Into the Deep traces one woman's spiritual odyssey from birthright evangelicalism through postmodern feminism and, ultimately, into the Roman Catholic Church. As a college student, Abigail Favale experienced a feminist awakening that reshaped her life and faith. A decade later, on the verge of atheism, she found herself entering the oldest male-helmed institution on the planet--the last place she expected to be. With humor and insight, Favale describes her gradual exodus from Christian orthodoxy and surprising swerve into Catholicism. She writes candidly about grappling with wounds from her past, Catholic sexual morality, the male priesthood, and an interfaith marriage. Her vivid prose brings to life the wrenching tumult of conversion--a conversion that began after she entered the Church and began to pry open its mysteries. There she discovered the startling beauty of a sacramental cosmos, a vision of reality that upended her notions of gender, sexuality, identity, and authority. This is a thoroughly 21st century conversion, a compelling account of recovering an ancient faith after a decade of doubt.

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9781621646990

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Reviews

""Into the Deep is a beautifully written story of conversion. In this raw and compelling narrative, Favale reminds us that, in the most mysterious of ways, God's grace can reach all of us."" -- Carrie Gress, Ph.D., Author, The Marian Option: God's Solution to a Civilization in Crisis and coauthor, Theology of Home: Finding the Eternal in the Everyday ""There are events in life that leave you changed forever, right down to the very roots and heart of your being, because they go 'into the deep'. Like this book. Reading it is bound to be an event like that in the lives of two classes of readers if they dare to read it with open minds and hearts: those who call themselves evangelicals and those who call themselves Christian feminists. The theology is profoundly Christ-centered, the psychology trustworthily honest, and the style winsomely alive."" -- Peter Kreeft, Ph.D., Best-selling author and philosophy professor, Boston College ""Religious conversion narratives tend to be unrealistic, focusing on single epiphanies that are rare to most human beings. Not Into the Deep. Abigail Favale has written a conversion memoir that focuses on the slow process of conversion, one that unfolds through a union of practice and intellectual inquiry. She is more like a tour guide, bringing even cradle Catholics like me into a deeper appreciation of the mystery of the Church. Into the Deep is Augustine's Confessions written for our own age."" --Tim O'Malley, Author, Off the Hook: God, Love, Dating, and Marriage in a Hookup World ""With sympathetic and smart satire that is reminiscent of Flannery O'Connor, Favale finds both sincerity and shallowness in the waves of ideological affiliations that tided her youth. Favale, the unlikely convert, persuades us that by sacramental grace and the Communion of Saints, the Church can see the meanest sinner hold her breath long enough to work out her shared salvation in fear and trembling."" --Joshua Hren, Author, Infinite Regress: A Novel and In the Wine Press: Short Stories

"""Into the Deep is a beautifully written story of conversion. In this raw and compelling narrative, Favale reminds us that, in the most mysterious of ways, God's grace can reach all of us.""--Carrie Gress, Author The Marian Option and Theology of Home ""Religious conversion narratives tend to be unrealistic, focusing on single epiphanies that are rare to most human beings. Not Into the Deep. Abigail Favale has written a conversion memoir that focuses on the slow process of conversion, one that unfolds through a union of practice and intellectual inquiry . . . She is more like a tour guide, bringing even cradle Catholics like myself into a deeper appreciation of the mystery of the Church. Into the Deep is Augustine's Confessions written for our own age.""-- im O'Malley, Author, Off the Hook: God, Love, Dating, and Marriage in a Hookup World ""There are events in life that leave you changed forever, right down to the very roots and heart of your being, because they go 'into the deep.' Like this book. Reading it is bound to be an event like that in the lives of two classes of readers if they dare to read it with open minds and hearts: those who call themselves Evangelicals and those who call themselves Christian 'feminists.' The theology is profoundly Christ-centered, the psychology trustable honest, and the style winsomely alive.""--Peter Kreeft, Best-selling author and Philosophy Professor, Boston College ""With sympathetic and smart satire that is reminiscent of Flannery O'Connor, Favale finds both sincerity and shallowness in the waves of ideological affiliations that tided her youth. Favale, the unlikely convert, persuades us that by sacramental grace and the communion of saints, the Church can see the meanest sinner hold her breath long enough to work out Her shared salvation in fear and trembling.""--Joshua Hren, Author, Infinite Regress and In the Wine Press"

"""Into the Deep is a beautifully written story of conversion. In this raw and compelling narrative, Favale reminds us that, in the most mysterious of ways, God's grace can reach all of us."" -- Carrie Gress, Ph.D., Author, The Marian Option: God's Solution to a Civilization in Crisis and coauthor, Theology of Home: Finding the Eternal in the Everyday ""There are events in life that leave you changed forever, right down to the very roots and heart of your being, because they go 'into the deep'. Like this book. Reading it is bound to be an event like that in the lives of two classes of readers if they dare to read it with open minds and hearts: those who call themselves evangelicals and those who call themselves Christian feminists. The theology is profoundly Christ-centered, the psychology trustworthily honest, and the style winsomely alive."" -- Peter Kreeft, Ph.D., Best-selling author and philosophy professor, Boston College ""Religious conversion narratives tend to be unrealistic, focusing on single epiphanies that are rare to most human beings. Not Into the Deep. Abigail Favale has written a conversion memoir that focuses on the slow process of conversion, one that unfolds through a union of practice and intellectual inquiry. She is more like a tour guide, bringing even cradle Catholics like me into a deeper appreciation of the mystery of the Church. Into the Deep is Augustine's Confessions written for our own age."" --Tim O'Malley, Author, Off the Hook: God, Love, Dating, and Marriage in a Hookup World ""With sympathetic and smart satire that is reminiscent of Flannery O'Connor, Favale finds both sincerity and shallowness in the waves of ideological affiliations that tided her youth. Favale, the unlikely convert, persuades us that by sacramental grace and the Communion of Saints, the Church can see the meanest sinner hold her breath long enough to work out her shared salvation in fear and trembling."" --Joshua Hren, Author, Infinite Regress: A Novel and In the Wine Press: Short Stories"

Author Information

Abigail Favale, Ph.D., is a writer and professor in the McGrath Institute for Church Life at the University of Notre Dame. A Catholic convert with an academic background in gender studies, Abigail writes and speaks regularly on topics related to women and gender from a Catholic perspective.Abigail's memoir, Into the Deep: An Unlikely Catholic Conversion, traces her journey from evangelicalism to postmodern feminism to Catholicism. Her essays and short stories have appeared in print and online for publications such as First Things, Public Discourse, The Atlantic, Church Life, and Potomac Review. She was awarded the J.F. Powers Prize for short fiction in 2017.Favale lives with her husband and four children in South Bend, Indiana.

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