Secret Thoughts of an Unlikely Convert (Part 1) - Rosaria Butterfield

Secret Thoughts of an Unlikely Convert (Part 1) - Rosaria Butterfield
Secret Thoughts of an Unlikely Convert (Part 2) - Rosaria Butterfield
Secret Thoughts of an Unlikely Convert (Part 3) - Rosaria Butterfield

FamilyLife Today® Radio Transcript  

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A Train Wreck Conversion

 

Guest:                         Rosaria Butterfield

From the series:       Secret Thoughts of an Unlikely Convert (Day 1 of 3)

 

 

Bob: In 1997, Dr. Rosaria Champagne was a tenured professor at Syracuse University. She was a committed feminist who had no real belief in God. There was one other aspect to her story that made her an unlikely convert. 

 

Rosaria: I, at the time that I started reading the Bible, and I, at the time that I started meeting with a Christian pastor, was in a lesbian relationship. It wasn’t just my first lesbian relationship. I fully embraced the lesbian community. 

 

Bob: This is FamilyLife Today for Monday, September 16th. Our host is the President of FamilyLife®, Dennis Rainey, and I’m Bob Lepine. Dr. Rosaria Champagne is now Dr. Rosaria Champagne Butterfield, a pastor’s wife and a homeschooling mother of four adopted children. We’ll hear her journey this week. Stay with us. 

 

And welcome to FamilyLife Today. Thanks for joining us. You remember me coming to you a few months ago and going, “I have just read an amazing story;” right? 

 

Dennis: Right. And Barbara had read it, as well. 

 

Bob: Yes. And this is—in fact, I would say—I try to keep a running list of books that I read during the year. I would say this is still at the top of my 2013 list—this book—because it’s just—it’s a great story—but the greatness of the story is the transformation that takes place in what we’re going to hear about today. 

 Dennis: Yes. It’s not often you hear someone refer to their conversion to Christ as a train wreck; but our guest, [Laughter] on today’s broadcast, describes it that way. Rosaria Butterfield joins us on FamilyLife Today. Rosaria—welcome to our broadcast. 

 

Rosaria: Thank you so much. I’m delighted to be here with you. 

 

Dennis: I remember when Bob walked in—and I was getting it from him, here at the office—and Barbara had read a review of your book. She said, “This is something you ought to do radio on.” 

 

First of all, just to introduce you to our listeners, Rosaria has been married to her husband, Kent, since 2001. They have four children. She is a former English professor who was tenured at Syracuse University. That’s kind of where we’re going to go back to—to start this story. 

 

Rosaria: Okay. 

 

Dennis: And she has written a book called The Secret Thoughts of an Unlikely Convert, subtitled An English Professor’s Journey into the Christian Faith. 

 

Bob: And it’s not unusual that English professors would come to Christ [Laughter]—but your particular interest and lifestyle, back in the 90’s—that’s what made your conversion unlikely; isn’t it? 

 Rosaria: Yes, definitely. So, just a quick answer would be, “Definitely.” When I first started reading the Bible, I was reading the Bible because I was working on a post-tenure book. It was a lesbian, feminist critique of the Bible. I was concerned about the rise of the religious right. I was threatened by the rise of the religious right, and I wanted to read this book that got all these people into trouble. So, that’s where I started. 

 

But I guess, because my life just seemed sort of boring and normal to me, I find it sort of strange [Laughter] sometimes that my journey seems so odd; but I guess that’s—

 

Dennis: Well, let’s just peel it back a little bit. 

 

Rosaria: Okay, let’s peel it back. 

 

Dennis: Let’s talk about—you were a feminist. 

 

Rosaria: Oh, yes, absolutely. 

 

Dennis: Yes. 

 Rosaria: Yes, committed. 

 

Dennis: Explain what kind of feminist. I mean—there is a spectrum. 

 

Rosaria: There’s a spectrum, absolutely. I firmly believed that a feminist world and life view was a moral and ethical approach to living and, in fact, one that would get us out of so many of the problems that we were facing. When I looked at the world—and I saw racism, and homophobia, and violence of all kinds—you know, there was no way I could look at this world and say, “Oh, you know, obviously, a loving God is in control of it.” 

 

So, I—like many, many other people—rolled up my sleeves and said, “Okay, how are you going to think our way of it?” So, feminism, to me, was a very broad umbrella that allowed for the pursuit of individual rights, within what I perceived to be a moral framework. 

 

Dennis: And you viewed Christians as—

 

Rosaria: Dangerous. 

 

Dennis: Dangerous; okay. 

 

Rosaria: Dangerous, anti-intellectual people. 

 

Dennis: Yes. They weren’t thinkers, and they weren’t readers—you wrote about it in your book. 

 

Rosaria: Right. And that was—that’s not very nice; is it? [Laughter] I am a Christian right now and I could be in charge of the self-help group: “Over-Readers Anonymous”. So, it’s not nice to say; but that was my perception. My perception was—as a university professor, I met a number of Christians—this is how these people came across. Now, whether they came across this way because I was deep in my sin or whether this is an accurate portrayal, I will let you all decide. 

 

But folks who would tell me that Jesus is the answer—without caring to even hear about what some of my questions might be—you know, questions and answers go together. There is a logical relationship between the two. Or when the Bible was invoked, it was often invoked in the same way that I might invoke a punctuation mark—to end a conversation rather than deepen it. Well, that seemed pretty fear-driven to me. I didn’t like it. 

 

And then, finally, my biggest concern, though, was the fact that the Bible—many, many people knew what the Bible said, or believed they did—but nobody could tell...