Sin Bravely: A Memoir of Spiritual Disobedience

by Maggie Rowe

Overview

A tour de force, voice-driven debut that examines how one woman finally found the middle ground between Heaven and Hell--an NPR Best Book of the Year.

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 nineteen, 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 and artist of denial 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."

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781593766665
Publisher:	Catapult
Publication date:	11/21/2016
Sold by:	Penguin Random House Publisher Services
Format:	eBook
Pages:	250
File size:	1 MB

About the Author

For the last fifteen years, Maggie Rowe has performed in and produced the Comedy Central stage show sitnspin, Los Angeles’ longest running spoken word, having taken over the reigns from creator Jill Soloway in 2002. She has written for Arrested Development and Flaked for Netflix. She co-wrote the screenplay for and directed the New Age religious mockumentary “Bright Day” and is the creator of the theatrical satires Hollywood Hellhouse and Hollywood Purity Ball. She lives in Los Angeles with her husband, writer Jim Vallely.

Table of Contents

Part 1

Chapter 1 One Condition 3

Chapter 2 Peas in a Pod 25

Chapter 3 Bigger Than You Think 37

Chapter 4 Don't the Trees Look Like Crucified Thieves? 53

Chapter 5 Dreams 67

Chapter 6 Unequal Yoke 73

Part 2

Chapter 7 First Day 89

Chapter 8 Bad Thoughts and Rubber Bands 105

Chapter 9 Unholy Desires 117

Chapter 10 Family and Friends 127

Chapter 11 Scrupulosity 135

Chapter 12 Junior God Badge 143

Chapter 13 God Picture 151

Chapter 14 Unpardonable 167

Part 3

Chapter 15 Feast 183

Chapter 16 Girls' Night 195

Chapter 17 Morning Has Broken 207

Chapter 18 Sin Bravely 217

Chapter 19 Lookers 227

Chapter 20 Unresolved 243

Editorial Reviews

★ 11/14/2016
Rowe, the lacerating genius behind the Hudson Theater’s Comedy Central Stage show Sit ’n Spin and a writer for Arrested Development, is seriously funny in her first memoir. She chronicles her clinical case of doubt in the perfectly manicured evangelical world of her youth. Starting with the flannel-board stories about sister-harlots Oholah and Oholibah (from Ezekiel 23) in low-cut purple felt dresses and goddess sandals, and moving on to her first stage role in a play (called 100% Chance of Rain) about Noah and the end of the world, Rowe puts readers in the front car on her spiritual roller-coaster. In her early 20s, Rowe’s wild ride simply glides off the rails when she has a nervous breakdown while watching Akira Kurosawa’s 1990 magical realism film, Dreams. Her childhood terror that her potentially “lukewarm” Christian conversion will land her in eternal damnation consumes her until she stops eating. Her parents suggest a residential respite at Grace Point evangelical psychiatric institute, where Rowe is diagnosed with morbid scrupulosity, a bad case of pathological morality. Rowe’s fantastic book is a born-again version of One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest complete with a Nurse Ratched analogue (the demanding, no-nonsense Bethanie). Not for the faint of heart, this is a cutting examination of Rowe’s spiritual evolution that plunges into the big questions with the fearlessness found in the most brilliant of comics. (Jan.)

Publishers Weekly

Praise for Sin Bravely



An NPR Best Book of 2017



"Rowe deftly juxtaposes dark humor with raw emotion without ever yanking the reader out of the story." —The Guardian



"Anxiety, guilt, and a debilitating fear of going to hell don’t feel like they’d make for a great vacation read, but Sin Bravely, Maggie Rowe’s hilarious—and ultimately heartwarming—story of her time spent in an Evangelical Christian rehab, is . . . Laugh-out-loud funny." —GOOP, 1 of 8 new reads for Labor Day Weekend


"Rowe’s fantastic book is a born-again version of One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest...Not for the faint of heart, this is a cutting examination of Rowe’s spiritual evolution that plunges into the big questions with the fearlessness found in the most brilliant of comics." —Publishers Weekly, Starred Review



"A gripping exploration of the necessity of disobedience on the road to authenticity. A beautifully written, deeply funny memoir.” —Jill Soloway, creator of Transparent



"This book is so honest, so chock full of struggle and philosophical profundity —and ultimately so heartbreakingly funny— that one is only left to conclude that if Heaven is a place that won’t let in the likes of Maggie Rowe, then why the hell would anyone even want to go there?" —Mitch Hurwitz, creator of Arrested Development



"A sharp, genuinely funny book about the dangers of literalism and fear of the afterlife. A must read for anyone on this side of eternity.” —Bill Maher

“Maggie Rowe suffered for our sins so we don't have to. There are many laugh out loud moments in Maggie's deeply moving account of her spiritual wrestling match with a god she both feared and worshiped. A book with an original voice that should definitely be on your reading list.” —Annabelle Gurwitch, author of the New York Times bestseller and Thurber Prize Finalist I See You Made an Effort



"Maggie Rowe's writing is a rare thing: brilliant, intelligent, hilarious, thoughtful, and, most importantly, utterly believable. Sin Bravely is a startling reminder of how 'faith' and 'belief' are often synonymous with pure terror of a fictional—and seemingly very mean—Guy, and of what He'll do if you doubt Him for even a second. Her fear of Hell is a hell in itself, lived though the mind of a fiercely intelligent woman. Sin Bravely deserves to sell more copies and scare more people than the Bible; this is what I call a 'good book.'" —Peter Baynham, co-writer, Borat and Arthur Christmas



"A powerful debut memoir that hits the unusual sweet spot of rigorous theology, candid sexuality, and laugh-out-loud humor. Who knew theological inquiry and obsessive questioning of one’s eternal fate could be so damn funny?" —Mishna Wolff, author of I’m Down: A Memoir



"Hilarious and heartbreaking. Hints of The Bell Jar in that Maggie Rowe makes a painful story feel vibrant and funny and alive. Immensely readable." —Ilyse Mimoun, author of Choose Your Own Love Story



"By turns harrowing and hilarious, Maggie Rowe takes us with her on a journey to the heart of faith and despair, love and madness." —Eric Kaplan, author Does Santa Exist?: A Philosophical Investigation



"Readers who have wrestled with self-doubt over the strength of their convictions will find a funny, frank companion in this frantically compelling memoir...Rowe’s book does not provide easy answers, but her capacity to eventually sin bravely signals a new beginning. This engaging and adventurous book is an excellent companion for fellow seekers."—Booklist



"Rowe is a winning narrator...you can’t help but root for her." —America Magazine

From the Publisher

2016-10-06
How an overly zealous religious imagination hampered the author’s life.From a very early age, Rowe, a comedy writer and producer, knew she was a Christian. She had her own Bible complete with commentaries that she spent hours reading and quoting. She tried hard not to sin, and she made sure to be a silent and then direct witness. However, despite her best attempts to accept Jesus as her savior, she always had a nagging sense of doubt that her best efforts were not good enough. She felt that Jesus could “turn on me at any moment; that He is kind until He is not, that He is absolute love until He is absolute vengeance. I know He could effortlessly toss me into hell for all eternity before turning back to nuzzle his beloved sheep—all without messing up His Pantene hair.” Rowe’s obsessive worries about her faith plagued her as a young child, and she takes readers through the years leading up to and through a three-month stint in the evangelical psychiatric center she attended when she was 19. Full of the normal angst that most adolescents experience, Rowe’s stroll down Memory Lane contains the added layer of her religious fanaticism. Her worries about whether she had truly accepted Jesus grew progressively worse as time passed, especially when she reached college and began to date. Love, lust, and religion all comingled in the author’s mind, creating a mixture of stress and fear that made her sick. Rowe is candid throughout the book, giving plenty of details about her psychotic break and of how she began to find her way back to some semblance of balance, supported by her fellow group members in the rehab center. Devotees of Rowe’s comedy and those with a strong interest in born-again Christianity will enjoy learning about her strife and road to redemption. An enthusiastic chronicle of how one woman’s religious passion almost swallowed her whole.

Kirkus Reviews