From Paul to Saul

by Joel McNenny

Overview

In the middle of the twenty-first century, what was formerly the United States has now become the Christian States of America. Christians have succeeded in taking dominion over the Seven Mountains of Societal Influence, and the Constitution has been replaced by a renewed covenant with God. From Paul to Saul follows the story of high school freshman Josh, who has moved to Columbus, Ohio, a thriving state capital in this remade America. Here, he is introduced to a deeper level of commitment to the Final Great Awakening. His new friends have no interest in video games but in training themselves to be Josephsdevoted soldiers in Christs army. Academically and socially, Josh struggles to keep up, even as his best friend, Peter, displays all the strengths of a youth blessed by the gifts of the Holy Spirit. Meanwhile, another teen of this first generation, Maggie, flees an abusive home and finds herself on the fringes of society, hiding from both the authorities and her past. As these teenagers grow into adulthood, surrounded by the unchallenged power of the Christian American Party and an unwavering resolve to bring Jehovahs Revolution to the world, they will encounter the ultimate question: Has America truly been brought back to God?

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781532040788
Publisher:	iUniverse, Incorporated
Publication date:	03/01/2018
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	302
File size:	485 KB

About the Author

At the age of fifteen, Joel McNenny became a born-again Christian and was baptized by the Holy Spirit. After high school, he spent a year in Mexico where a much larger world was revealed. Since then he has had a variety of careers, including as a school counselor and a mindfulness-based mental health therapist. Through it all, he has maintained a fervent interest in all things Christian. Concerned about the diminishing wall between church and state, Joel conceived of this story some twenty years ago. Today, with the headlines giving even more reasons to be wary, he decided the tale needed to be told.

Editorial Reviews

2018-06-21
Teenagers struggle in a Christian dictatorship in McNenny's debut YA novel.After the Final Great Awakening, the United States became the theocratic Christian States of America. Its leaders did away with the U.S. Constitution and based their government on what they saw as the covenant that the Puritans made with God. When timid 16-year-oldJosh Conrad's father gets promoted, he moves with his family from Canton, Ohio, to Columbus. There, he meets the charismatic Peter, who spends his time in the woods training neighborhood boys as if they were soldiers. Josh soon ends up in the same high school program as these boys, who are known as the Josephs of Tomorrow. The school's Youth Director, Mrs. Marone, started the program with the aim of preparing youth to continue "Jehova's Revolution" by ferreting out "heretics" in America and bringing Christianity to the rest of the world. Meanwhile, sexual abuse survivor Maggie Anderson is living on the streets, surviving on the fringes of society through theft, coexisting with a gang of other youths. Soon, Josh begins to question some of Mrs. Marone's teachings, as well as the movement she represents. After he starts college at Ohio State University,he meets Maggie at a private party, and his crisis of faith blossoms into a critique of his entire society. McNenny casts an observant eye on aspects of American evangelicalism, and he uses an invented slang to create a world that's both foreign and familiar. At one point, for example, Peter explains to Josh how he felt lost before he joined Mrs. Marone's program: "I was driving everyone babel. Then one day, Mrs. Marone matthew 18'ed me, and I mean, like the wrath of God Himself." The basic skeleton of this story will certainly be familiar to many readers—particularly those who read a lot of dystopian fiction. But the fact that McNenny bases his dark world on elements of a present-day subculture gives the novel a bite that many similar works don't possess.A sharp, well-constructed dystopian tale.

Kirkus Reviews