Faith and Other Flat Tires

"At age twenty-one, Andrea Palpant Dilley stripped the Christian fish decal off her car bumper in a symbolic act of departure from her religious childhood. At twenty-three, she left the church and went searching for refuge in the company of men who left her lonely and friends who pushed the boundaries of what she once held sacred. In this deeply personal memoir, Andrea navigates the doubts that plague believers and skeptics alike: Why does a good God allow suffering? Why is God so silent, distant, and uninvolved? And why does the church seem so dysfunctional? Yet amid her skepticism, she begins to ask new questions: Could doubting be a form of faith? Might our doubts be a longing for God that leads to a faith we can ultimately live with?"

Faith and Other Flat Tires: Searching for God on the Rough Road of Doubt is Dilley's memoir of her journey of faith—or more accurately, doubt. While it does not really lead one to a deeper faith I think that it is a good resource for anyone who is questioning his/her faith. Especially for young adults, I think that it is valuable to know that others have walked this journey before.

Ultimately Dilley’s doubt/skepticism is seated in a common concern—the “problem of suffering.” She recounts one question she expressed as a teenager, which was novel to me: “Why did God make us with teeth that deteriorate, when half the world doesn’t have the means to fix them? What does that say about God?” (65) This book reveals Dilley’s depth of introspection regarding her faith, an attribute that is admirable and worthy of emulation, and her persistence in seeking to understand other’s faith, as evidences through her questions and dialogue with older Christians.

Dilley was clearly raised in a faith-filled Christian family and is well read. She laces her anecdotes with literary references and structures her narrative loosely along the lines of John Bunyan’s Christian allegory Pilgrim’s Progress. This is a book with which I am unfamiliar but which I am now curious to read (available online) (or maybe I'll just watch one of the film versions).

I enjoyed Dilley’s story telling and found myself drawn into her story through her amiable voice. Although it is a compelling journey, I was disappointed by the conclusion. Dilley's journey of faith/doubt does not lead to a vibrant Christian faith, but rather she concludes her story as a “melancholy Christian” (the title of the final chapter).

Disclaimer: I received a free review copy of Faith and Other Flat Tires: Searching for God on the Rough Road of Doubt, by Andrea Palpant Dilley, from Handlebar Marketing.