Author(s): WILBANKS, JESSI

Biographies | Christianity

Jessica Wilbanks grew up in poverty in the backwoods of southern Maryland, where the Pentecostal church was the core of her family's life. Driven by a desire to discover the world beyond the close-knit confines of family and church, Jessica traded her faith for freedom and walked away, driving a wedge between her and her deeply religious family. Years later, struggling with straddling two worldviews and trying to reconcile her past and present, Jessica began exploring the history of her childhood faith. Her unexpected journey into the heart of the Pentecostal world forced her to confront the true nature of the world she left behind. At a moment when Americans are more divided than ever, When I Spoke in Tongues is an illuminating account of a childhood on the other side of the culture wars, and the painful and complicated process of losing one's faith and moving across class divides. Book jacket.