EDITORIAL REVIEW: Mennonite World Review

Melanie Springer Mock of Mennonite World Review reviewed Leona Stucky's Memoir "The Fog of Faith: Surviving my Impotent God."

Melanie writes: "I thought of Leona Stucky when I heard Winfrey’s speech. Stucky’s memoir, The Fog of Faith: Surviving My Impotent God, bears witness to the pain Winfrey addressed at the Golden Globes, a pain carried by women who have, Winfrey said, “endured years of assault and abuse because they had children to feed and bills to pay and dreams to pursue.” The Fog of Faith adds to the cultural narrative unspooling before us of women’s life trajectories having been sent off-course by the evil acts of men.

Stucky begins her story near Moundridge, Kan., in the 1950s, where she was raised Mennonite on a farm with six siblings. When Stucky was a teenager, her mom’s diagnosis of multiple sclerosis meant her father assumed the role of caregiver and sole supporter for the family. Stucky admired her father and enjoyed helping him with the farm work, doing chores other families might have reserved for boys....

Stucky raises important questions about how people keep or lose their faith in God when life brings intense suffering. Tragic circumstances cast doubt on deeply held beliefs: a pacifist’s rejection of violence is challenged by the heinous acts of a violent man. As she moved away from her childhood faith, and from simplistic beliefs about God, she found herself questioning God’s existence. If God did exist, “his failure to help people was unforgiveable.” God was impotent."

Read the full review here.

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