The Whole Way - by Tsh Oxenreider (Hardcover)

Book Synopsis

Tsh Oxenreider was a beloved evangelical author, but one day she surprised readers, friends, and family by becoming Catholic. Why? In this book, she explains how she discovered the fullness of the Christian faith in Catholicism.

For an evangelical Protestant, the idea of becoming Catholic can seem unthinkable. "Sure," an evangelical may say, "there may be true Christians in the Catholic Church, but Catholicism isn't true Christianity." Regardless of the gifts evangelicals happily receive from Catholic tradition―like the liturgy and liturgical seasons, the lectionary, and great medieval spiritual writers―there remain serious spiritual and theological concerns about Catholicism. So, when a celebrated evangelical writer announces that she has joined the Catholic Church, it's only natural for people to wonder why and how: What about their devotion to Mary and the saints? How does she square the authority of the Bible with the authority of the pope? What about the institutional corruption and sin?

In The Whole Way, Tsh Oxenreider takes readers on a journey of heart and mind, recounting for them the incredible struggle through life and doctrine that brought her from evangelicalism, through the "middle way" of Anglicanism―which unsustainably felt at first like being able to have the goods of Catholicism while staying Protestant―to what she realized was the fullness of the Christian faith embodied in Catholicism. Throughout, Tsh alternates between spiritual storytelling and theological meditation. As she does, she ultimately answers the question that readers, friends, and family still ask her on a regular basis: Why? Why become Catholic instead of "just staying Christian"?

Whether you're a longtime reader of Tsh's work or encountering her for the first time, or if you're an evangelical who is curious or skeptical about Catholicism, or if you're a Catholic wanting to understand evangelicals better and to feel more equipped to speak to them about your own faith, you will find The Whole Way moving, illuminating, and spiritually and theologically enriching.

About the Author

Tsh Oxenreider is a Catholic convert after four decades as a Protestant, and is the author of several books, including Shadow & Light and Bitter & Sweet, books about the liturgical seasons of Advent and Lent; the St. Ignatius-inspired Examen journal First Light & Eventide; as well as At Home in the World, her travel memoir about her family's school year of traveling around the world with one backpack each. Tsh is a graduate of the University of Texas at Austin, a long-time podcaster, writer of the popular newsletter The Commonplace, leader of pilgrimages to Europe, and serves her local community as a classical humanities teacher to high school students. Tsh lives with her family in Georgetown, Texas.