Religion Made Me Fat: God, Sex, Church, Money; an Ordained Woman’s Experience of It All

Through real life stories, AmyJo Mattheis narrates her upbringing in the church and how she became an ordained minister with questions. Questions about God, fun, sex, money, flirting and more, all come up in a life well lived within the visions and expectations of the Christian church. Can an ordained woman wear red lipstick? Is sexuality dirty? Are women the source of sin? Should pastors not want things? Does everyone really burn in hell who doesn't know Jesus? Religion Made Me Fat chronicles the evolution of Mattheis' understanding of the man Jesus and what his teachings mean to men and women, atheists and others who believe a different way. Through her experiences as a pastor's kid in California, working in West Africa as a Peace Corps Volunteer, her time as an intern pastor in Jerusalem and an ordained minister in the United States, Mattheis challenges us to take seriously the role Christianity plays in our intimate and collective lives. What does Religion Made Me Fat mean anyway?

AmyJo Mattheis interned in Jerusalem and Ramallah, is a former ordained minister in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, a graduate from the Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley, California. Mattheis served as a U.S. Peace Corps Volunteer in West Africa, Director of Student Activities for a Pacific Northwest university, Special Assistant to the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development, and recently as Executive Director of an international non-profit working in the clean cook stove industry. She has led retreats, counseled hundreds of people, taught ethics for six years at the University of the Pacific, and is an accomplished speaker.