REVIEWS
I'd be honored if you would share a CUSTOMER REVIEW on Amazon.
It can be brief, and you can use a pseudo-name.
Thank you ~ Carolyn
"In a memoir that will resonate with many readers, Carolyn Shadle leads us on a personal journey in search of herself. Explorers of faith will find inspiration and deep honesty as they read about Carolyn's transformation."
Anonymous
"Readers must face the cold hard facts. There are thousands intellectuals who have abandoned their childhood indoctrination due to a deeper understanding of that which we were taught on our Mama's knees. This book is more personable than most books of its nature by a scholar. Step by step you will see the long process of doubt and why doubt is a virtue, not a vice, if you want to know the truth. Do you?"
Anonymous
"I have woven many threads of my life together and find now a beautiful tapestry,” Carolyn Shadle recollects. Her GOD TO GOOD: MY JOURNEY FROM RELIGION TO REASON is more than a first-hand memoir of a concerned social activist navigating the most turbulent changes of the 20th century; it’s a moving portrait of a devout Christian leader who step by step realizes that her faith does not hold the answer to her life’s calling to make the world a better place."
Anonymous
"Carolyn Shadle and I have arrived at different spiritual destinations. However, our faith journeys have much in common, including a rejection of narrow-minded religion, an embrace of reason, concern for social justice, respect for healthy doubt, disappointment in institutional religion, and a commitment to spirituality that elevates behavior over belief. Carolyn’s thoughtful and engaging narrative will benefit people who seek authentic spirituality for the twenty-first century. "
Anonymous
"Carolyn Shadle's journey is one marked by a commitment to reason. This commitment led her out of unreasonable forms of religion to a place of greater depth and meaning. Even theists like me can appreciate Shadle's road from irrational religion to atheism."
Anonymous
"These days at present may appear to be removed from historical perspective where the commodification of nuance abrogates any trends that help demonstrate meaning. Carolyn's book is a great look at a pivotal moment in our history at the intersection of race, economic inequality, the role of women, and religious participation experienced a sea change both through conflict and confluence. Carolyn's is a valuable voice in a discussion that increasingly is being robbed of context and an appreciation of the hard work that it took to get to where we are today.“
Anonymous
"Carolyn Shadle's book, From Religion to Reason, is a thoughtful, well-written, and interesting memoir documenting her life path. It is a good read and is a book meant to be shared."
Judith L. Stoddard, RN, BS Ed.
Author of Finding Peace: Meditations and Stories forInsight and Balance
"Carolyn Shadle shares how she moved from a Christian childhood to a life of scholarship and searching. She brings readers along as she figures out what she truly thinks, drawing on both life
experience and what she’s learned from others. Dr. Shadle’s story feels real and relatable — from driving to her first job in a used blue Ford Falcon to looking back at letters she wrote during a year in Europe, to using her communication skills in bringing up her daughters. It’s a thoughtful, open look at how one person found her own path and purpose."
Grace
"If you love truth and seek justice, this is the book for you. Carolyn Shadle's amazing journey on the enlightened road from Damascus shows how one 'church lady' has finally embraced a life of real meaning, love, joy and integrity within the natural world, the only world that matters.".
—Dan Barker
Author of Life Driven Purpose and Co-Preisdent of the Freedom from Religion Foundation
"Carolyn Childs Shadle’s [‘58] memoir about leaving the Christian faith was self-published this past December. A review in Kirkus notes that 'the author reflects on her younger years, when going to church gave her a sense of belonging.' It goes on to say that 'she traces her life through the upheavals of the 1960s and the appearances of the Beatles, Elvis Presley, and, most pertinent to herself, Pat Boone.' Carolyn writes that during her [Wilson] high school years a preference for Boone’s music 'was my way to live out my Christian faith.'"
Woodrow Wilson High School ALUMNI BEACON
"Carolyn Shadle’s life spans the most tumultuous and significant decades of American history, from the altruistic radicalism of the 1960s to the Christian nationalism movement of 2025...A strength of this book is its frequent pauses to reflect on readings or conversations that changed the way she conceived and practiced her faith. This is a story of political and humanitarian and spiritual awakening that inspires the reader to think about their own experience of spirituality, whether conservative, fundamentalist, altruistic, or atheist."
Constance Hardesty, Author, The Teen-Centered Book Club
"Carolyn C. Shadle ‘62 From Religion to Reason: My Journey. Shadle hopes her autobiographical memoir takes readers on a journey of self-discovery, belief, and identity by sharing her path in a deeply rooted Fundamentalist Protestant upbringing. She found that embracing the importance of interpersonal communication, work in high education, and civic engagement allowed her to discover a more authentic sense of self."
The College of Wooster Alumni Magazine
"Among the highlights of her story are those in which the author points out the extreme degree of moral pressure that society exerts on each one of its members, especially children, through moralistic pacts carried out during religious ceremonies. The coercion is such that it condemns virtually all listeners to carry it for life.
Carolyn achieves this thanks to her extraordinary capacity for reasoning, free from all submission to social conventions and atavisms such as superstition. Added to all this is her equally extraordinary willingness to love. These are the ingredients that empower her to rise above her alienated social context and, therefore, her time."
Consuelo de Holguín
"Shadle writes with a brisk energy that makes for smooth reading, and her narrative is given a good deal of extra texture by her frequent quotes from and allusions to the many books she's read, including fundamental texts like John Dominic Crossan's The Historical Jesus and Walter Sinnott-Armstrong's Morality Without God…Virtually any erstwhile believer who has left Christianity behind will find some aspect of their own experience relatably recounted in these pages…"
KIRKUS
"Informative, insightful, candid, thoughtful and thought-provoking, From Religion to Reason: My Journey is an extraordinary and emotionally engaging read from start to finish. A deftly crafted and intensely personal life story with universal resonance and relevance for readers with an interest in Religious Fundamentalism and the role of Critical Thinking, Rationalism, and Faith. [The book is] unreservedly recommended for personal, professional, community, and college/university library Contemporary American Biography/Memoir collections."
Wisconsin Bookwatch
"Nowadays, it is either you are a believer or an atheist. Not that you are forced to be either, but you can tell that almost everyone is curious and expects you to pick a label and stick to it...The author wrote it all in a tone that was as calm as the river in its middle stage. I loved the most how the author wasn’t preachy in everything she talked about. She was not lecturing either. She just told it as it was and how it affected her at the time…The author took us on a journey to show us that there was more to the spectrum than we thought there was. One word to describe the feeling I got while reading the book would be ‘relaxed’. Reading the title of the book, it is easier to think you know where the author will end up, but that is not the case…"
Kutlioana Makhuvhal
"It sounds like a refreshing and open-minded take on personal growth and belief, without the usual pressure to pick a side. The relaxed, honest storytelling makes it even more appealing..."
"...I have finished reading Dr. Carolyn C. Shadle’s excellent book, From Religion to Reason: My Journey...Since my own belief in God evaporated while I was in seminary, I can sympathize with Shadle’s experience at Union Theological Seminary in New York. She wrote: My disposition leaned more toward the cerebral, leaving my feelings detachedfrom religious rituals. This experience marked my initial awareness that prayer had always been meaningless to me...Her book is an engaging, highly readable description of the ways in which these events unfolded, including, eventually, her divorce. As her life continued to unfold, the god-factor was reduced more and more.
As for this book reviewer, by the time I had finished my PhD in Biblical Studies (1975) — and served for nine years as pastor of two Methodist parishes ... I left the ministry, gave up my ordination, and eventually landed in a business career. The last fifteen years, before my retirement in 2014, I was thedirector of an association of career coaches. It was gratifying indeed to be in a helping profession...Shadle is living proof that "nones" can be highly productive, compassionate, and moral contributors to our society. We can think of this book as a love letter to churchgoers who may suspect that something is not right and a testimony to the high moral standards of many nonbelievers."
- Freethought Society Newsletter, May, 2025
Ezine@FtSociety.org, David Madison
ADDITIONAL PUBLICATIONS
Among her varied writings are Building Communication Skills, published by Dandy Lion Publications; The Changing Outplacement Process: New Methods and Opportunities for Transition Management, published by Quorum Books; Communication Case Studies: Building Interpersonal Skills in the Veterinary Practice, published by the American Animal Hospital Association; Positive People Experiences, published by ICS, Inc.; Justice or “Just Desserts?” An Adult Study of the Restorative Justice Approach, published by Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), as well as numerous magazine articles. She has also served as book editor.