Although his chief concerns are over the differences between Roman Catholicism and Old Catholicism, this is really a larger issue for the author than for the reader since the scope of the book encompasses a much wider view of all religion. And that is a vastly more interesting topic, which Wagner seems to admit by purposefully engaging the reader in larger discussions with each chapter.

Wagner uses a contemporary voice reminiscent of the voice in Sarah Vowell’s books, and that makes his work much more readable than most religious books. As a general rule, I tend to avoid conversation with those who are strict about religion because the conversation takes on such a heavy load that it’s impossible to carry. It becomes like driving down a road full of pot holes in a truck loaded with nitroglycerin. Wagner takes you from one topic to the next with relative ease, discussing with a profound love the works of Siddhartha Gautama, Galileo Galilei, and yes, Jesus Christ. The levity that he brings to the dialogue makes issues like child abuse manageable for those who get queasy and uncomfortable. It allows for a higher consideration to occur.

There is a lot of insight in “Recovering Catholic”, not the least of which is that Roman Catholicism and Catholicism are two different sects. (Hey , that’s news to me.) But the more important thing that you’ll get is a wider researched, wider nuanced view of the questions that we ask ourselves as Christians. What does it mean that the Bible has been translated so often that today’s version is really only a shadow of the original? What does it mean to be Episcopalian or Baptist or Mormon? Is there really on one right choice? Does religion really work like a game show where you try to guess the right door and behind one is eternal salvation and behind all the others is a lake of fire? It doesn’t help that there are so many doors. Wagner engages these questions with a sense of comic timing and an eye towards contemporary reality that’s refreshing. And that the book is so short makes it easy to go back through and engage in each point more thoroughly.