Plough, a publisher of thoughtful articles on Christian life, has a review of my book under their “Editors’ Picks” series. Most of the previous reviews have been from explicitly Catholic sources, while this is a more general Christian source (it is officially Protestant, as the publishing house of the Bruderhof which is an anabaptist group, but I have known Catholics to have pieces published in Plough). The review does not go into the weeds of details in God Loves the Autistic Mind, but provides a good overview.
Here are a few highlights, but the rest can be found on the Plough site:
We need books like God Loves the Autistic Mind because, too often, autistic people of faith have been led to feel the opposite. Written by Matthew P. Schneider, a Catholic priest who was diagnosed with autism as an adult, the book takes seriously the unique challenges and gifts of the spiritual lives of people with autism. Roughly the first half of the book attempts to correct widespread misperceptions about autism: that there’s something wrong with people with autism because of their condition; that they’re suffering from demonic oppression; that their tendency to be intellectual or introverted or independent thinkers (all personality traits that are common among people on the spectrum) prove maladaptive in a church climate that favors extroversion, obedience, and displays of emotional excess.
This book lovingly and gently dismantles those misperceptions one by one, continually reassuring readers that the autistic brain is good and designed by God. […]
Though prejudice persists, there’s a growing movement toward acknowledging the experience of historically marginalized communities; Schneider encourages those of us on the spectrum not to be discouraged by the negative judgments of others while we continue to fight for a faith in which all God’s children are welcomed.
Read the rest over on their site.
If you want to buy a copy, I list numerous places to buy it on this page.
If there are any other Autistic, Christian, or general publications interested in doing a review of my book, please fill out the contact form on this website.
