A Doubter in the Holy Land<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"In\u00a0The New York Times, the writer and literary critic Maud Newton - who was raised in a fervently religious household and now describes her own religious\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markdroberts\/2014\/04\/08\/a-doubter-in-the-holy-land\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"A Doubter in the Holy Land\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"In\u00a0The New York Times, the writer and literary critic Maud Newton - who was raised in a fervently religious household and now describes her own religious\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markdroberts\/2014\/04\/08\/a-doubter-in-the-holy-land\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Mark D. Roberts\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2014-04-08T10:40:40+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2015-03-13T20:26:37+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Alissa Wilkinson\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Alissa Wilkinson\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markdroberts\/2014\/04\/08\/a-doubter-in-the-holy-land\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markdroberts\/2014\/04\/08\/a-doubter-in-the-holy-land\/\",\"name\":\"A Doubter in the Holy Land\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markdroberts\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2014-04-08T10:40:40+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2015-03-13T20:26:37+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markdroberts\/#\/schema\/person\/44fac8899af9f3f247d48a25101d010d\"},\"description\":\"In\u00a0The New York Times, the writer and literary critic Maud Newton - who was raised in a fervently religious household and now describes her own religious\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markdroberts\/2014\/04\/08\/a-doubter-in-the-holy-land\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markdroberts\/2014\/04\/08\/a-doubter-in-the-holy-land\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markdroberts\/2014\/04\/08\/a-doubter-in-the-holy-land\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markdroberts\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"A Doubter in the Holy Land\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markdroberts\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markdroberts\/\",\"name\":\"Mark D. Roberts\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markdroberts\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markdroberts\/#\/schema\/person\/44fac8899af9f3f247d48a25101d010d\",\"name\":\"Alissa Wilkinson\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markdroberts\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/1e0ab87675c1fb37a277530948c16448?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/1e0ab87675c1fb37a277530948c16448?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Alissa Wilkinson\"},\"sameAs\":[\"http:\/\/www.alissawilkinson.com\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markdroberts\/author\/alissawilkinson\/\"}]}<\/script>\n","yoast_head_json":{"title":"A Doubter in the Holy Land","description":"In\u00a0The New York Times, the writer and literary critic Maud Newton - who was raised in a fervently religious household and now describes her own religious","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markdroberts\/2014\/04\/08\/a-doubter-in-the-holy-land\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"A Doubter in the Holy Land","og_description":"In\u00a0The New York Times, the writer and literary critic Maud Newton - who was raised in a fervently religious household and now describes her own religious","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markdroberts\/2014\/04\/08\/a-doubter-in-the-holy-land\/","og_site_name":"Mark D. Roberts","article_published_time":"2014-04-08T10:40:40+00:00","article_modified_time":"2015-03-13T20:26:37+00:00","author":"Alissa Wilkinson","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Alissa Wilkinson","Est. reading time":"1 minute"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markdroberts\/2014\/04\/08\/a-doubter-in-the-holy-land\/","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markdroberts\/2014\/04\/08\/a-doubter-in-the-holy-land\/","name":"A Doubter in the Holy Land","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markdroberts\/#website"},"datePublished":"2014-04-08T10:40:40+00:00","dateModified":"2015-03-13T20:26:37+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markdroberts\/#\/schema\/person\/44fac8899af9f3f247d48a25101d010d"},"description":"In\u00a0The New York Times, the writer and literary critic Maud Newton - who was raised in a fervently religious household and now describes her own religious","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markdroberts\/2014\/04\/08\/a-doubter-in-the-holy-land\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markdroberts\/2014\/04\/08\/a-doubter-in-the-holy-land\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markdroberts\/2014\/04\/08\/a-doubter-in-the-holy-land\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markdroberts\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"A Doubter in the Holy Land"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markdroberts\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markdroberts\/","name":"Mark D. Roberts","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markdroberts\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markdroberts\/#\/schema\/person\/44fac8899af9f3f247d48a25101d010d","name":"Alissa Wilkinson","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markdroberts\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/1e0ab87675c1fb37a277530948c16448?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/1e0ab87675c1fb37a277530948c16448?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Alissa Wilkinson"},"sameAs":["http:\/\/www.alissawilkinson.com"],"url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markdroberts\/author\/alissawilkinson\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markdroberts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5904","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markdroberts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markdroberts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markdroberts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1478"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markdroberts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5904"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markdroberts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5904\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markdroberts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5904"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markdroberts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5904"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markdroberts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5904"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}

{"id":5904,"date":"2014-04-08T05:40:40","date_gmt":"2014-04-08T10:40:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markdroberts\/?p=5904"},"modified":"2015-03-13T15:26:37","modified_gmt":"2015-03-13T20:26:37","slug":"a-doubter-in-the-holy-land","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markdroberts\/2014\/04\/08\/a-doubter-in-the-holy-land\/","title":{"rendered":"A Doubter in the Holy Land"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

In\u00a0The New York Times<\/a>, the writer and literary critic Maud Newton \u2013 who was raised in a fervently religious household and now describes her own religious views as \u201cuncertain\u201d \u2013 writes about visiting the Holy Land<\/a>:<\/p>\n

When I was young, my mother had a feverish conversion and started a church in our living room. I\u2019d always been a tiny bit anxious that I might one day follow suit, hear the calling myself, start roaming the streets, preaching salvation. A committed but fearful agnostic, I\u2019d never intended to tempt fate by visiting the Holy Land. But I was going to the Jerusalem Book Fair, and my husband, Max, who grew up in the comparatively staid Eastern Orthodox tradition, was joining me.<\/p>\n

When we arrived, at dusk, the sky was a pale, glowing blue \u2014 eerily biblical, which, I had to keep reminding myself, made sense. As we sped into the city, past rocky white hills and almond trees bursting with blooms, we were overwhelmed by incongruous feelings of intense foreignness and intimate familiarity. This was a landscape we knew, from Sunday-school lessons and iconography and bad Old Testament movies, and a place we did not know at all.<\/p>\n

Read the entire short, lovely essay here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"