Where the Light Fell: A Memoir

Philip was raised by an impoverished widow who earned room and board as a Bible teacher in the post-World War II, 1950s in Atlanta. In college he uncovered a shocking secret about his father’s death—a secret, gripping family narrative, that began to illuminate the motivations that drove his mother to extreme, often hostile religious convictions and a belief that her sons had been ordained for a divine cause. The weight of religious and family pressure sent both Philip and his brother, Marshall, on opposite paths—one toward healing from the impact of what he calls a “toxic faith,” the other into a self-destructive spiral.

In piecing together his fragmented personal history and search for redemption, Philip gives testament to the enduring power of our hunger for truth and the possibility of faith rooted in grace instead of fear