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Book Review: My Story, His Glory

Editor's Note: Thsi review was originally published in Manhattan Book Review.

Nathaniel X. Arnold


My Story, His Glory is Nathaniel X. Arnold’s compelling memoir of his conversion and fall from faith, exploration of diverse spiritual paths, and finding his way back to the Christian fold. Arnold’s autobiography is profoundly reflective of his youth in Alabama and the Washington, DC area in the years immediately following the Civil Rights Movement. Arnold explains his awakening to spirituality through prophecies in the Book of Revelations, as told by an aunt who is a devout follower of the Seventh-Day Adventists. Pivotal experiences of racism in adulthood created a yearning in Arnold to seek other truths, including forays into the occult. Personal and business issues abound. Hard lessons paved the path for redemption and finding his way back to the faith of his youth.

My Story, His Glory is an engaging read for anyone who has experienced an evolution in their spiritual journey. Arnold writes about his experiences as a young Black man in the early 1970s, eager to embrace the promise of equality. Recognizing that the church continued to discriminate against Black people, he found refuge in pro-Black sojourners who melded African Indigenous traditions with New Age sensibilities. The memoir is a fascinating window into one person’s cultural and personal discovery as they dove headlong into the Black Power movement. Arnold’s testimony of faith is a hopeful reminder of the reclamation of one’s true life purpose.

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