The Unlikely Disciple by Kevin Roose
I got this book on Saturday, and finished it earlier today. I could not put this thing down. I decided that since I like to read a lot, I may as well start to review the books I read here for any curious book seekers.
I think what I liked best about this book is how Roose does an incredible job of being open minded in his unfamiliar setting. As a Sophomore at Brown University, Kevin Roose takes off to study abroad at the famous (or infamous, depending on who you are) Liberty University in Lynchburg, Virginia for a semester, so that he can gain an understanding of a culture he knows very little about, young evangelical Christians.
Although Roose was ‘raised as a Quaker, he has never identified himself as a Christian, and saw them a ultra-conservative, homophobic, closed minded, and prudish. During his time at Liberty University, he does encounter some of these things, but for the most part, his stereotypes are challenged if not shattered.
From an almost relationship with a Liberty girl, to some personal time spent with Dr. Jerry Falwell (that results in very mixed feelings about the man he is publicly vs. the man he is privately) just before his 2007 death, he will help you understand the God Gap that this generation is experiencing from the very inside of the ‘Ultra-Conservative Right Wing Evangelical’ training ground.
Though the book is 315 pages, it is a pretty easy read, and I would give it a strong recommendation to anyone from the right wing conservatives he set out to understand to those athiests who hope Jerry Falwell is in a hell they refuse to admit exists.
5 out of 5 stars.
