branching out baybay

14. The Unlikely Disciple: A sinner's semester at America's holiest university, Kevin Roose

So, on one break (I don't eat dinner during breaks, so I'm kind of left with nothing to do if I'm not reading a book at the time -- though sometimes my friend Kelly brings in a magazine for me to read ... anyway I digress) I was looking to leave the building but just driving to the nearest convenience store for a diet dr. pepper only occupied abou 6 of my 30 mins of break (that I am forced to take) Anyway I decided to head over to the B&N ... while perusing the new release fiction section I stumbled upon this book.

Now I don't know if anyone outside of Terry Casey and possibly my fam realize how fascinated I am by religion. I'm not a religious person -- for reasons that don't belong in this book blog -- but I am utterly intrigued by people who are. So this title immediately piqued my interest, of course. I was a step away from buying it, but decided to see if the library had it instead (YAY libraries, btw)

Now, I'm smack dab in the beginning of my B. Joyce addiction at the moment -- but that requires an explanation. I ordered a couple of the books in the series (including the second one) off amazon about a week ago (I'm begining to despair in them ever arriving :/) and although I have other ones, they are later and I don't feel like going out of order. So, I thought, this is perfect. I'll read a non-fiction book and it won't jar me from my current desire to read B.Joyce (usually when I force myself to read books other than the ones I'm craving it doesn't end well) and I'll get to indulge in my thirst for learning about religion.

This is taking a while to get to the actual book ... lol ... anywayyyy; I am definitely recommending this book. The writing is kind of spotty at times -- he's only 19 years old while writing it, and you can tell ... but being able to get an inside glimpse to lives of Liberty University students (Jerry Falwell's Bible Boot camp) overcomes any other faults it may have. I won't go in to details, just in case, but it's an interesting cultural ride to take with him. For example Liberty students aren't allowed to hug each other for more than three seconds. They learn in their science classes that the world is 6,00 years old. On Friday nights they have Bible study groups instead of frat parties. But these are the obvious stereotypes (I mean they usually exist of a reason ...) but there is also a "evangelical feminist" who went to Liberty to study how more conservative evangelicals lived, the rebel who watches r-rated movies and who says "hell" out of the context of heaven or ... and the girl who is labeled a campus slut because she slept with her boyfriend. There's the wonderful, joyous, happy dorm-neighbor who loves Jesus and God with all his heart and just wishes everyone else would do the same. But there's the intensely, psychotically homophobic who wants to bash homosexuals over the head with baseball bats.

Roose takes you on a journey, the same way he was. You get lulled into thinking of the behavior is normal, of empathizing with and liking these evangelicals. And then they call each other faggot or say the rest of their "unsaved" family is going to hell, and it's jarring.

He continually says that he approves and enjoys the behavior of LU students, but not the content, and you get pulled in to feel the same too.

One particularly striking moment in the book came when he was talking to a secular friend who was feeling nervous about traveling abroad ... he said "I'll pray for you." It was sort of nice, but completely crazy at the same time ... I don't know how I would react if someone told me that. But he meant it with the best intentions.

I wouldn't go as far to say as this book blew down any of preconceived notions, or opened my eyes to much; but it really is an interesting experience to read about. His journey is compelling.

til next time, happy reading :)