"The Unlikely Disciple" by Kevin Roose

For those who don’t know, The Unlikely Disciple is a firsthand account of the journey of Kevin Roose, an English major and journalist from Brown University who transferred to Liberty University in the spring semester of 2007. Roose wasn’t coming to my alma mater with the happy anticipation that I suppose is common for most young evangelicals who enroll at Falwell’s school. But then, Kevin Roose is not an evangelical. Roose has described himself as “God ambivalent” and though he refers frequently to his Quaker heritage in this book, he is not a “true Christian” by most evangelical standards. He transferred to Liberty after realizing that conservative, evangelical Christianity was entirely other to his liberal, left wing, Ivy League world. He came to Liberty as a mole, an undercover journalist, and his goal was to show the world what Liberty University was “really like.”

To be frank, it would be impossible for me to write down all of my thoughts on this book. Even if I could, it would take you far too long to read. That being the case, I’m simply hoping this review will stimulate conversation. Furthermore, a published review, found at http://www.christianitytoday.com/bc/columns/bookoftheweek/090323.html is a fantastic summary of this work. I see no reason to reinvent this already well-designed wheel. Instead, I’ll just offer a few of my thoughts. If you’ve read the book (or even if you haven’t) I’d love to talk about it with you.

- First, this is undoubtedly one of the best books I have ever read. The book reads like a novel, and Roose is an incredible writer. He weaves his words with a brilliance matched only by his wit, humor, and insight. I could not put this book down.

- Roose is brutally honest throughout the entire book. As someone who was initially unfamiliar with the cultural memes of modern evangelicalism, Roose’s immersion into the Liberty community produces some humorous stories. However, it also provokes him to a few indictments of modern evangelicalism. Some of these are justified (indeed some of them I have made myself) while other conclusions are little more than first impressions that fail to comprehend the entire picture.

- Roose’s dorm provided him with quite a variety of people. Roose made his home on Dorm 22 while living on a hall with a hyperactive, bubbly fellow, a few “rebels” by Liberty’s standards, a nonbeliever, an angry racist from the deep south and a host of other personalities. While this led to some unfortunate moments, it seemed to demonstrate to Roose the reality that I learned during all four years at Liberty—no two Liberty students are exactly alike.

- When one considers this, it makes the act of branding all Liberty students with any particular label a thoughtless move. All these things considered, I find it odd that Roose frequently labels Liberty students as “homophobic” and consistently fails to distinguish between the disapproval of a lifestyle and the hatred of and fear of a person or group of people. This is an example of the chief weakness of Roose’s book—he frequently criticizes the conclusions of evangelicals when he finds them repugnant, yet fails to realize that the only basis for many of his criticisms are his own secular assumptions.

- The book has been well received by both sides, the unfair criticisms of Liberty’s administration notwithstanding (Roose remains vigilant in his rejection of evangelical Christianity and conservatives don’t like unhappy endings). I am profoundly struck by how much good this book can do for America’s culture war. Every secular liberal and hard-line religious conservative (and everyone in between) should read this book. There is much we can learn.

- Roose makes several observations and offers several insights, especially toward the end of the book. Many of these are certainly worth reading, but I think it’s better if I simply share one of his final thoughts. “While I don’t think you’re right [addressing evangelical Christians], I do think I was wrong.” (paraphrase) He admits to being wrong about many of his assumptions about what conservative evangelicals were like, and it seems that his entire Liberty experience had a very humanizing effect.

- What surprised me most about the book was how much I learned about Liberty, and perhaps that is instructive. I can give you the inside scoop on Liberty, but it’s based on my experiences, and my perceptions of the average Liberty student, which are influenced by my circle of friends within the Liberty community. On the one hand, I can appreciate some of Roose’s conclusions, especially when one considers the people he met during his semester here in Lynchburg. On the other hand, I think it’s good to realize that calling one semester of the freshman foundational courses a “well-rounded look” at Liberty University is a little like saying the Travel Channel provides you with an “authentic experience” of the Scottish countryside.

Overall, I think this book will do much good for the culture war, the country, and Liberty University. I don’t agree with all of Roose’s conclusions, but I am thankful for his honesty and his open-mindedness. I hope that Liberty students who read the book will take his criticisms to heart, some of which are timely, appropriate and humbling. I hope that people of other faiths, as well as Christians of a more liberal persuasion will realize that evangelical Christianity is an inherently good thing, not a cultic band of hypocrites or a wart to be removed. Most of all, I hope wise and discerning people will use the story of this “unlikely disciple” to realize that submission to stereotypes is easy; but honestly dealing with fellow human beings on their terms is a challenging task that is not without its rewards.

"The Political and Social Ideas of St. Augustine" by Herbert A. Deane

Deane’s work is an attempt to break down Augustine’s social and political thought. In the preface, Deane explains the need for such a work, pointing out that unlike Thomas Aquinas, with his Summa Theologica, there is no central, systematic work from Augustine’s pen that neatly categorizes his thoughts on different subjects. He laments that most students seeking to learn about Augustine’s social and political ideas are simply told to read City of God. Deane points out that City of God is a long work that deals with a variety of topics and is not an exhaustive treatment of Augustine’s social and political thought. Personally, I read the book as a kind of introduction to Augustine’s thought, to prepare me for the task of reading City of God, which I plan to tackle later this month.

Deane begins with Augustine’s doctrine of man, as that is foundational to how one deals with social and political issues. Even a student only vaguely familiar with Augustine will find little new information here. Augustine affirmed man’s total and complete depravity and inability. Such a view necessarily influences Augustine’s perspective on politics. He views the state as a kind of tempering force, an extension of the grace of God, without which anarchy would dominate and chaos would reign. In that sense then, the government’s job is to ensure that anarchy and chaos do not reign. It does not exist to reform men, only to consistently punish lawbreakers so as to provide an incentive against rebellion, destruction and violence.

Deane also spends a great deal of ink detailing Augustine’s change of heart during the Donatist Controversy as it related to the Church-State relationship in dealing with heresy. At first, he was not in favor of the state punishing heretics. However, over time and after seeing the effectiveness of the threat of punishment on the Donatist party; he began to affirm state-sponsored persecution of the Donatist sect. This change of heart provided Augustine with another perspective on the state: that it was the tool of God to be used to bring heretics back to orthodoxy. Deane insists that this is not a contradiction with Augustine’s perspective that the state is only a tempering force in the City of Man.

Overall, I enjoyed this book. Deane supports his points with frequent quotations from Augustine’s works and intertwines Augustine’s thought with the work of other philosophers before and after Augustine, such as Plato and Hobbes. Deane’s knowledge on the topic shines most impressively in his conclusion, where he draws Augustine’s social and political thought into a few paragraphs and reflects on Augustine’s impact on the church after the fifth century. He references the possibility of Augustinian influence on medieval political theory, then goes on to discuss Augustine’s thought as it is seen in the work of Luther and Calvin, right up to the 20th century, where the calamities of world war and human oppression have been boldly displayed, leading to a resurgence in Augustinian perspectives.

After reading the conclusion, I did some thinking of my own and affirmed that St. Augustine and I would agree on a great many things—the nature of man, the function of government, and the illusion of the possibility of utopia within the City of Man. Some would call Augustine’s perspective “pessimism.” However, I would call the African bishop’s perspective “biblical realism,” comporting with both scriptural teaching and human experience.

I think Augustine might have a bit of encouragement for America today, as we tend to put our hope in our political leaders. The longings that we have that are today giving way to a kind of socialism are not new longings. They are the longings for justice, peace and happiness that are common to every human being. What Augustine teaches us, however, is that the answer to these problems is not a messianic leader, or a social program, but a resolute focus on the reality that these longings can only be satisfied when we become residents in the City of God.

3.5 out of 5 stars

"A History of the Medieval Church: 590-1500" by Margaret Deanesly

Margaret Deanesly’s work is a straightforward account of the Medieval Church from the time of Gregory the Great to the beginning of the Renaissance. There is a particularly strong focus on monasticism and the activities of monks and friars during the medieval age. I think that most readers would find Deanesly’s work to be fairly boring. The account is rather dry and Deanesly spends almost no time reflecting on the significance of the changes that led to the establishment of Christendom. She spends very little ink reflecting on political motivations behind various problems and schisms, and commentary on the social aspects of the age is all but absent, except for a few mentions of the class structure of feudalism.

The preface claims that the work is for both the general reader and theological students at the University of Manchester. I doubt the former would find the book very accessible. I would only recommend the work to those with a rudimentary knowledge of the medieval age itself, and at least a mild familiarity with feudalism, and the rise, establishment, and success of the Holy Roman Empire. Deanesly assumes this knowledge on the part of her readers, so I’m critical of the recommendation to the general reader.

Most disappointing was the fast-paced nature of the book, which resulted in the already mentioned absence of reflection on the significance of various events. There are few explanations of the subtle factors involved in the changes happening within Christendom. For example, when Deanesly arrives at the topic of the Avignon Papacy, one of the most peculiar and tensional events in Church History, she briefly mentions French political influence and then simply adds “…the papacy was so much under French influence that for seventy years it resided beyond the Alps” (p176). She then launches into a list of the Avignon Popes without any further elaboration.

In spite of my criticisms, I understand that this book, first published in 1925, was likely one of the first of its kind in the English language, and so I’m somewhat sympathetic toward Deansely’s straightforward manner. With that in mind, however I still reject her suggestion that the book is appropriate for the general reader, recommending it instead to someone with a rudimentary knowledge of social and political changes in the Middle Ages.

2.5 out of 5 stars