The Unlikely Disciple: A Sinner’s Semester at America’s Holiest University
If you enjoyed this review, please consider purchasing this book from my Amazon Associates link (applies to Kindle purchases as well): https://amzn.to/3Cjt1OD. The commissions I receive from your purchase help pay for the costs of running this website. Thanks for your support!
Ok… The Unlikely Disciple: A Sinner’s Semester at America’s Holiest University is excellent. I wish I wrote this book. Mad respect to Kevin Roose for having the wherewithal to make this happen at age 19.
Roose attended Brown University and as a sophomore, instead of spending a semester abroad, he spent a semester at Liberty University posing as an evangelical. This man went on a covert journalistic mission when he could have been gallivanting around Australia drinking boxed wine and spending every day on the beach.
As a secular liberal, Roose wanted to understand the culture of Liberty and the motivations of students who attended. Liberty is a private, conservative Baptist university founded by Jerry Falwell Sr. It’s hella strict-- no cursing, drinking, smoking, watching R-rated movies, touching the opposite sex beyond hand-holding, etc. It’s infused with religion-- professors pray before every class and every student is required to take classes such as Evangelism 101 (how to convert nonbelievers) and History of Life (creationist teaching in lieu of evolution that at one point lost their biology department’s accreditation). You get the gist.
Roose’s infiltration might seem a little sleezy if it weren’t for the fact that he’s such an authentic person. His goal was to genuinely get to know the students at Liberty, and he strove to find the nuance of their lives rather than just confirm assumptions. Of course, his assumptions are confirmed at times-- like the rampant homophobia he hears, some openly racist students he meets, and sexist sermons he endures. But he also meets plenty of kind, generous, thoughtful people who are trying to carve their own path in life just like him. He’s open to hearing them out, including Falwell himself. He even manages to get an exclusive interview with Falwell--the last print interview before he died.
As a former evangelical-turned-atheist, this book was an emotionally difficult read for me. His writing encapsulates the complicated feelings that I personally feel about Christianity now that I’m out of the faith. I want believers to accept that I’ve taken in the same data that they have about the world and reached a different conclusion-- and that’s okay! Still, I miss some aspects of religion that I think are valuable. I appreciate the powerful benefits of community and prayer. Roose, with virtually no religious background, writes about his own exploration of those aspects as well. He’s a very articulate person, and I think that someone with any degree of religious background would appreciate his perspective.
Clearly, I respect Roose as a writer and journalist; he’s currently a reporter for The New York Times and he sold his article about NFTs as an NFT for $560,000. Homie knows what he’s doing. The book is also interesting in that Liberty is steeped in some seriously juicy goss. When Jerry Falwell Sr. died, his son took over and kinda ran the place into the ground. Check out the podcast In God we Lust by Wondery if you wanna know more about his sketchiness.
Overall, I highly recommend The Unlikely Disciple regardless of where you fall on the religious spectrum. For religious people, this is a good insight into secular perceptions. For non-religious people, he explains basic beliefs for context, so you don’t have to come in equipped. It’s informative, compassionate, and critical without being overly cynical. It receives 5 out of 5 flames.
PS: Shameless plug. While I did not publish a book a la Roose, I did publish some articles reflecting on the effects of my evangelical upbringing. If interested, you can check them out. Stop telling nonbelievers they have a hole in their hearts and Agnostics need more support in coming out to family and friends
