Unlikely Disciple : A Sinner's Semester at America's Holiest University

by Roose, Kevin

• ISBN13: 9780446178426
• ISBN10: 044617842X
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2009-03-26
• Publisher: Grand Central Publishing

Summary

No drinking. No smoking. No cursing. No dancing. No R-rated movies. Kevin Roose wasn't used to rules like these. As a sophomore at Brown University, he spent his days drinking fair-trade coffee, singing in an a cappella group, and fitting right in with Brown's free-spirited, ultra-liberal student body. But when Roose leaves his Ivy League confines to spend a semester at Liberty University, a conservative Baptist school in Lynchburg, Virginia, obedience is no longer optional. Liberty is the late Reverend Jerry Falwell's "Bible Boot Camp" for young evangelicals, his training ground for the next generation of America's Religious Right. Liberty's ten thousand undergraduates take courses like Evangelism 101, hear from guest speakers like Sean Hannity and Karl Rove, and follow a forty-six-page code of conduct that regulates every aspect of their social lives. Hoping to connect with his evangelical peers, Roose decides to enroll at Liberty as a new transfer student, leaping across the God Divide and chronicling his adventures in this daring report from the front lines of America's culture war. His journey takes him from an evangelical hip-hop concert to choir practice at Falwell's legendary Thomas Road Baptist Church. He experiments with prayer, participates in a spring break mission trip to Daytona Beach (where he learns to preach the gospel to partying coeds), and pays a visit to Every Man's Battle, an on-campus support group for chronic masturbators. He meets pastors' kids, closet doubters, Christian rebels, and conducts what would be the last print interview of Rev. Falwell's life. Hilarious and heartwarming, respectful and thought-provoking, THE UNLIKELY DISCIPLE will inspire and entertain believers and nonbelievers alike.

Author Biography

Kevin Roose is a 19-year-old sophomore at BrownUniversity, where he studies English Literature. He is a veteran humor columnist for the Brown Daily Herald, the nation's fifth-oldest college daily. His work has appeared in Esquire.

Table of Contents

Prepare Ye	p. 1
Come and See	p. 16
Stranger in a Strange Land	p. 30
O Sing Unto the Lord a New Song	p. 45
Let Us Learn Together What Is Good	p. 66
We All, Like Sheep, Have Gone Astray	p. 85
Caught Up Together	p. 97
Troubled on Every Side, Yet Not Distressed	p. 113
Whether Ye Be in the Faith	p. 132
The Workers Are Few	p. 145
Near in Their Mouth, But Far from Their Mind	p. 165
The Lord Knoweth How to Deliver the Godly	p. 182
There Is Nothing covered, That Shall Not Be revealed	p. 200
I Made a Covenant with My Eyes	p. 214
Give Us Aid Against the Enemy	p. 234
One King Shall Be King to Them All	p. 253
Test Me, O Lord, and Try Me	p. 272
Beauty for Ashes	p. 288
Epilogue	p. 306
Acknowledgements	p. 317
Selected Bibliography	p. 321
About the Author	p. 325
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