The Unlikely Disciple by Kevin Roose

The Unlikely Disciple: A Sinner’s Semester at America’s Holiest University

By Kevin Roose

Because I’d really like to find a group of people who want to read and discuss this book together, this might be a little vague, but I don’t think that introducing a few general concepts that it arises is spoiling anything, really. I kind of stumbled upon the book (hey God, you’re cool) and read it on a whim. The general overview is that Kevin Roose of Brown Univ., which has a reputation of being one of the most Godless schools in America, decided to spend a semester at Liberty University, described by its founder and since-deceased president as Jesus boot camp, a breeding ground for evangelical champions of Christ. Roose’s goal was to try to find ways to bridge the God divide of which we’re all familiar, through getting to know what it’s really like to live as an evangelical. It turns out Roose assumed correctly that if his peers at LU knew he wasn’t saved, he probably wouldn’t get the real picture, so he decided to go undercover, disclosing his liberal views, casual Quaker upbringing, and motives—but not maliciously. Throughout the entire book, Roose doesn’t make easy Christian jokes or portray LU students as stupid at all, which I admit I thought he would.

Reading the book opened my eyes to a viewpoint I’ve never experienced before—I’ve seen evangelical Christians through the lens of a self-righteous religious, the person I grew up as, and I’ve evangelicals as one, I’ve been trying to live for Jesus for about a year and a half now—but I’ve never looked into Christianity from where Roose does. So the rest of this post will consist of just a few interesting points of discussion, things like questions, observations Roose makes, and ways that I feel like God is putting on my heart to try to change how I interact people. Please leave a comment if you’re interested in reading the book with me, or just feeling like sharing your opinion or something else to consider.

LU’s mission statement includes a commitment to political conservatism, and how Christianity and the Right need to be intertwined . Personally, I know many beautiful Christians who aren’t conservatives, and I feel like they are onto something, though personally my small, small knowledge and opinion of politics would classify me as a conservative. So how important, really, is it for Christians to be politically conservative?

Something I realized the summer of 2008 is how palpable Christian culture is. We joke at school all the time about words like “piggybacking” being so common in Christian circles, Settlers being a Christian game, and the fact that without Christians, the board game industry just might go under, but really—there is a distinct culture that can make a new Christian or a nonChristian feel really uncomfortable and Christians seem like exclusivists. So what to do? Try to separate from Christian culture all together? Have one culture—and this may mean different personalities—for one sphere of people and one for another? Neither are good options.

One of the most emphasized points in Roose’s book is the casual use of words like fag, queer, and gay, almost as “acceptable” insults and swear words among Christians. Of course, this is a generalization, which a vague point can’t help but include, because obviously not every Christian does this, but I encounter both those who do and those who don’t within my Christian friends. I don’t even have much of a question for this one, but I think that is not cool or right or in any way loving at all. And really—Roose’s book proved that even if we think we’re okay to say those words because we’re only with Christians at a given time, those words are still so unnecessary, negative, and unloving when used as insults or derogatively or even jokingly, and we’re all smart enough to think of different words to express our points. Consider it like this—imagine someone who doesn’t know you using a word you use to describe yourself—teenager, or student, or extroverted, as a putdown to someone else. Odds are, you’re not going to be very open to friendship with that person, or respect what they have to say. So why do that to someone? Avoiding using those words conveys that you’re not going to shut someone down based on one thing you know about them. Come on y’all, we believe we have a message to spread, don’t we? And from what I remember, that message isn’t hate.

The book exposed a few great, exciting things about Christians too—Roose conveyed a really interesting point near the beginning of the book. If you’re reading this and I know you, you’re a college student (or at least of college age), and the vast majority of us are at secular schools. By definition, we’re figuring out who we are and what we stand for and believe, and living in a time where individuality reigns supreme. So then, how is it that so many of us willingly profess the same thing? Imagine a Well, for those of us who are Bucknellians. There are people from all walks of Bucknell—athletes, Greeks, freshmen through seniors, engineers, humanities majors, rich, not so rich—you get the picture. But we all agree on Jesus and living for Him. That is pretty freakin cool.

The book covers many other topics, like young earth creationism, barometers among believers, Christian dating and what Roose dubbed the “nuptial obsession,” homophobia, legalism, mental compartmentalization, apocalyptic-based action, racism among Christians, ways we evangelize, egalitarianism vs. complementarianism, and the power of prayer. Someone pick it up and read it. I’ve love to talk about it.

I hope you’re all having lovely breaks. Thanks for reading my short novel, I didn’t mean to write so much. I’m just excited about what knowing these things can mean, and the Bucknellian in me needed to write a 4-page paper (sike…but really).