"The Unlikely Disciple..." — My Take

I can’t say as I normally read the book reviews commonly found in Sunday papers. But as I was flipping through a few weeks ago, a headline caught my eye: “Going undercover at Liberty U.”

Reading over the review, I discovered the tale of Brown University sophomore Kevin Roose who in spring 2007 embarked in first-of-its-kind immersion journalism. Coming from ultra-liberal, politically correct Brown, and being of like mind, Roose enrolled at Liberty University in Lynchburg, Virginia. He spent his semester at America’s largest evangelical school compiling a book: The Unlikely Disciple: A Sinner’s Semester at America’s Holiest University. The contrast in worlds and beliefs was sure to be a culture shock to this liberal, secular student.

Roose wanted to see if the stereotypes were true: Were Liberty students all ultra-pious, Bible-thumping homophobes? What was Jerry Falwell, mostly known for his ill-tamed tongue, really like in person? Were the rules as strict as a Nazi prison camp?

The reason this book grabbed my attention is that Liberty was my school. In fact, spring 2007 was my final semester at Liberty; I graduated that May. So naturally, I wanted to read how an “unchurched” individual would view Liberty. Growing up in the Christian school system, I found the rules at Liberty to be pretty lax compared to some institutions (like Bob Jones University). I’m someone who never wanted the “one-big-drunken-orgy” college experience. But to Roose, coming from that very environment into white-washed Bible-belt culture, I can definitely see how the standards of conduct might feel downright restrictive.

What Roose discovered is that most Liberty students are not nearly as pious or cliquey as he expected. Most were just ordinary college-aged guys and girls, albeit with a special brand of faith that Roose found was characterized in their outward joy, friendliness, and morality (i.e. committed abstinence till marriage, refraining from alcohol, etc). Of course there were exceptions. Roose had a roommate whose homophobic rants and slurs of anyone (near everyone) that he decided was gay were downright abusive. And then there were the rebels. The Liberty students who sneaked out behind the dorm for a smoke, or who came out of Blockbuster with an “R” rated movie (University policy forbids anything rated higher than PG-13).

Roose took advantage of all Liberty had to offer in his one semester. He dived right into his immersion project, participating in more extracurriculars in that one semester than I did in eight! The list: Thomas Road Baptist Church (Rev. Falwell’s church) choir, spring-break missionary trip to Daytona Beach, prayer groups, Bible study, homosexual recovery group (for the experience—Roose claims to be straight), and intramural softball. Meanwhile, he filled his class schedule with Bible classes rather than liberal-arts offerings. Understandably, he struggled through those classes as a non-devout Quaker with next to no Bible knowledge coming in to Liberty.

Finally, Roose decided to request, and was granted, a one-on-one interview with Jerry Falwell to be published in The Liberty Champion. Instead of dredging up touchy political and spiritual subjects, Roose angled his interview as getting to know the man personally. As I read this chapter, and Roose described Falwell’s daily peach Snapple habit, it all came back to me. I remember reading that interview. I remember Roose’s picture in the school paper.

That interview turned out to be one of the last, if not the last, of Falwell’s life. Right before my graduation in mid-May, central Virginia made national headlines again just a month following the Virginia-Tech massacre: Rev. Falwell passed away due to heart complications. I was hiking on Percival’s Island in downtown Lynchburg when the news broke. My dad called me on my cell to inform me of what had just happened. Apparently there was initial mass pandemonium on campus; I arrived back to relative calm, just before the crush of national media descended on Liberty.

Roose stayed in town and attended my graduation ceremony, just days after Falwell’s death. He described it as a funeral/graduation. I interpreted it differently, with eulogies to Falwell kept reasonably short. Roose also availed himself of the Resident Life’s policy allowing students to stay in their dorms an extra week to attend the funeral. As for me, I hightailed it out of Lynchburg the day after graduation and never looked back.

Reading this book, I found myself continuously thinking, “Wow, this guy’s a good writer.” I wish I could write half as well as he does. Painstaking detail is demonstrated in how Roose affectively captures every conversation, every thought, every minuscule detail of all his experiences and interactions. Coming away from Liberty, Roose discovered he’d formed some lasting friendships during his five months there. He learned a lot more about the Bible than he every expected (scripture quotations, chapter titles, and anecdotes demonstrate this well). His work is respectfully written, and is not an attempt to disparage Liberty. In the end, Roose came away surprised at how wrong some his preconceptions were and how changed his attitudes toward faith, prayer, and Christianity were.

He also pointed out a few glaring faults at Liberty. I recall thinking how sometimes critical thinking was squashed in some classes, instead favoring memorize-notes-regurgitate-on-exam type education. Roose noticed the same. Of course, this wasn’t always the case. And the inappropriate gay jokes and general homophobia that bothered Roose are something Liberty as a body needs to deal with. The homosexual community is already skeptical of Christianity, and I can attest that the level of crude joking I witnessed at Liberty is an area where change is needed if Liberty ever wants to truly reach these people.

Overall, however, I found Roose’s work to be top-notch quality. His college-frat-brothers type stories and chronology of Liberty experiences kept me hooked through all 336 pages. I remember more than once laughing to myself and thinking, “Hey, I remember that…” as Roose talked about a particular speaker or event on campus. To think, I probably passed him in DeMoss Hall, or the dining hall many times and never even knew two years later I’d be enjoying his work. That said, this is a good read, made better only by having also walked in Kevin Roose’s shoes.