Just a quick update: after more than a year of waiting, The Unlikely Disciple is now out in paperback and audiobook!
Amazon and Barnes & Noble are both selling paperback copies for $10 and change (click here to order a copy), and the audiobook is available on both iTunes and Audible.com.
But here’s the really big news.
If you’re a regular visitor to this site, you probably noticed a big blue button up on the right. It’s there because I’m running a new social campaign based on my experience at Liberty University. I’m biased, but I think it’s really exciting.
It’s called The Jonah Project, and its goal is to give pairs of people from opposite sides of the political and religious spectrum a chance to have civil, non-violent conversations about faith, politics, and the culture wars. (The name comes from one of my favorite Bible stories, one in which God and Jonah argue about the fate of a city called Ninevah.)
I’m giving away 500 books as part of the Jonah Project’s initial push, and here’s how the giveaway works.
You can receive two copies of The Unlikely Discipleabsolutely free, no questions asked. BUT, you have to be willing to:
Give the other copy to a friend, relative, co-worker, classmate, or acquaintance who disagrees with you about politics, religion, or both.
Talk about the book (or any related issues, really) with your partner, making sure to keep things civil.
Post a recap of your conversation (in text or video form) on the Jonah Project blog.
My hope is to create 250 of the world’s strangest two-person book clubs, and to show that talking with people who disagree with you completely (as I did every day at Liberty) can be fun and beneficial to both people involved.
I wrote an introductory post on the Jonah Project site, which explains a bit more about the project and how to participate.
There’s an FAQ page if you’re interested in participating but still a bit confused.
Once you’re sold, you and your partner can sign up here to get your free books.
My friend/mentor A.J. Jacobs was nice enough to plug the Jonah Project on BoingBoing.
And here’s a video of my talk at this year’s GEL (Good Experience Live) conference, where I introduced the Jonah Project and the motives that led me to start it – relevant info begins at around 11:00.
Despite my extreme blogging torpor of late, it’s been a busy few months here at Roose HQ. Since graduating from college in December and moving to Brooklyn in January, a lot has happened to me:
I went back to Liberty U. to watch two of my friends – both from Dorm 22 – get married. (Not to each other, mind you.)
I continued to speak to colleges, churches, and book groups (still booking dates for 2010!) about my experience at Liberty. Most recently, I visited Bristol, Tennessee, home of King College, where I had a great time doing my spiel as part of the Buechner Institute lecture series.
I narrated the audio version of The Unlikely Disciple, which will be released along with the paperback version in June of this year (not January 2011, as I’d originally reported). Check back here in a few weeks for details about the paperback launch.
And, with apologies for burying the lede…
I’M WRITING ANOTHER BOOK! The ink on the deal has barely dried, but I’m really excited about the topic, the chance to work with the wonderful folks at Grand Central again, and the opportunity to dive into one more insular, politically powerful subculture my parents can’t stand.
Anyway, I’ll leave the description to Publishers Lunch:
THE UNLIKELY DISCIPLE author Kevin Roose’s CRASH BABIES, an embedded narrative that will follow several first- and second-year Wall Street financiers, examining their hopes, dreams, and schemes, and sketching a nuanced, human portrait of young Wall Street culture in the post-collapse era, to Ben Greenberg at Grand Central, by Kate Lee at ICM (NA).
If you’re surprised that I’m writing about young financiers, well, that makes two of us. Finance is a relatively recent obsession of mine, but I think (and I hope you’ll agree) that it’s high time for an in-depth exploration of young Wall Street culture in the post-collapse era – when being a twenty-something investment banker isn’texactlyfashionable.
I’ll save the rest of my elevator pitch for a later post, but suffice it to say that I’m really excited to dive into this project.
It took Noah a hundred years to build a wooden ark, so I don’t feel too bad about letting life – schoolwork, work-work, and not-work – take me away from this blog for a few months. But I do want to get back to tending this space regularly after I finish my final exams and officially graduate from college. (Six more weeks!)
Until then, a few noteworthy nuggets:
Thanks to all who have written, commented, and tweeted about The Unlikely Disciple in the past few months. The book is still moving around in hardcover – garnering the oddnewshit from time to time – and has gone into three more printings since the summer. So that’s good! I just got word from Grand Central that the paperback version (and the audiobook!) will be appearing in January 2011 – I’d tell you to mark your 2011 calendar, but I don’t think they’re selling those yet.
I’ve gotten a few e-mails asking about my Liberty friends, and what they’re up to these days. I can happily report that although 2009 hasn’t been thebestyear for Liberty’s public image, my friends from LU – or at least the ones I keep in touch with regularly – are doing quite well. I’ll be back in Lynchburg this winter for a couple of my hallmates’ weddings (got to love those ring-by-spring Christians) and I’ll report back with news from campus.
Speaking of friends, Year of Living Biblically author (and my former boss) A.J. Jacobs has a great new book out. It’s called The Guinea Pig Diaries, and it’s a collection of his funniest, most radical lifestyle experiments – everything from outsourcing his entire life to India to spending a month living like George Washington (complete with tricorner hat). Check it out at A.J.’s site, or read some (less overtly biased) reviews on Amazon.
The September issue of Christianity Today had a long article about Liberty, its massive growth, and the new directions it’s taking under the leadership of Jerry Falwell Jr. It’s an interesting (if relatively uncritical) look at what’s been going on in Lynchburg since I left LU, and sheds some light on the fascinating, often contradictory forces at work behind the scenes. For example, the article makes a big deal out of the growing ideological diversity on Liberty’s campus – the fact that it’s no longer just an enclave for Baptists and homeschoolers. The writer even quotes a Nepali student, Priti Sitoula, who says (surprisingly, if you ask me) that her Hinduism “has never been a conflict” in her Liberty classes or her social life. But a few paragraphs later, when talking about changes in Liberty’s admissions process, Jerry Falwell Jr. is quoted saying that he wants to be “a little more selective in the type of kids who are compatible with our mission spiritually.” Which makes me wonder: would a new emphasis on spiritual mission mean that non-Christian students like Priti would no longer be welcome at Liberty? Is Chancellor Falwell actually making an attempt to accommodate students of all faiths? Or is Liberty trying to narrow its focus to conservative evangelicals? It seems like an important question, and it’s one I hope somebody will address soon.
On a lighter note, thanks to the blog reader who forwarded me a link to Liberty Counsel (LU’s legal arm) and their new “Adopt a Liberal” program. (Tagline: “Have you prayed for a liberal today?”)
Also, just as a reminder: if you like your updates from me frequent and short (or just short), feel free to connect on Twitter or Facebook, where I’m (slightly) less negligent.
Tonight’s New England Cable News broadcast featured a great segment on my Liberty journey and its aftermath. It’s embedded below, or click here.
Of note in the segment: my mediocre Frisbee skills (which NECN kindly edited to remove the worst flubs), the slightly stilted but nevertheless funny cameos by my friends Jason and Jenny, and my chat with Beth Shelburne, the anchor who produced the piece, and who is a lovely interviewer and a consummate professional. Big ups to everyone involved.
Following a few weeks of relative media quiet, I was lucky enough (blessed, even) to be asked to talk about The Unlikely Disciple on NPR’s “All Things Considered” last week.
The highlight of my trip to NPR’s New York bureau was writing my name in the official NPR guestbook. I scribbled my signature, looked at the line above mine, and saw “T. Morrison” in large, loopy letters.
“Is that…?” I asked the receptionist.
“Toni Morrison?” he said. “Yeah. She was in the studio right before you.”
Luckily, I came down from lit-geek euphoria (and the anxiety of having to follow a Nobel laureate) in time to have a relatively smooth interview with charming Weekend ATC host Jacki Lyden, which you can listen to here.
A few other book-related items of note:
Jon Acuff, founder of the hugely popular Stuff Christians Like blog, is giving away five copies of The Unlikely Disciple on his site. The giveaway ends TOMORROW, so enter now! If you’ve never been to SCL before, go to the full roundup and poke around – there’s some hilarious stuff. (i.e. #90: “The Tankini”)
A great review came in this week from The Christian Manifesto, a well-written Christian culture blog. Check it out here.
Not much of substance has happened on the Liberty College Democrats front, it seems – the Dems are still revising their group’s constitution to meet some (or all) of the requirements set forth in last week’s meetings, and Chancellor Falwell is still demanding a public apology for certain statements made by members of the club. A sad situation all around.
Nathan Schneider, a Brown grad and writer who blogs at The Row Boat (among other places), has written an extremely good review-essay on my book. His piece, titled “Undercover at Falwell’s Liberty University, Finding Common Ground,” seeks to explain why, after so many years of galvanized culture warring, the American public seems to be taking a conciliatory turn and seeking to build bridges rather than tear them down. The whole thing is available at Religion Dispatches, and here’s an excerpt:
Throughout Barack Obama’s presidential campaign and into his administration, he has tried to work his words around the culture wars. He speaks of “abortion reduction” rather than “choice” or “life.” A supposedly new-and-improved faith-based initiatives office stands at the center of the domestic agenda. We press on in Afghanistan and Iraq, even as the president heads to Muslim countries in search of dialogue. Meanwhile, Newsweek has proclaimed “The End of Christian America”; with the Bush administration gone and churchgoing on the decline, perhaps the great, religion-infused culture wars of recent decades are over.
…We no longer need (since we are all “we” now) to muckrake and expose the other. Now, the necessary work is understanding, compromise, and shared humanity.
Last weekend, I took part in the 241st commencement at Brown University. It was a lovely, joy-filled ceremony, and I was glad to be allowed to walk with my friends in the class of ‘09, despite the fact that I won’t be officially graduating until December. Still, after donning my cap and gown and passing through the Van Wickle Gates, I can now say that I’m a fake-graduate of Brown (or what my friend called an “alumnot”).
As I sat in the pews of the First Baptist Church in America – a nod to Brown’s Baptist heritage – listening to the Baccalaureate ceremony unfold, I was struck by how many different faiths, traditions, and viewpoints were being successfully incorporated into the same ceremony. In the course of two hours, I heard a Protestant invocation of Jesus. A Muslim call to prayer. A Hindu dance. A rabbi reciting the Shehechiyanu. A poem from Emily Dickinson. A reading (in Hebrew) of Colossians 3:12-15. Taiko drums. A reading from The Prophet. In fact, the ceremony was almost laughably inclusive – Fareed Zakaria, the Newsweek International editor who gave the keynote address, noted that Brown’s Baptist founders “wouldn’t be too happy” with the ceremony’s ecumenicism.
But in that moment, peering down from my balcony pew and seeing a full spectrum of symbolism represented in the service gave the whole occasion a warm glow, a dignified sheen that enriched the meaning of commencement for all 1,443 graduating seniors, even the ones who weren’t Muslims or Hindus or Taiko drummers.
I thought of that warm glow when I read about Liberty’s decision to revoke the official status of its College Democrats chapter, and when I saw the conversations about diversity and inclusiveness that the ensuing PR frenzy inspired. (For background, check out my earlier post.) A few random thoughts that have crossed my mind since then: More…
(Cross-posted from the Huffington Post. Regular blog readers, sorry for all the basic background stuff in here. I’ll be posting some other thoughts on the controversy later today, including actionable tips for the College Dems and more of my own views on the kerfuffle.)
Last week, Liberty University made the national news when, while implementing a new funding scheme for student organizations, it revoked approval for the campus Democratic organization.
Liberty’s College Democrats club - the first in school history - was formed during last fall’s election season, and was given an award for “Up-and-Coming Chapter of the Year” by the Virginia Young Democrats in April. But earlier this month, Liberty VP Mark Hine wrote to club president Brian Diaz that the club’s status was being dropped because it had supported candidates whose views were “contrary to the mission of LU and to Christian doctrine,” even though the club itself was officially pro-life and anti-gay-marriage. Following a maelstrom of criticism, Chancellor Jerry Falwell Jr. offered to reinstate the club, providing it aligns itself with a pro-life, anti-gay Democratic group, and not the Democratic Party in general. (Which is kind of like saying that you’ll allow penguins at your zoo, but not the black-and-white kind that waddle.)
On one level, reading a news story about a fledgling chapter of the Young Democrats having its club status revoked by Liberty University is completely unsurprising. After all, since its founding in 1971, Liberty’s mission has always been to cultivate generations of conservative Christian voters and activists. Before his death, Rev. Falwell often said that he wanted his school to be the “Harvard of the right,” and to this day, Liberty’s official brochure touts the school’s “strong commitment to political conservatism, total rejection of socialism, and firm support for America’s economic system of free enterprise.”
During my semester at Liberty, I learned that much of what skeptical outsiders say about the school is true.
Yes, Liberty is a bastion of arch-conservatism. Yes, I was required to listen to lectures like “Myths Behind the Homosexual Agenda” and answer questions on a science exam about Noah’s Ark. Yes, I heard sermons called “The Myth of Global Warming” and guest speeches by Sean Hannity. Yes, Liberty stifles free speech by censoring its student newspaper, refusing to give tenure to its faculty, and suppressing students who wish to speak out. (This last point is particularly troubling - there’s actually a rule in Liberty’s student handbook that mandates 12 reprimands and a $50 fine for any student found guilty of “participation in an unauthorized petition or demonstration.”) And yes, I’ll add my voice to the chorus of people calling for Chancellor Falwell to reverse his decision and reinstate the Young Democrats’ official club status.
But during my semester there, I learned that Liberty is a much more diverse place than people give it credit for, and that speaking about the Liberty Young Democrats as if they were bizarre outliers (like “Jews for Jesus” or “Skydivers Afraid of Heights”) ignores the fact that Liberty students, like many other young evangelicals across the nation, are rethinking what it means to be a Christian in the 21st century.
When I arrived at Liberty for my semester “abroad,” I expected to find a campus full of ballot-punching Republicans. I found those, but I also met Christian feminists, Christian civil libertarians, Christians opposed to the war in Iraq, Christian gay-rights activists, and other Liberty students who challenged the norms of their parents’ generation. As evidenced by the 32% of evangelicals between the ages of 18-29 who voted for Barack Obama last November, “Christian” and “Republican” are no longer synonymous in America, and Liberty’s pathetic attempt to maintain a unified political stance by silencing dissent shows how out of touch the university is with its own student body.
I’ve never met Brian Diaz, the Liberty freshman who started the Young Democrats chapter, or Maria Childress, the club’s faculty adviser who has drawn heat for openly disagreeing with her employer. But I do know that they’re not alone.
A few days ago, I got an e-mail from a longtime Liberty professor who confessed that he’d voted for President Obama last fall, and told me that due to the “the dictatorial atmosphere” at Liberty, he could lose his job if anyone discovered his secret. Since my book came out, I’ve heard similar stories from former and current Liberty students, alumni, and faculty members, many of whom share that professor’s worry. The evangelical world is changing, and regardless of the fate of the Young Democrats club, Liberty is changing with it, becoming less wedded to the GOP and more open to ideological diversity every day.
What Liberty’s administration needs isn’t just a lesson in tolerance - it’s a long, honest look in the mirror.
I’m happy to announce that my book tour – my relatively-short-but-just-a-little-soul-deadening book tour – is coming to an end this week, after a final stop at Harvard. I’ll be speaking at The Coop at 7 PM tomorrow (Wednesday), and would love to see some Boston-area readers there. Directions are here.
Some highlights from the tour:
In Lynchburg, Virginia, getting to catch up with a bunch of my Liberty friends and professors, some of whom I hadn’t seen in many months. And all of whom, luckily, were at least marginally satisfied with the way I portrayed them in the book. Although one guy did take issue with the pseudonym I’d given him, saying that it made him sound too metrosexual. I told him I’d be open to changing it to something manlier for the paperback. Bubba? Rambo? I’ll have to think about that one.
At Yale Divinity School, being told about the horrible puns and bits of biblical wordplay that make up YDS life. Some of the worst ones include “Holy Grounds” (campus coffee shop), the “Paracleats” (intramural soccer team), the “Bible Belters” (men’s a cappella group) and “Left Behind” (the atheist student group).
At Oberlin College, learning that my audience included a gay Episcopalian priest, a gay Unitarian Universalist minister, and a gay Baptist seminary grad. Which sounds like the start of a joke you’d find in Penthouse, but it’s true.
Anyway, big thanks to everyone who hosted, transported, or otherwise helped me over the course of the tour.
A few press hits from last week:
The Religion News Service did an interview for their “10 Minutes With…” series.
Also, I’m obliged to mention that with two sex-related felonycharges, a fallen hero, and a commencement speaker who pandered so hard his audience almost forgot he was Jewish, Liberty University is not having a good month. Let’s hope the summer vacation restores and renews. Keep your head in the game, Champions.
When I stepped on to the campus of Liberty University for my first day as a new transfer student, I thought I knew what I was getting myself into.
I knew that Liberty was a Christian college in Lynchburg, Virginia, founded in 1971 by the late Reverend Jerry Falwell to train “Champions for Christ.” I knew it had required courses in Creationist Biology and Evangelism 101, a student body whose political views ranged from conservative to arch-conservative, and a 46-page code of conduct - called “The Liberty Way” - that outlawed drinking, smoking, cursing, dancing, R-rated movies, and hugs that last for longer than three seconds. More…
Meet Lara Patterson, this week’s “Jerry’s Kid.” She’s from Ohio, likes Death Cab and John Mayer, and works as a writing tutor on campus. She also lists her Religious Views on Facebook as “YHWH – Shalom,” which is confusing, because she’s not Jewish. Regardless, Lara’s views on life and doubt at Liberty are well worth hearing. To meet the the two previous “Jerry’s Kids,” click here and here.
Name: Lara Patterson
Class year: Senior
Major: Biblical Studies with a Youth Ministry minor
What’s your favorite thing about Liberty? Your least favorite?
It is probably cliché, but the people are my favorite thing about LU. I’ve met my best friends here, been inspired by amazing professors, even become friends with random staff around campus. People can and will disappoint because they’re human and that’s what humans do best, but overall the people here are what kept me here.
As to least favorite: I could make jokes about The Liberty Way or the dining hall, but honestly, the most troubling thing at LU for me is the lack of access to quality counseling. I respect those who run Student Care, but in my half dozen or so visits there, almost all have been negative experiences. I suspect that SC is intended to be a portal to outside counseling if needed, but so often it seems that they want control. And in a place where you can be fined $250 just for swearing….yeah, personal self-disclosure isn’t happening. More…
I'm a Brooklyn resident, a freelance journalist (but I'm repeating myself), and the author of "The Unlikely Disciple: A Sinner's Semester at America's Holiest University," which is available on Amazon.com , BN.com , and Borders.com , or at your local bookseller.
Saw Federer steamroll a poor French lad at the US Open today. DF Wallace was right: twice a set he makes you gasp. #2010/09/04
@arosegregory Definitely the second, maybe the first if I'm lucky. #2010/09/03
@davidcsawyer Ha! Would go over well with the rents, I'm sure. #2010/09/03
Just heard that TUD is required reading in "ICST441: Career Missionary Preparation" at...Liberty University. Mind=blown. #2010/09/03
Last day of banker bootcamp! We're learning to "sweep the revolver," which sounds like a line-dance call but is really about repaying debt. #2010/09/03
Just a quick update: after more than a year of waiting, The Unlikely Disciple is now out in paperback and audiobook!
