The Book of the Week is “The Unlikely Disciple” by Kevin Roose published in 2009. This is a personal account of a student’s going from one extreme to the other. Roose transferred from Brown University (a liberal Ivy-League college) to Liberty University (the Conservative Christian college with the ironic name, founded by the politically far-right winger, Jerry Falwell in 1971) for the 2007 spring semester.
At Liberty, he was obliged to obey a laundry list of rules called “The Liberty Way,” such as no alcohol, no sex and no expletives (not even off-campus), and a dress code, or face reprimands and fines. His intent from the start was to experience the school as an insider, then write about it. However, he had not been “saved” (had not accepted Christ as his savior) and undergone baptism; he had actually been raised as a Quaker. He sang in the church choir, and participated in Bible study and prayer meetings. Although he was living a lie, there was no shortage of spiritual advisers in the form of school administrators on campus to guide him. Roose took advantage of their counseling, struggling with various issues that were part and parcel of the school’s ideology. To name a few– he was required to learn about creationism, refrain from masturbation and oppose homosexuality.
In the very last week of his stay, he became a minor celebrity through a curious occurrence. Read the book to learn about this possible “sign from God.”