The Unlikely Disciple
Who or what is The Unlikely Disciple?
I hope this The Unlikely Disciple review will be helpful.
In short The Unlikely Disciple is a Hardcover book published by Grand Central Publishing in March 2009. It's a 336-page book written by Kevin Roose. Kevin was 19 when he wrote this book and he writes like a pro journalist.
The Unlikely Disciple is Kevin Roose's report of his experiences at a Christian university. Kevin Roose was a sophomore student at Brown University when he made the decision to transfer to Liberty University for a semester. Interestingly, Kevin Roose is not a Christian and Liberty University is a conservative Christian university. Brown university on the other hand is as secular as they come - ultra liberal, anything goes attitude.
Why on earth would a non-Christian in a secular university move to a conservative Christian education institution?
The trigger for Kevin's decision was when he realized that he had great difficulty communicating with students of Liberty University while he was working as an intern at Rev. Jerry Falwell's church. Rev. Falwell is the founder of Liberty University. He couldn't understand why there was this communication kink when the Liberty students and he were of the same Millennial generation.
So what was Kevin's experience like at Liberty University?
Well, The Unlikely Disciple eventually learned how to pray and read the Bible regularly and controlled his foul language. This is all new for Kevin although he comes from a Quaker family. He found it tough sitting through a course crushing the theory of evolution but found Scripture class fun.
How did he find the kids at Liberty University?
Despite the differences in outlook between Kevin and the students of Liberty, he makes friends easily with them. So the notion that conservative and liberal can't cross the divide is just a mirage. He found their anti-gay rhetoric a bit disgusting.
Make no mistake, Kevin's mission at Liberty University was an undercover operation. This makes some Catholics dismiss his experiences at Liberty University as untruthful. For sure, we will never really know if the Liberty students would have behaved differently towards Kevin, if they knew he was a liberal.
This The Unlikely Disciple review would be incomplete, without a review of what readers think about the book. Since the introduction of this book, I've been able to source 135 reviews. 70% of them give it a 5-star rating and 26% a 4-star. Are these reviewers enamored with Kevin's experiences because they're Christian? Who knows - the reviewers didn't state their religion when they submitted their reviews. Whatever - it doesn't dilute the rating even if all of them were Christian.
Here are some The Unlikely Disciple summary reviews:
- One reviewer likened Kevin to a mystery shopper, checking out the service and product quality.
- Another reviewer sat through through the book in 10 hours and immediately after submitted her review. She was happily surprised by the book.
- Yet another reviewer found the book enjoyable and not condescending. He found Kevin a hilarious guy.
Who should read this book? The Unlikely Disciple would be a great resource for you if you fall in any of these groups:
- A Christian who wants to know what the non-believer thinks about you and your practices
- A seminarian, evangelist, missionary, pastor or Christian educator in training
- Planning to enroll in a Christian university
- Staff of Liberty University or other Christian college
- Liberal who wants to understand Christians
If you want to join this group of thrilled readers, visit the official website here - The Unlikely Disciple: A Sinner's Semester at America's Holiest University
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Some people have asked if The Unlikely Disciple PDF exists and the answer is no. But the good news is that The Unlikely Disciple ebook is available here - The Unlikely Disciple: A Sinner's Semester at America's Holiest University
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