Book about nutty Evangelicals (sorta…)
When I saw the cover of Dan Radosh’s book “Rapture Ready: Adventures in the Parallel Universe of Christian Pop Culture” I immediately was hooked! As an evanglical Bible teacher and pastor even I think Christian pop culture is quite bizarre and at times all out foolish.
But I’d never come across a look at Christian pop culture from one outside the evanglical fold which didn’t belittle, dismiss or outright decry the Ned Flanders’s of the world in doing so. That is, until I came across Radosh’s book.
Radosh is a self-avowed Humanist Jew from New York…not exactly the demographic most Christian culture trinket marketers are aiming at. But that’s the beauty of his book. It gives us a view of what most of us who have been in churches or around Christian culture so long a fresh look at many things we might otherwise pay little attention to. And while the author’s views on certain social-moral issues are unapologetically opposed to those of most evangelicals, he is able to put that aside and present their views and outlook in a way that is fair, and even kind, without being condescending or elitist. For that alone the book is worth reading.
But in addition to being insightful and fair-minded, the book is also extremely entertaining. Radosh is able to balance wit, sarcasm, and humor in a way that works well without being smug or self-righteous (i.e. the complete opposite of, say, Bill Maher or Penn and Teller when they discuss religion). That doesn’t mean he’s not sometimes quite biting in his criticism of certain evangelical mindsets or ideas. He just doesn’t paint all of us with a single brush. And for that, I applaud him as having accomplished what few in secular media have been able to do.
Here are some of my favorite excerpts:
On Christian marketing:
“The largest subset of Christian gifts is apparel. Christian T-shirts are the uniformin which evangelicals under thirty suit up for battle, and th ecompaines that make them are constantly scrambling to come up with slogans and designs that appeal to today’s youth, generally to embarrassing effect: ‘God is my DJ’; ‘Jesus has skills’; ‘I’m like totally saved.’ The marginally more ambitious shirts attempt to impart a lesson: ‘Life would be so easy if everyone read the manual’; ‘Friends don’t let friends go to hell’; ‘Modest is hottest.’ The tangled rationale of that last one–we can persuade girls to dress in a way that does not attract sexual attention by telling them that doing so will attract sexual attention, especially if they wear this form-fitting shirt–begins to hint at the tension in bending Christian messages to pop-culture forms.” p.12
On the Left Behind books:
“If nothing else, you might think the sudden disappearance of every child on earth would have some implications for society, or at least for their parents, but LaHaye and Jenkins can’t concern themselves with this, because John Nelson Darby said that once the tribulation begins, certain events must happen on a fixed timetable, and d@mn it, they’re going to follow that schedule. ‘The authors behave as they imagine God behaves,’ [Fred] Clark writes. ‘They have a plot that must move forwad, and they will advance that plot even if it means causing, then callously disregarding, the suffering of billions of people. Plot trumps–and tramples on, and violates–character. Here, once more, Bad Writing and Bad Theology intersect.'” pp.79-80
On the religious right and end-times scare movies/books:
“…but apparently there is no end to the demand for near-future stories about persecuted Christians. Somehow the more powerful the religious right grows, the more desperately Christians cling to the fantasy that they are only one act of Congress away from being herded into concentration camps.” p.93
On mass altar calls:
“[The evangelist said,] ‘Turn to the person next to you and say, I’ll go forward with you if you’re ready to go,’ he said. As a psychological tactic it was shrewd, and seemed to work on a few people, but if the point of the altar call is for people to publically announce that they’ve given their life over to Christ, what kind of followers is such quasi coercion going to get him?” p.143
And my personal favorite, found in a footnote on pp.110 explaining what a Christian’s “walk” means:
“In The Sinner’s Guide to the Evangelical Right, Robert Lanham’s glossary of Christianese defines ‘How’s your walk?’ as ‘Christian shorthand for ‘How’s your walk with God?’ It’s like asking ‘How’s it hanging?’ you know, without all that scrotum.'”
I literally laughed out loud when I read that and immediately called my Dad (who’s also a Pastor) and read it to him. And for those of you who may be offended at the use of the word ‘scrotum’ in a discussion of Christianity, I have some Bible passages that you may need to check out… 😉
I must also say that the hypothetical “interview” with Stephen Baldwin on pp.143-151 is not to be missed either. It’s hilarious, even if you’re a Stephen Baldwin fan. I hope Stephen took it in stride. If someone composed a satirical interview of me based on things I had written in an autobiography, I might be upset at first…but then I’d just have to tip my cap to them and give them credit for a job well done.
The final thing to note about “Rapture Ready” is that it is partnered with a blog by Radosh which acts as an extension or continuation of the book.
This book will not appeal to everyone, I’m afraid. When it comes to self-criticism and being called out on silliness or inconsistency, us evangelical Christians are usually the last in the lunch line. So I’ll break it down according to the readership of Christian magazines in an effort to help you decide on whether or not to read it. If you read…
“CCM” or “Charisma” – be ready…there’s a good chance one of your favorite Christianelebrities is lampooned or critiqued.
“Focus on the Family” or “Answers in Genesis” publications – make sure to have something between your teeth so you don’t accidentally bite your tongue off when you go into the seizures of rage that are likely to accompany your reading of it.
“Christianity Today” – you will probably find yourself in agreement with most of Radosh’s critiques, except for his social-moral stances on certain issues. The most interesting part of the book for you will likely be the discussions with Jay Bakker and their theological implications.
“Relevant”, “HM” or “Good News” – You’ll likely petition Scribner publishers to print ringer-t’s and trucker hats with “Rapture Ready Radosh is my homeboy” on them.
JMS
Categories: Arts and Culture, Blog, Book Reviews, Political/Social issues