Kevin Roose wasn't used to rules like these. As a sophomore at Brown University, he spent his days drinking fair-trade
coffee, singing in an a cappella group, and fitting right in with Brown's free-spirited, ultra-liberal student
body. But when Roose leaves his Ivy League confines to spend a semester at Liberty University, a conservative Baptist
school in Lynchburg, Virginia, obedience is no longer optional.
Liberty is the late Reverend Jerry Falwell's "Bible Boot Camp" for young evangelicals, his training ground
for the next generation of America's Religious Right. Liberty's ten thousand undergraduates take courses like Evangelism
101, hear from guest speakers like Sean Hannity and Karl Rove, and follow a forty-six-page code of conduct that
regulates every aspect of their social lives. Hoping to connect with his evangelical peers, Roose decides to enroll
at Liberty as a new transfer student, leaping across the God Divide and chronicling his adventures in this daring
report from the front lines of America's culture war.
His journey takes him from an evangelical hip-hop concert to choir practice at Falwell's legendary Thomas Road
Baptist Church. He experiments with prayer, participates in a spring break mission trip to Daytona Beach (where
he learns to preach the gospel to partying coeds), and pays a visit to Every Man's Battle, an on-campus support
group for chronic masturbators. He meets pastors' kids, closet doubters, Christian rebels, and conducts what would
be the last print interview of Rev. Falwell's life.
Hilarious and heartwarming, respectful and thought-provoking, The Unlikely Disciple will inspire and entertain
believers and nonbelievers alike.
