I enjoyed The Unlikely Disciple so much I got in touch with Kevin Roose (the author) and asked if I could chat with him about the book (you can read more about the book HERE). So Wednesday night this week (the night before the book came out) I chatted with him and asked some questions that I had following me reading the book.
Thanks Kevin for taking the time to talk with me during your busy release week. This is Kevin’s first book.
TB (Tyler Braun, me): During the book you had a small thing going on with “Anna” (all the names were changed in the book). You never let it go anywhere due to your desire to write the book. Now that she knows about the book and you both don’t go to Liberty…do you have any desire to pursue anything with her in the future?
KR (Kevin Roose, author): Well we talked a week or so ago. She’s a lovely girl. She was surprised by my admission that I was writing a book, but I think she almost saw it coming. She was very savvy, and I opened up around her more than anyone else at Liberty. She definitely knew something was up. As for the future, I have no idea.
TB: Outside of Liberty, is she the kind of girl you would want to date?
KR: I remember thinking, “If I weren’t undercover right now, I’d be dating her.” But the guilt was too much for me to take. I couldn’t lead her on under false pretenses.
TB: From the book I got a sense that one of your biggest problems with conservative evangelicalism, at least at Liberty, was how closely tied it was to conservative politics. Can you speak to that a little?
KR: I knew going into Liberty that I’d be seeing a lot of conflation between right-wing politics and conservative Christianity, because that was very much of the Falwell way of doing things. And I think that was unfortunate, because it really did hold me back. I got to the point where I could entertain the thought of an attentive God, a savior who died for our sins, etc. – the cornerstones of Christian faith – but because Liberty bundles that stuff with conservative positions on abortion, gay marriage, and women’s rights, I could never fully open myself to it.
TB: Hypothetically, say you were a strong Christian believer and you thought the Bible spoke strongly about those things // Do you think it is good to take strong stances on those issues politically?
KR: Well, that’s the thing. I think it’s completely natural that a conservative Christian who believes the Bible condemns homosexuality would take an active political stance on the issue. You can’t ask a person to believe something halfway. But for me, the political issues were too forbidding.
TB: Do you have any desire to be “saved”? (Saved in the sense that it was taught to you at Liberty)
KR: There were some moments during my semester at Liberty when I would have answered “yes.” But again, I could never make the leap, simply because the way Christianity was presented to me there wasn’t always attractive. I could have “gotten saved,” but it wouldn’t have been intellectually honest of me. I’m a Christian, and I feel comfortable calling myself a Christian after having been at Liberty, but I’m not an evangelical.
TB: What is the one thing you would change about Liberty?
KR: I guess, ideally, I’d like to see a little more ideological diversity on campus. They’re making good progress — a College Democrats club has recently formed, for example — but it’s still a pretty homogeneous place, and I think that makes it susceptible to echo-chamber reinforcement of all the views.
TB: Did Liberty change you in any specific way?
KR: Of course. I think I realize the value of empathy now, of reaching out to people I don’t agree with in the hopes of understanding them better. I think that’s a value we can all apply to our lives.
So to you blog readers, anything stick out to you here?
