‘The Unlikely Disciple: A Sinner’s Semester at America’s Holiest University’ is a famous book written by Kevin Roose. The book is very informative and author presents a realistic portrayal about what he learnt in America’s holiest university. This paper intends to discuss the book and also delves deep into the book to find out how the author manages his identity in the college.
Kevin was born in an ultra liberal and secular family where religion used to matter least. His parents are broad minded and modern. Further he was educated at an educational institute that was liberal and progressive. Kevin had never faced radicalism and was curious about the radicalism of Christianity. Kevin Roose, an ultra liberal student went undercover to spend a semester in Liberty University that is considered to be an ultra conservative Christian educational institute. The university was established by Jerry Falwell who is an ultra conservative preacher of Christianity.
Kevin was curious to know more about the polarizing character of American society and he wanted a practical account of conservative Christianity. He wanted to see personally in order to know what conservative Christians feel and how they actually are. In quest of his curiousness, Kevin got an admission in a course at Liberty University and presents his experiences in a realistic manner in his book. The author presents a nonfiction account of what he witnessed in the conservative Christian institute.
Kevin, though was born and raised in a liberal family and has never experienced the religion closely but when he went into the institute, he enjoyed his stay at the university. He mingled up with students, ate, danced and also joined them in prayers. Kevin does not find anything abnormal about these students though he wonders about the division created by the people on the issue of religion. Kevin says, “A liberal arts college run by Jerry Falwell? How about an etiquette workshop run by Courtney Love”.
Kevin Roose seems suggesting that all students of Liberty University are neither orthodox nor are they resolute supporters of what Mr. Falwell says or believes. However he indicates that most of the students of the liberty university believe in the rules, follow these rules and also believe in them because they are under impression that by following these rules they will attain the goals of their life. Kevin indicates that these rules are hard to follow for any student of Brown school either physically or ideologically.
Kevin suggests that students of liberty had not lost their identity as jerry would have wanted. Students of liberty were like other youngsters though there was a wall between them and students of Brown who frequently used to organize nude parties. Kevin suggests that students of liberty were also in favor of enjoying their life but they did not get much opportunity though they believed in some basic principles that were influenced by Christianity. Author suggests that Jerrymania had not affected liberty students to the extent of madness.
Kevin Roose describes how students of liberty were different from his previous schoolmates. He also wonders how they sustained without drinking, without adult movies and followed cultural values. These students easily used to follow the cultural values that were even not known to his schoolmates of Brown. Kevin suggests how these students believed and followed principles of Christianity. He assumes something was there which used to strengthen their religious beliefs.
While describing his stay, he did not reveal his identity in order to witness a natural behavior of the students and he was very right in his strategy. He witnessed some students with Hippocratic behavior in the liberty university. Some of them confessed to Kevin that they used to have sex as well as drink. Nothing in this was new for Kevin as a previous student of Brown, but as an author these were very important revelations and he mentioned everything in his book in order to make his book more realistic.
Since Kevin was undercover in the ultra conservative Christian university, he had to take care of a lot of things. He did never disclose his identity and remained undercover. He lied about certain thing to the students in order to make his identity hidden. Kevin as a journalist and student was very keen to know about the students of Christianity and he acted in all way to extract information from other students. Kevin acted in the way that nobody doubted his behavior.
Kevin took other students in his confidence and they started talking with him in a frank manner. Some of them shared their secrets with Kevin and it was good for Kevin since this was what he wanted. The information that Kevin get from some of students were very surprising for him. Kevin had entered and took admission with a mission and successfully achieved his goals at liberty. Kevin knew things, got information and the analyzed every information in order to get a finding and shared the same with readers.
One realistic example of his findings at the liberty university during his stay, He found out something interesting and portrays the same in these words,
“So far, I’ve gleaned a few dominant themes from my classes – a few things Liberty really, really wants us to know:
- Evolution didn’t happen.
- Abortion is murder.
- Absolute truth exists. At Liberty, unlike many secular schools, professors teach with the view that there is one right answer to every question, that those right answers are found plainly in the Bible, and that their job is to transfer those right answers from their lecture notes to our minds” (Roose 87).
Kevin found some students who were forced to study at liberty and he also met students who were not as firm believers of Christianity as they were supposed to be being students of Liberty University. It was a very amazing experience for Kevin and he portrayed everything in his book in a very realistic as well as an interesting way. Kevin at some places mentions things that are very funny. Kevin also describes several rites that took place at liberty as very impractical, strange and interesting.
Kevin had described everything in practical manner but he has been criticized by many for his undercover stay at Liberty University. Though he was undercover there but it was rumored and his identity was very much in doubt in the Christian institute. His conduct was in question by some students of liberty and he was perhaps noticed by some of the liberty university students. His language as well as his conduct was different from students of Liberty University and in order to remain undercover, Kevin groomed himself and learnt a lot to be like his classmates.
Kevin made a new Facebook profile especially dedicated for his new identity. He updated his status as “Kevin is a new man”. Kevin did everything that helped him in posing that he is not a journalist and he is a normal student like others. Kevin, while his stay at liberty remained very alert and he tried his best to hide is identity. Kevin never show interest in sharing much about him, instead he always tried to know about others. Kevin was very focused in his mission and he posed and pretended to be like other students of Liberty University. He kept him aloof from any disputes ad he also made a certain distance with groups of students (Kevin Roose).
Some say it was purely unethical to stay at an educational institute where he was not a real student and took admission merely because he wanted to know the reality about the institute. Some say that his portrayal of incidents are not genuine ad are fabricated. His critics say that Kevin manipulated everything as he is not a believer of Christianity and in order to defame Christianity he portrayed things in a certain direction. Kevin is also criticized for his portrayals of some rites and working system of the institute.
After having observed the succinct view of above mentioned book, ‘The Unlikely Disciple: A Sinner’s Semester at America’s Holiest University’, it can be concluded that Kevin Roose has written this book in a realistic manner that gives us very useful information about the conservative aspect of Christianity. The author describes everything in a very detailed manner and presents an unbiased account of everything that he witnessed in Liberty University. Kevin did not manipulate anything and presented everything in its natural way.
Works Cited
"Kevin Roose." kevinroose. 5 December 2013 <http://www.kevinroose.com/tud/>.
Roose, Kevin. The Unlikely Disciple: A Sinner's Semester at America's Holiest University. New York: Hachette UK, 2009.
