One of my favorite books about religion, this is a very readable study of evangelical faith from an anthropologist’s point of view. I came across it after a great Fresh Air interview with the author and then it was also on the New York Times 100 most notable books of 2012. The world Luhrmann describes is somewhat magical and medieval in the best sense, a world where God can talk to you and miracles still happen. And you are always loved. Honestly, it sounds great. Just reading about someone’s firm belief in something unprovable is beautiful too, like the following passage, which I find so moving and powerful. The person speaking is Sally, an old Jesus People hippie who is meeting Lonnie Frisbee, a charismatic preacher for the first time.

“He looked me sort of right in the eye, and he said, “Would you like to be whole?” And I said, “Whole, oh, that sounds really good.” Love, whole, gift within you, you know? I said, “All that sounds really, really good.” He said, “Can I pray for you?” By this point, I’ve lost everybody in the room. I have now become so clued in to this man and what’s going on between us, and feeling a little excited, but a little bit awkward. And it was like— I just lost awareness. And now all of a sudden, all of these hands are on me, I don’t know where they came from. But they’re not just his hands, but they’re a bunch of hands. And then I hear people singing and talking in tongues. And that’s when I go, Oh my God, this is spooky. And I clam up. It was too much. But then I sort of stood up and turned around, and that’s when I saw the world as it is, the world as I now know it, and the world as it might be, should be, could be.”

Descriptions about the physical presence of God also abound – reminding me of what I loved about the middle ages and mystics back in my undergrad history classes, where God (or Jesus or Mary) is this very physical presence doing very real things to you and around you.

“I was praying this weekend for someone who has really closed up a part of her heart,” she told me once. “She’s just been really hurt. The way I saw it, her heart was doubled over, with a big fold, like she had pressed it shut. And I saw God reach his hand up and his fingers just fit perfectly into that crease, into the dark recesses of her heart.”

This belief and connection (or longing for such belief and connection) is what I’m writing about in some of my short stories.

I’m also intrigued about the author’s earlier book, Persuasions of Witch Craft:  Ritual Magic in Modern Day England, where Luhrmann studies witches / magicians in 20th century England.

Tags:
• favorite books,
• god,
• religion