KEVIN ROOSE is a 21-year-old writer and college student. He was born in Oberlin, Ohio, a liberal college town plopped down improbably in the middle of the Lake Erie Rust Belt. Before becoming an author, he held down various part-time jobs, including working as a tennis camp counselor, a juice bar barista, and a biblical slave (long story).
During his sophomore year at Brown University, he met a group of students from Liberty University, the late Reverend Jerry Falwell’s “Bible Boot Camp” for young evangelicals. Inspired by that meeting, he decided to leave Brown and spend a semester “abroad” at Liberty, learning about his conservative Christian peers by living among them. He chronicled his experiences in THE UNLIKELY DISCIPLE: A Sinner’s Semester at America's Holiest University, which is being published in March 2009 by Grand Central Publishing.
Since returning to Brown, Roose has continued writing for national publications like Esquire, SPIN, and mental_floss, on topics as wide-ranging as barbershop quartets, 19th-century magicians, and cell-phone ringtones. He is a staff writer for the College Hill Independent, a regular columnist for the Brown Daily Herald, and a Rose Writing Fellow. In 2008, he was given a Royce Fellowship for his journalism, and barring an act of God, he will graduate from Brown in 2009 with an English degree. He lives in a dorm room in Providence, Rhode Island.
ADVANCE PRAISE FOR THE UNLIKELY DISCIPLE:
"This is a brilliant book. Absolutely brilliant. Roose's wisdom, humanity, and love kept me going. And I laughed. A lot."
-- Rob Bell
founding pastor of Mars Hill Bible Church and author of Velvet Elvis and Sex God
"This is a remarkable book. It's fascinating, funny, and nuanced - just what the culture wars need. Hallelujah for Kevin Roose."
-- A.J. Jacobs
Author of The Year of Living Biblically
"What happens when a Brown undergrad goes undercover at Liberty University? If he's a writer as insightful and open-minded as Kevin Roose, he ends up learning as much about himself as he does about the evangelical Christians he lives with. The Unlikely Disciple provides a funny, compassionate, and revealing look at Jerry Falwell's 'Bible Boot Camp,' and the surprisingly diverse band of true believers who make it their home."
-- Tom Perrotta
Author of Little Children
and The Abstinence Teacher
"Kevin Roose is a delightful writer, and this is a humane book. Read it and I predict you'll have less paranoia, more exposure to 'the other,' and a larger dose of Roose's generous and hopeful faith."
-- Brian McLaren
Christian activist and author of A New Kind of Christian, A Generous Orthodoxy,
and Everything Must Change
"Kevin Roose has produced a textured, intelligent, even sympathetic, account of his semester at Liberty University. He eschews caricature and the cheap shot in favor of keen observation and trenchant analysis. The Unlikely Disciple is a book of uncommon wisdom and insight. I recommend it with enthusiasm."
-- The Rev. Dr. Randall Balmer
Professor of American Religious History at Barnard College and Author of Mine Eyes Have Seen the Glory: A Journey into the Evangelical Subculture in America
"Keenly observed, funny, and compassionate. Kevin Roose parachutes us into a seldom-glimpsed and little understood pocket of America, then guides us through a story of religion and country more resonant than any of us could have imagined."
-- Robert Kurson
author of Shadow Divers
and Crashing Through
