Roadside Religion: In Search of the Sacred, the Strange, and the Substance of Faith - Hardcover

Beal, Timothy

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0807010626 ISBN 13: 9780807010624

Publisher: Beacon Press, 2005

Synopsis

In the summer of 2002, Timothy K. Beal loaded his family into a twenty-nine-foot-long motor home and hit the rural highways of America in search of roadside religious attractions—sites like the World’s Largest Ten Commandments, Golgotha Fun Park, and Precious Moments Chapel. Why, he wanted to know, would someone use miniature golf to tell the story of the Creation? Or build a life-size replica of Noah’s ark in Maryland?

As a scholar, Beal hoped to come to understand the meaning of these places as expressions of religious imagination and experience. But as someone who had grown up in an evangelical Christian church in which he no longer rested comfortably, Beal found himself driven by a desire to venture beyond the borders of his cynicism to encounter faith in all its awesome absurdity. And so he found himself deep in conversation with people like Bill Rice, whose Cross Garden features thousands of makeshift crosses and old air conditioners bearing the message NO ICE WATER IN HELL! FIRE HOT!

Part travel narrative, part religious study, and part search for the divine madness that is faith, Roadside Religion takes the reader on a tour of the strange and often wondrous ways people have tried to give outward form to their inner religious experiences. Religion is most interesting—and most revealing—Beal shows us, where it’s least expected.

About this title

Review:

"Full of gentle humor and clever observations...Whether he's tackling the popularity of biblical mini-golf courses or Precious Moments figurines, Beal...uncovers serious questions about religion and its sometimes highly singular practitioners."

Beal quietly goes beneath the surface to show you that what you see is not always what you get . . . [Answers] questions you might never have thought of asking, even as it keeps the pages turning. --Caroline Leavitt, Boston Sunday Globe

"A definitively open-minded professor of religion . . . In his introduction, Beal notes that his daughter, Sophie, has said that what he likes to do 'is make creepy things interesting.' Smart girl." --Sarah Ferrell, New York Times Book Review

"Full of gentle humor and clever observations . . . Whether he's tackling the popularity of biblical mini-golf courses or Precious Moments figurines, Beal . . . uncovers serious questions about religion and its sometimes highly singular practitioners." --Publishers Weekly, starred review

"[An] informative meditation on American religion." --Ray Waddle, Tennessean

"If you're in the mood for a contemporary American-style religious pilgrimage, this book can help you have a good time reflecting while you journey." --Judith Klamm, Presbyterians Today

"An enjoyable read that would have succeeded as a quirky guide to Christian-themed tourist traps. It goes further in showing that people can find their faith in strange ways-even in a twisted landscape of wooden crosses, rusty appliances and fire-and-brimstone graffiti declaring, 'Hell. Hell. Hot. Hot.'" --Cleveland Magazine

"Roadside Religion is a generous and intelligent guide to some of the most unusual expressions of faith that grace the American Landscape." --Body and Soul

"The book is full of good humor, and Beal doesn't patronize the creators of these attractions but accords them respect and dignity . . . Entertaining, quirky, and surprisingly thoughtful." --Booklist

"With humor and sensitivity, [Beal] analyzes the substance of American faith as he explores what these places mean to the people who made them and to the people who visit them." --Religion News Service

Synopsis:

In the summer of 2002, Timothy Beal loaded his family into a twenty-nine-foot-long motor home and hit the rural highways of America in search of roadside religious attractions. Part travel narrative, part religious study, and part search for the divine madness that is faith, Roadside Religion takes the reader on a tour of the strange and often wondrous ways people have tried to give outward form to their inner religious experiences.

About this edition

• Publisher: Beacon Press
• Publication date: 2005
• ISBN 10: 0807010626
• ISBN 13: 9780807010624
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 224