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| A Field Guide to Evangelicals and Their Habitat | 
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Avg. Customer Rating:  (based on 17 reviews)
Sales Rank: 47191
Category: Book
Author: Joel Kilpatrick
Publisher: HarperOne
Studio: HarperOne
Manufacturer: HarperOne
Label: HarperOne
Format: Illustrated
Languages: English (Original Language), English (Unknown), English (Published)
Media: Paperback
Edition: illustrated edition
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 176
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.5
Dimensions (in): 9 x 7.3 x 0.6
ISBN: 0060836962
Dewey Decimal Number: 818.607
EAN: 9780060836962
ASIN: 0060836962
Publication Date: March 1, 2006
Release Date: March 14, 2006
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Product Description
They're Going to Heaven . . . and They Know It At last, a complete, unsparing guide to evangelical Christians. This hilarious and highly useful manual, written by an insider, illuminates this rapidly growing and unique segment of America and offers a thoroughly entertaining, no-holds-barred, laugh-out-loud survey of evangelical culture. See inside for the scoop on: - What Evangelicals Believe -- Plus a Master List of Who Is Going to Hell
- How to Party Like an Evangelical -- Ambrosia, Li'l Smokies, and Potluck Fever
- The Diversity of Evangelical Politics -- From Right-Wing to Wacko
- Evangelical Mating Habits -- The Shocking Truth
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| Customer Reviews: Read 12 more reviews...
 Hilarious Book May 15, 2008
This book is painfully true but very, very funny. If you have a good sense of humor, you'll enjoy reading this book.
Eye-opening May 18, 2007
This book was one of the funniest reads that I've had in a long time. It really made me outright laugh aloud. Considering the fact that I carted it to several public places as I read it, this was not always a good thing.
I've been a fan of the Lark News webazine for quite some time, and I've seen the book advertised, so it was only natural that I bought this book. Underneath it all, though, I could not shake the way that it made me feel about some of the people of my faith. I know there are individuals out there who are so excited about being "born again" because of whatever past they've had to deal with, but that doesn't excuse the way that tracts are handed out as tips at restaurants, or stuffed into lockers at schools as though that absolves one from having to actually witness to the "unwashed heathen masses".
At its heart, this book is a way for all of us to remember that no one has the right answer, no matter how much we're convinced that we do, and that God is not something that you can stick into a box that conforms to our ideals of what He should be.
It's also extremely funny. Especially the part about Thomas Kincaid, Painter Of _________ you fill in the blank.
Funny, funny, funny May 13, 2007
I am a Christian, but I also have a sense of humor (can you say oxymoron?); therefore, I can appreciate what the author is doing in this little book. We all need to occasionally see ourselves as others see us and to be able to laugh at ourselves when the situation calls for it. And the situation often calls for it in this book. We all know people like these "evangelicals" (perhaps we ARE these people) and I kept saying to those around me (when I could stop laughing long enough), "You've got to read this; it's just like so-and-so!" I can see how the book might offend some people, but, hey, lighten up! At least we're being ridiculed by one of our own this time.
Parody or mockery? January 11, 2007
2 out of 3 found this review helpful
This book was funny in many places and accurate for the most part (at least according to my evangelical experience). Sometimes, though, it seemed to fall off the edge from comedic caricature to cynical critique. A number of years back there was a book called "Growing Up Born Again (GUBA)" that did a similar thing, but that book was more effective in pointing out the foibles of the evangelical movement without losing its affection for the topic.
Of course, an anthropological field guide would attempt to remain neutral in its description, so one wouldn't expect Kilpatrick's work to reflect any commitment one way or the other as GUBA did. However, in places the Field Guide lost its sense of genre parody and slipped into a tone that struck me as mockery. That is OK if that is what Kilpatrick wants to do, but it doesn't live up to the really brilliant idea of using an anthropological field guide as a means of parodying the Evangelical subculture of Christianity. The fine line of parody vs. outright mockery is crossed at times and that left me feeling that the fiction of the field guide was not as consistently sustained as it should have been to make the impact of the book more effective.
Great Time for a Siting; Flock's a Bit Ruffled Since Nov. 7 (and the Ted Haggard thing) November 11, 2006
4 out of 7 found this review helpful
Yup, stunned and a little confused, that's what we are these days, although Joel Kilpatrick, one of my favorite satirists, did not have the benefit of either of those newsbites when putting together his Guide. Joel is a Christian most famous for his Lark News web page (google it) which also is a not-too-searing satire of the evangelical life. I first discovered Mr. Kilpatrick, in fact, when Christianity Today announced he was getting flack for publishing an article therein in which Bob the Tomato (of VeggieTales fame) claimed he was bigger than God (evangelicals apparently don't have memories going back 38 years, and although they do listen to Beatles music...I have hard evidence of this....they think of them as "soft rock oldies" fellows who never were controversial. And they don't listen to the words. Imagine if they knew the words to "Imagine!")
But enough about the talented author. A Field Guide to Evangelicals will be helpful to you if you know someone who has just converted and is trying to get you to convert, if you have just joined a church and they seem to use language you are not used to, such as "laying on of hands", "the rapture", "I could tell God was telling me not to go to Michigan because I was accepted at Michigan State", etc. It will be helpful if you are in a situation where you must encounter evangelicals regularly (for example, if you are a waitress who notices that on Sunday, hordes of people come into your restaurant well dressed, eat lots of food, keep you running for hours, and don't leave a tip, but instead leave a little booklet titled, "Do You Know Where You're Going If You Die Tonight?") and want to understand them better....or at least want to keep from going to federal prison by gunning them all down next Sunday. And it will be the funniest thing you've read in a long while if you are an evangelical who doesn't take him or herself too seriously.
Some of the contents: Who and who's not going to heaven (after all, we evangelicals know for sure. Hint: the ACLU's fate doesn't look good); Evangelical Sex (it's racier than you might think....in fact, evangelicals are probably having more fun than you're having!); the real skinny on the rapture.
Why not five stars? Four signifies there is room to grow: now that "Lark" has done well for several years and this book is out, perhaps Joel can tackle one subject and come out with a satirical treatise or novel on a sacred Christian cow (forgive the mixed metaphor) in the tradition of Erasmus. Or as Paul would say, Joel, "Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the measure of faith God has given you."
(Romans 12:3)
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