Customer Reviews

God's Choice: The Total World of a Fundamentalist Christian School

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This is the best example of qualitative research that I have ever read. In my doctoral program, this book persuaded me that qualitative research is a viable method of scholarly inquiry. Before reading Peshkin, I never really viewed qualitative studies as being useful.

Peshkin is even-handed in his treatment of the subjects, and presents his findings in a manner which shows objectivity and wthout predisposed guile.

Attention anyone teaching qualitative research methods courses: Rquire this book!

God's Choice provides a rather in-depth and detailed look at the pseudonymous Bethany Bible Academy (BBA) as part of an 18 month ethnographic study. Peshkin and his research assistants collected a considerable amount of data and provided a very detailed account of a fundamentalist Christian school. What makes this intriguing is that Peshkin, admittedly a Jew looking into a school that takes a very literal interpretation of the Bible (both the Old and New Testaments), presented a surprisingly objective view of the inner workings of the institution. Administrators, teachers, and students were all treated with respect (even when the author may not have agreed with their views), and a very full picture of BBA was provided. The manner in which BBA dominated the individual lives of those touched by its influence was very clear and even though come of its practices might be very disturbing to some (especially concerning the element of control), readers are left feeling as if they understood the total milieu of BBA.

Peshkin did an exemplary job in providing an account of BBA that exudes veracity throughout and, for those embarking upon a study of qualitative research methods, also provides an excellent model for them to follow. The problem is, particularly for potential researchers, is that there is a lot of garbage out there which continues to be published that gives qualitative research an arguably bad name. If qualitative research, in general, were as exemplary as God's Choice, qualitative methods might be held in higher esteem.

I very much enjoyed reading this book. The author treats his subject matter objectively and gives both sides of the issue. In doing so, he creates a vivid portrait of Christian fundamentalism and education in the late 20th century

Peshkin, an education professor, did an okay job of reporting frontstage behavior at a certain independent religious school. He approach several schools with his idea to sit-in on classes before he found a gatekeeper willing to accomodate him. The school's mission was to proseltyze the Jewish researcher/observer right along with the kids. Peshkin was never privy to any backstage behavior, which accounts for such statements as "Not for a moment did I believe that Pastor Muller was presenting a case tailor-made for the benefit of his long-term visitor" (p 10) and "he spoke always with one voice, as did the educators his school employed" (p 11). In short, this is not the way to do educational anthropology if your goal is to suss out what is really happening. On the other hand, Peshkin's method does not step on anyone's toes and makes future research easier to pitch to gatekeepers.

That said, the ethnographic observations concerning students prove valuable. Many of the students were not in on a frontstage production for the benefit of Peshkin, which is evidenced by Chapter 9 - 'In Satan's Clutches: Bethany's Scorners'. Here the students let on that there is more going on at Bethany than is meeting Peshkin's eyes: "...mixed marriages. The teacher [who soon left Bethany's employment], he asked us what we thought of them"; "They criticize a lot here"; " a type of favoritism which really shows out in sports"; and "Parents feel 'put down'".

Peshkin does not give us a chapter on parent scorners or teacher scorners. Instead, he tells us later in the chapter 'Costs and Benefits' that "I could see a marvelous order, an enveloping sense of peace, an abundance of the meaning and sense of community that so often accompany a collective religious experience . . . Bethany is an extraordinary haven for those who believe "(p 283).

But what was Bethany for the teachers who left? for the parents who felt put down? for those who dared not complain publicly or even privately to the Jewish researcher in the Christian fundamentalist school? Had Peshkin landed a job as a teacher there, and kept his Judaism private, he would have been privy to some very interesting backstage behavior on the part of staff and parents. Without that backstage behavior, his study only sheds light on the students there and some discontents amongst them.

I've just read this book a couple of months ago. Peshkin's research, analysis, and conclusions from his study of Christian Fundamentalism presaged what we are seeing today in this country. The Religious Right has organized around ultra-orthodox views that require complete submission not only to one text (the Bible) but to one minister's or preacher's interpretation of that text. This book should be required reading for non-religious politicians.