Tanya Levin grew up in the church that became Hillsong is Australia's most ambitious, entrepreneurial and influential religious corporation. PEOPLE IN GLASS HOUSES tells how a small Assemblies of God church in a suburban school hall became a multi-million dollar tax free enterprise, a cult and a powerful force in Australia today. Opening up the world of Christian fundamentalism, this is a powerful, personal and at times very funny exploration of an all singing, all swaying mega church. Shortlisted, 2007 Walkley Non-Fiction Book Award
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Review
The Hills Christian Life Centre was founded in 1983 by an ambitious young pastor, Brian Houston. His father, Frank Houston, had played a key role in the late 1970s establishing a new Christian denomination in Australia - the Assemblies of God, an offshoot of the Pentecostal Church in the US. Tanya Levin delves into this early history. From the beginning, she explains, the AoG was a fundamentalist sect espousing biblical literalism and a strict patriarchal code of sexual morality; its members frequently practised exorcism and spoke in tongues. In the early days there was also an emphasis on spiritual authenticity. A strong influence was the Haight-Ashbury Jesus People Movement in San Francisco, which eschewed the many trappings and hypocrisies of formal religion. Tanya Levin was the sort of teenager that fundamentalist parents longed for. She was well-behaved, earnest and unworldly, immersed in the youth group at Hills Christian Life Centre. But psychologically Levin suffered a great deal and soon after she finished school her life mutated into a Christian horror movie. What Levin means is that the inner-city life she began to lead - as a uni student, social worker and single mother - would have been regarded with horror by many of the sheltered Christians she left behind. Levin admits she did it tough but through hardship she learnt about reality. When years later she came home to the church of her girlhood, she was able to see it for the travesty it had become. [continues...] --Sydney Morning Herald
About the Author
Tanya Levin is no longer welcome at Hillsong. She lives in Sydney.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Very true book,
By
This review is from: People in Glass Houses: An insider's story of a life in and out of Hillsong (Paperback)
This is a bloody awesome book, very similar to my experiences although that was in a different church, but pentecostal too. It just goes to show that power corrupts, and no matter how genuine the Hillsong leaders were at the start, when all the power is put on a few people at the top, it so easily goes bad. It also shows that when you have a church based on poor theology, the twisted guilt-making legalism somehow then becomes the norm and it can be hard to break out of when you've been in it for so long (I can identify with that).
My only problem was how Tanya Levin herself found it too much stay a Christian. Sad for me, but completely understandable. I think any true Christian would admit going in and out of faith with doubt, but if only she knew that Christianity can be different to what she experienced: that its about relationship with the Father, Son and Holy Spirit; that Jesus has done it all for us in the past tense; and that true Christianity is becoming more true to yourself - not faking everything as is apparent at churches like Hillsong. That the aim is not to save souls for Christ (quite pagan actually), but that it is to live in participation with what God is already doing, which means bringing about a new world of mercy and justice. But oh well - that's my rant. AMAZINGLY INSIGHTFUL BOOK!
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
HILARIOUS, YET SCARY LOOK AT FUNDY-DUNDY CHURCH,
By Pommy, Kiwi Celt (Christchurch, NZ) - See all my reviews
This review is from: People in Glass Houses: An insider's story of a life in and out of Hillsong (Paperback)
Having been "saved" and thank goodness, returned to sanity after becoming "unsaved", I can relate to the weird and wacky world of fundamentalist Christianity that Tanya Levin writes about here. She exposes the cult like fortress mentality of these churches, and the way they incorporate elements of the popular culture into their belief system-eg pop-psychology, insipid "Christian" rock that's about as exciting as shopping mall music, and Dr Phil/Oprah style self-help nonsense that only differs from the secular kind in that it has "Jesus" added onto it. We find out about the "love bombing" common to many cults, as well as the darker, creepier underbelly of sexual repression. Acerbic commentary about holy rollers, and the comparison made between the greed based ethic of churches like this and the more genuine, but less glamorous world of the Sallies is thought provoking and Levin's arguments are well put across. Whilst her book may come across as just another disgruntled ex-member slagging off her old mates, the recent exposure of psychologically harmful practices at Mercy Ministries proves that she's got a point. Hopefully, Levin can now listen to rock n roll and realise that some of the best "Christian" music is not found on the shelves of the bookstores with the glossy exterior
4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
wondering,
By Dawn Campbell "vivie" (Ipswich Queensland Australia) - See all my reviews
This review is from: People in Glass Houses: An insider's story of a life in and out of Hillsong (Paperback)
I have just finished Tanya Levin's book. I found it readable but confusing. I wondered what her motivation for writing this book was. Is it simply a memoir? (very narrow) Is it to dissuade or warn people about Hillsong? (probably preaching to the already skeptical) A swipe at Fundamentalism per se?(confirming of its existing image so nothing new there) A morality tale? It's not really clear. It was readable as I read it in one sitting.
This year I have read William Lobdell's more engaging but still disturbing move away from faith to atheism, Franky Shaeffer's latest book which annoyed me no end and now Tanya's. No doubt there will be a spate of such books. The atheists who have a movement of their own must love them. I think a person could write a similar book about any large organisation they were part of and find all the inconsistencies, lack of love and parade of people who fail to walk their talk. Unfortunately that's what people are like. The Gospel of grace is the two way thing. " Be kind to one another forgiving one another as Christ in God forgave you." I love Eugene Petersen's quip that the church is a mess but God is in the mess. I have been a Christian for 50 plus years and am fascinated with reasons for loss of faith in Jesus. I am sad for Tanya because I think she has thrown the baby out with the bathwater unnecessarily but I am glad she still has Jewel, her parents and other Christian friends who can still be Jesus to her.
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