Customer Reviews

Spirit and Flesh: Life in a Fundamentalist Baptist Church

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

In 1983 sociologist James Ault, a "sixties radical who had embraced...new-left enthusiasms of the day," took on a post-grad research project: getting to know the ins and outs of an independent fundamentalist Baptist church in Massachusetts. Ault's purpose: "to better understand popular support for this new-style conservatism marching proudly behind the banner of 'family values.'" His interest: "it wasn't [the pastor's] religion that had brought me to follow him on his round of duties....It was his politics." His method: anthropologically studying the "community enterprise" of this one church and its attendant school.

After a year, Ault proposed extending his involvement and filming a documentary about the church --- titled "Born Again," airing on PBS in 1987. The book project came more than a decade later, which means that some of the political commentary seems dated. And yet most of the book is a keen and still-relevant look at the church's faith, social mores, and informal systems.

Working from tapes and notes, Ault walks us chronologically through his several years as a welcomed but suspect outsider, at church services, home Bible studies, men's prayer breakfasts, Sunday dinners. He puts himself into the story; you see his measured reaction to parishioners; there's the day he reads his name on someone's refrigerator --- a prayer request for his salvation. And their reaction to him --- his quiet presence (listening) and carefully phrased questions (so as not to make people defensive). After a year, the pastor's wife tells him, "You know, I never know where you stand on things....But somehow I think you understand." Though an atheist, Ault had grown up in a liberal Methodist parsonage, and this surely gives him a head start in understanding some of the in-talk of sermons and extended conversations he chooses to print --- with dead-on authenticity. In time, mutual misgiving melts.

Ault's narrative, as engaging and climactic as a novel, is interspersed with cultural, and some theological, analyses of the church, drawing on a larger body of research, evidenced by 30 pages of notes and a 10-page bibliography. A chapter such as "Fundamentalism and Tradition" is not light entertainment.

Ault spends considerable time on family and gender issues, as does the church itself. "The day-to-day business of church life had much to do with transforming and ordering family relationships, especially marriage." Marriages have been solidified, largely because errant husbands had come home from local bars and taken responsibility for their families. But church and family patriarchy is more complicated than Ault had suspected. "The man's the head," the pastor's wife tells him, but "the woman's the neck that turns the head." This informal scheme is, as Ault says, "what everybody sees" and "what everybody knows" --- despite the official line.

There's an insightful tangential plot (and analysis) of social networks, gossip, and tussles for community power; factions leave the church, pastor and people feel betrayed, and ultimately new leadership takes over. This church, like every since the first, is made up of people who struggle, as the book title suggests, "between the spirit and the flesh."

Both the last chapter and the epilogue are postscripts to Ault's active involvement in the church, and in some ways they are the most interesting. Something took. Or, in gospel parlance, the seed bore fruit, the prodigal came home --- not that Ault became a fundamentalist or even a Baptist, but he has claimed faith and worships with a church community. And, even as the very publication of this book suggests, he has a vision for breaking down the negative, even demonizing, stereotypes that liberals and conservatives --- both in and outside of the church --- have of each other.

At the end of the book he proposes inviting "a group of fundamentalists and right-to-lifers together with a group of feminists and progressives" on a three-day boat ride. He admits it would be a risky venture (someone quipped, "Will there be enough life jackets?"), but at least he dares to dream. At least we could dare to suggest that people on both sides read Ault's book with an open mind.

--- Reviewed by Evelyn Bence

Those of you reading this book looking for insight into the Born Again movement and why its membership is so successfully directing much of the current political and social discourse in this country with be sorely disappointed. The material in this book is 15 to 20 years old and the author spends little time relating the political aspects of the Born Again movement, but instead covers the daily life of a single small community during the mid to late 80's. This book relates the authors experience of observing a Christian Born again community, in the course of preparing for shooting a documentary. The book begins in 1984 as he first meets with the Minister of a church that had only been in existence for a few years. It is not clear just how long the author spent with them as for some strange reason most of the material is not dated and when he does supply a date for a section he only provides a month and day, but no year. However the author does mention that he spent two years away from the church while editing the film and then briefly touched based with them again in the 1988, so at best he spent two years with them.

The book is divided into four sections. The first section covers several of the core members backgrounds and how they came to Born Again. The second section deals with the various ministries of the church and how the church is bound up in the daily lives of the members. The third section covers the shooting of the documentary and the fourth section covers events that occurred within the community just after the film's completion. There is also a brief epilogue in which he talks about how his experiences effected his own faith and brief where are they now section for some of the principle subjects.

The author is a son of a Methodist Minister of what he refers to as "Mainline" or another words liberal church. At the onset of his research the author considered himself a standard liberal professor divorced from his religious upbringing, perplexed by the beliefs of the Born Again. In understanding his subjects, he tries to be as nonjudgmental as possible and ends up creating a very sympathetic portrait of their values and provides a reasonable explanation for why people are attracted to this faith. By the end of the book I felt like I had a much greater understanding for where these people are coming from. However I was sorely disappointed that there was not any current information on the Born Again community he visited, nor was there any attempt to show the political aspects of this movement. In one throw away sentence he mentions his discomfort in accompanying some of the church members to a demonstration in an abortion clinic but he never pursues this topic. In fact, if you missed that sentence you would never know that anyone in this church is involved in the movement to make abortion illegal. Similarly he mentions that the Minister of the church ran for the State house on a Christian Fundamentalist platform, but he does not cover this at all. Instead he chooses to focus on the day to day lives and struggles that are easier for us to relate too, accusing his fellow academics of being too closed minded to appreciate a different lifestyle. It is as if the author is studying the quaint customs of some isolated group, far removed from the everyday concerns of the presumed liberal readership. Lost amidst this sympathetic portrait is the reality that these people are seeking to dramatically change the laws of the US in ways that if they succeed with have very real effects on those who do not share their beliefs. You can almost here the author saying "Why can't we all just get along?" and he even goes so far as to suggest how the liberals and Born Again should be able to find common ground, seeming to forget the current level of venom that passes for political discourse in the US today. In the end, it is a fairly insightful if incomplete portrait of a young Born Again community.

What a gracious treatment of potentially difficult material! My one question is whether or not he explores in detail and is fully candid in evaluating what happens when fundamentalists engage their culture. Armstrong's "The Battle for God" and other similar studies of fundamentalism such as Martin Marty's multi-volume "The Fundamentalism Project" suggests a real issue with intolerance. Ault makes the comment that liberals are actually guilty of being as intolerant of fundamentalists as they claim the fundamentalists themselves are. But if we are to take the political, social and cultural statements of the fundamentalists like those Ault engages with at face value, do we not have to address slightly more candidly the anger and in too-many situations the hate that fundamentalists advocate? Would such candor also have to deal with the reality that few fundamentalisms, regardless of whether they are Christian, Islamic or Hindu, allow for any form of democratic let alone religious pluralism. The comment Augustine is credited as having contributed to the lexicon of human's tenuous grasp of grace that "on the essentials unity, on the non-essentials liberty, and in all things charity" seems to come apart when you are engaging a culture where everything is an essential - an intrinsic part of fundamentalism. I appreciated the sociological perspective Ault brought and I was deeply and profoundly personally touched by his grace, but I think some greater danger exists within this group than his book presents. In an age where predominant sociologists, political theorists, theologians, social scientists and philosophers fear the clash of religious fundamentalists, does Ault's analysis go far enough in its analysis? I admire his grace and hold out hope that his attitude will be embraced

I almost gave up on this book partway through the second chapter. The author seemed to be more focused on promoting his documentary than telling a the story of a fundamentalist church. I also thought he was failing to distinguish between fundamentalists and evangelicals, overgeneralizing. After letting a few days pass, I picked up where I left off, and I'm glad I did. You will have to read all the way through to the end to see how it all comes together and what impact his experience with fundamentlists had on the author. It was especially satisfying to see the clear-headed explanations of why fundamentalists think and behave as they do. Without becoming an apologist, he succeeds in bridging the gap.

I read the book, did not see the documentary. James Ault studies fundamentalist and then goes beyond the documentary to watch these people for about 20 years. His ability to stay neutral as an observer is great. He admits being attracted to their fellowship and missing the connections that it fulfills. His ability as a story teller to draw in his audience and concern them with the ongoing true life story is grand. His writing connects you with the subjects whether you agree with them or not. His fairness is preserved while being friends to all involved.

The last chapter, "But what about you" should be read at the end of the rest of the book. Yeah, what about him?

The epilogue, wraps up the lives of so many people you have met. Great complete package. Interesting story telling.

I teach on evangelicalism (fundamentalism being related, though different) at university and find this to be one of the single best "glimpse from inside" of born-again Christianity that I have ever seen. And yet, he steps back and provides excellent insights as well. Both my born-again Christian and non-religious students love the book. It is an easy read from someone with a real eye for detail and a way of conjuring up the touch and feel of evangelical life: how does Bible study work? Why do women agree to submit to their husbands? How does this make husbands more committed to their marriage? Why do these folks preach love, yet support the death penalty and pro-militarism. More than anything, Ault gets "Family Values" - what it is, why it appeals and its beauty and shadows. The glowing reviews are from the top scholars in the field - Harvey Cox, Joel Carpenter, etc.

The documentary is fine but honestly, just read the book. You will be glad you did.

Actually, I have not gotten the book as yet (I choose 3 stars because of that); however, I am familiar with the author's work, having seen the 1987 PBS documentary "Born Again" when it first came out. Now, my father was an independent Baptist pastor in Colorado, though my beliefs and practices are not exactly the same as his, nonetheless I respect thoroughly what I was taught as a child, since my parents' sincerity and genuineness was very obvious.

Having seen only unbalanced treatments of "fundamentalists" by outsiders before this, I was expecting an attack piece. I was pleasantly surprised to see Fundamentalism portrayed in an accurate fashion -- neither sugar-coated, nor unfairly criticized. Ault's film portrays these believers exactly as they are -- working class people, some deeply flawed, but most sincerely trying to live their lives in a manner consistend with their religious beliefs. It was apparent that Ault bent over backwards to try to understand a culture totally alien to his own. The documentary ends on a somewhat sad note, as the pastor becomes disallusioned and leaves his church and the pastorate.

Now, we find that Ault has revisited this work, and that, as a result of the two years he spent with these simple folk, he has himself become spiritually awakened. Though not a "fundamentalist," he has been transformed from a liberal secularist to a believer.

I look forward to ordering the book and getting the rest of the story, since everyone's path to belief is slightly different.