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by Doug Jones
Product Group: Book
Publisher: Faith Library Publications (2002-08)
ISBN: 0892769653
EAN: 9780892769650
Paperback: 109 pages
SKU: 060408016
Condition: Used: Good
Comments: ...No noticeable Underlining or Highlighting...
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by Duane W. H. Arnold
Product Group: Book
Publisher: Zondervan (1991-04)
ISBN: 031031450X
EAN: 9780310314509
Dewy Decimal #: 242.8
Hardcover: 122 pages
Edition: 1
SKU: 051908028
Condition: Used: Good
Comments: ...No Underlining or Highlighting...minor wear on dustjacket
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Customer Reviews
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Excellent book for all Christian faiths
Rating  (5)
Date: 2007-01-05
The prayers and stories that go along with them are wonderful sources of inspiration to remain faithful in my own Christian walk of faith. The bookmark ribbon is a nice touch that makes finding my favorite prayer easier. Don't overlook this book if you are not a Catholic. Good Christians are good to read about.
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by Caroljean Willie
Product Group: Book
Publisher: Harcourt Religion Publishers (1999)
ISBN: 0159014581
Spiral-bound
SKU: 092808049
Condition: Used: Good
Comments: ...no markings or highlighting...minor wear on cover
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Product Group: Book
Publisher: Presbyterian and Reformed Publishing Co. (1971)
ISBN: 087552494X
EAN: 9780875524948
Paperback
SKU: 081808071
Condition: Used: Good
Comments: ...No noticeable Underlining or Highlighting...minor wear on cover
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by Donald E. Miller
Product Group: Book
Publisher: University of California Press (1999-10-25)
ISBN: 0520218116
EAN: 9780520218116
Dewy Decimal #: 284
Paperback: 262 pages
Edition: 1
SKU: 080508010
Condition: Used: Acceptable
Comments: HARDCOVER...Exlibrary copy with the usual markings and protective cover..a section of pages has fallen out but is included..could probably be fixed
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Editorial Reviews
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Product Description
During the past thirty years the American religious landscape has undergone a dramatic change. More and more churches meet in converted warehouses, many have ministers who've never attended a seminary, and congregations are singing songs whose melodies might be heard in bars or nightclubs. Donald E. Miller's provocative examination of these "new paradigm churches"--sometimes called megachurches or postdenominational churches shows how they are reinventing the way Christianity is experienced in the United States today.
Drawing on over five years of research and hundreds of interviews, Miller explores three of the movements that have created new paradigm churches: Calvary Chapel, Vineyard Christian Fellowship, and Hope Chapel. Together, these groups have over one thousand congregations and are growing rapidly, attracting large numbers of worshipers who have felt alienated from institutional religion. While attempting to reconnect with first-century Christianity, these churches meet in nonreligious structures and use the medium of contemporary twentieth-century America to spread their message through contemporary forms of worship, Christian rock music, and a variety of support and interest groups.
In the first book to examine postdenominational churches in depth, Miller argues that these churches are involved in a second Reformation, one that challenges the bureaucracy and rigidity of mainstream Christianity. The religion of the new millennium, says Miller, will connect people to the sacred by reinventing traditional worship and redefining the institutional forms associated with denominational Christian churches. Nothing less than a transformation of religion in the United States may be taking place, and Miller convincingly demonstrates how "postmodern traditionalists" are at the forefront of this change.
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Customer Reviews
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Excellent Introduction to New Directions in American Christianity
Rating (5)
Date: 2005-10-27
6 out of 6 customers found this reveiw helpful
An excellent introduction to some of the most interesting contemporary developments within American Christianity. For those with experience in traditional, mainline churches, what the book describes will seem strange but a growing number of new believers only know this type of church as what "church" is supposed to be. Since many new paradigm churches have large attendance, they are able to financially support the start of other new paradigm churches. Indeed, new paradigm churches may well become the new normal of church life in America.
For two in-depth case studies of a new paradigm church, see Gerardo Marti's A Mosaic of Believers: Diversity and Innovation in a Multiethnic Church and also his book Hollywood Faith: Holiness, Prosperity, and Ambition in a Los Angeles Church.
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New Paradigm Churches
Rating  (4)
Date: 2002-10-18
4 out of 5 customers found this reveiw helpful
This is an insightful exploration of the so-called third wave or new paradigm churches from a scholar who presents the information in a readable fashion. The author is an outsider, yet he provides a favorable account of these rapidly-growing, Pentecostal-type congregations that all originated in California. It is a great book for anyone who is interested in the contemporary Christian scene. It is filled with stories, keen observations, balanced analyses, and surveys on the movement.
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Excellent Study of CalvaryChapels & Vineyards
Rating (5)
Date: 1997-11-07
12 out of 14 customers found this reveiw helpful
CalvaryChapels has been an "underground" church for over 25 years now - an alternative for the typical lifeless church down the street. Now someone has studied this phenomenon to see why it continues to grow and attract more people (often from non-religious backgrounds). The same for Vineyards & HopeChapels (which both have intersecting histories with CalvaryChapel). The personal stories are touching and fascinating, The research is exhaustive if not exhausting. The author belongs to a mainline church and periodically shows his amazement at these new church movements. They were all built on simplicity of faith, by those whose lives were radically changed by Jesus Christ (often people who would be the last ones you would expect). A little too much psychology & sociology throughout but the author is a professor and the book is published by a university press.
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by Ken Freeman
Product Group: Book
Publisher: Howard Books (2002-10-01)
ISBN: 1582293031
EAN: 9781582293035
Dewy Decimal #: 291
Paperback: 254 pages
SKU: 092708017
Condition: Used: Good
Comments: ...no markings or highlighting...minor wear on cover
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Editorial Reviews
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Product Description
In this compelling book, one of America's most popular, influential, and compelling youth evangelists reveals his own incredible story of rescue. This book, Ken Freeman's first release, offers hope, encouragement, and insight to young Christians about how to step out of the past, no matter how painful, and into God's purpose. No one communicates this message with more clarity and vision. Linking a passionate plea for an uncompromised life lived in God's purpose with a compassionate understanding of painful pasts, Freeman offers a message of hope and direction to searching young people and those who love them.
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Customer Reviews
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Life Changing
Rating (5)
Date: 2008-04-20
I heard this man speak at a retreat i went to, totally put a new perspective on things. He made me realize i was missing something, and i wanted what he had. I had been turned off by other speakers cuz they didn't seem very real, but ken totally was. He had been there, done that, and escaped it. He showed me that God can change anyone and that God really does love even the people who seem like they are hopeless and can never change. This book is pretty much the thing he talked about, his testimony is really powerful. I bought this book, read it over the next few days, and was like, man...good stuff
i recommend it for anyone who thinks they have had a tough life and there is no hope, cuz Ken is living proof that there is hope for anyone.
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Brief Biographical sketch of author's life
Rating  (3)
Date: 2005-09-29
I had the pleasure to see Ken Freeman at our church during a recent youth revival. It was during this rally that we purchased his book to help support his ministry. Ken does a good job chronicling his life and giving snippets about those to whom he's ministered in his career. I guess I think that when people invoke numbers in their evangelistic endeavors - there is a certain amount of ego that is wanting to be stroked. Ken's writing is a lot like his speaking: once you've seen him speak - you'll be more tolerant of his writing style. Overall, the book is a decent rendition of this evangelist's passion about ministry.
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Offers Hope and Healing
Rating (5)
Date: 2005-09-26
This book is an awesome book that I would recommend to anyone who has past hurts that they are trying to work through. This book gives hope and insight into the Love of Christ and how He rescues us from our pasts.
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Rescued by the Cross
Rating (5)
Date: 2005-01-04
Ken was hit and threaded by his mom. They moved all over the U.S. His mom was addicted to drugs and was an alcoholic. Ken had a sister. His friends really liked him and cared for him. One of his friends took him to church were his life was turned his life around. He is now going around the world tell people about his life and teaching about God. He has leaded a plethora of people to Christ.
The main character's name is Ken Freeman. He cares about all the people everywhere. He loves to lead people to Christ. He has wounds and cuts. He came to be school. He loves his friends and what they did for him when he was a in the care of his mom and many boyfriends. He loves his family and has a little girl. He is caring and I am caring to. I try to lead people to Christ and so does he.
I liked this book because he taught me the real meaning to being a Christian. Also it taught me the real meaning of life. It was a fast reading. When he became a Christian was my favorite part. I would recommend this book to everyone. I would love to be like him.
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Rescued by hte Cross
Rating (4)
Date: 2004-10-11
Rescued by the Cross was a phenomenal book. It tells the story of Ken Freemen's life. Ken Freemen and his sister were brutally abused by their alcoholic mother. They had over eight different stepfathers, and lived in over 5 different locations a year. They were often starved with no or very little food to eat. Ken was also harassed and beat up at school. He hated his life and everything and every one in it. They're father was never around and then his parents divorced and moved out. Ken never spoke to his father and hated him for leaving then with only his mother and her many boyfriends, husbands, and their "babysitters". They often abused the kids as well. Then Ken was invited to church with a classmate with the offer of free food Ken said that he would come. He had no idea that the night would change his life forever. Ken Freeman accepted Jesus Christ and his personal lord and savior. Ken began ever since that night lived his life as a Christian and now has a wonderful loving Christian family.
Ken Freeman I would imagine had a great personality when he wasn't frustrated with the hatred towards the world. He always cared for his younger sister Donna and tried to stand up for her when their mother abused them. Ken would have to be strong to live through all the years of touchier that he had received. Now a days Ken is a very sweet, caring and understanding man. He helps people of all ages with their life he tires to help them straighten out there life and be rescued by the cross just as he was.
Rescued by the Cross was a wonderful book that I truly enjoyed. I have never wanted to keep reading a book. This was the very first book that I read that I just couldn't put down. Rescued by the Cross was a very inspirational book. This book has made me appreciate the life that I have. I have a loving family and I am truly thankful for that. I would defiantly recommend this book to my friend. A lot of my friends that haven't already read the book after they read a few pages in mind went to the school library and checked it out. Rescued by the Cross was a phenomenal book. If you haven't already read it you should you will have a new look perspective on life.
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by George Barna
Product Group: Book
Publisher: BarnaBooks (2007-03-06)
ISBN: 1414307608
EAN: 9781414307602
Dewy Decimal #: 248.845
Hardcover: 192 pages
SKU: 111408033
Condition: Used: Like New
Comments: ...no markings or highlighting...very slight shelf wear on dustjacket
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Editorial Reviews
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Product Description
The Revolution is underway, but in this new era, how can parents make a lasting impact in the spiritual lives of their children? To find the answer, George Barna researched the lives of thriving adult Christians and discovered the essential steps their parents took to shape their spiritual lives in childhood. He also learned surprising truths about which popular parenting tactics just aren't working. Revolutionary Parenting goes beyond youth group and Sunday school and shows parents how to instill in their children a vibrant commitment to Christ.
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Customer Reviews
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Great Parenting Book!
Rating (5)
Date: 2008-10-05
This book details the research done by the Barna Group in the area of parenting. The research was based upon talking with parents who had raised "Spiritual Champions" and with the "Spiritual Champion." The research indicated a great need for parents to be a part of their children's lives in all facets. It also included parents helping their children to make the right choices and choose the right friends. Finally, the book focused on the parents responsibility to raise their children in this world. The parents did not and would not abdicate their role as the parent for anyone else to take on. The parents took charge in the reas of moral character and spiritual growth.
This book is very challenging for parents and delivers on many great points. Barna has created a primer for parents to read who want to raise children that serve God and serve other people. Too often parents exchange their role of being a parent for other items in their lives such as a successful career or successful social life. This book directs parents that they need to abandon that thought pattern and seek to serve God by taking the utmost interest in their children. This part of the book especially challenged me in the areas of taking a greater interest in my children then in my profession. The greatest change I can make in this world will not equal raising godly children.
The one weakness of the book was the lack of instruction on the proper years in which to discuss certain topics. It would have been good to include a timeline of when certain subjects such as sex, drugs, and alcohol need to be discussed. It has been my experience that parents stall in discussing these subjects until it is too late.
This is a very good book for parents to read and understand. I highly recommend it.
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Excellent Parenting Book
Rating (5)
Date: 2008-08-18
1 out of 1 customers found this reveiw helpful
Excellent parenting book meeting today's issues. Makes a great gift. Helpful for those just starting families, and those who are already raising children.
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My top five book
Rating (5)
Date: 2008-05-15
2 out of 2 customers found this reveiw helpful
This is one of my top 5 books for parenting. I appreciate George Barna's research - this is not just another person's opinions about how to raise our children to know and love God. He researched "spiritual champions" and their parents and presented us with the common denominators. It is NOT a instruction manual but rather a book that helps parents look at being intentional about raising children to love God and be more than nominal Christians. I read this book and now I am leading a book discussion for a group of moms. Everyone has found this book to be excellent in helping them look at their own parenting. It has challenged us individually about our own faith. I think every Christian parent and Church leader needs to read this!
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Great Parenting book!
Rating (5)
Date: 2008-05-12
1 out of 1 customers found this reveiw helpful
I really enjoyed reading this book. George Barna did a great job researching families for what made their kids "spiritual giants". I recommend this book for any parent who wants to raise their kids to be real Christians.
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Research that challenges, not answers ...
Rating (4)
Date: 2008-03-19
2 out of 2 customers found this reveiw helpful
George Barna is a researcher. From the outset his book takes the humble stance of a reporter of information. He claims not to be an expert on children and clearly states his hesitation in writing the book. His humility has the genuine feel of anyone who has been a parent and honestly evaluates their performance in light of Scripture.
What makes Barna's book different is his approach. Rather than drawing from his own personal experience or exegesis of the Bible, he attempts to seek out successes in effective child rearing and work backwards. He identifies a standard of success from Scripture, labeling these individuals "spiritual champions" and researches how they became that way. Barna defines a spiritual champion as "individuals who have embraced Jesus Christ as their Savior and Lord; accept the Bible as truth and as the guide for life; and seek to live in obedience to its principles and in search of ways to continually deepen their relationship with God. Spiritual champions live in ways that are noticeably different from the norm--even when compared to the average churchgoer."
Revolutionary Parenting's strength lies not in its step by step guide for parents, but rather in its distilling and presentation of the research data. While Barna does draw conclusions and offer suggestions throughout the book, the real power comes from evidence gleamed from families that have produced successful results. One can not help but evaluate their current parenting practices, methods, and thinking in light of those whose principals and actions are proven.
A common theme throughout the book seems to be that revolutionary parents possess a confidence in the Bible, its message, and use in their child rearing in the face of the current winds of culture. The author is clearly challenged by this point. He repeatedly references with admiration parents who have been proactive in personally obeying the Bible's teachings, while holding and teaching their children to do the same.
Each chapter ends with recap of the key data covered and a series of challenging questions that if applied cannot help but ignite life change. The recap section could provide the time challenged parent means to quickly reference his findings and then turn back in the chapter to gather more of his analysis. While nearly all the questions appropriately challenge the reader, at least one strangely leads in contradiction to the content of the chapter he just covered. Perhaps the odd question was compiled by an editor?
Overall the book maintained a voice of a fellow traveler on the path to becoming a revolutionary parent. George Barna's book is a valued asset to provide perspective on the many methods and opinions in today's marketplace. Late in his book he remarks an important reminder to all parents; "The trajectory of the spiritual war depends on what I--and other parents--do to raise spiritual champions among our children. From a macro ministry perspective, it's actually the little things that count the most. Rather than looking for the big bang that will revolutionize our world, true revolution will come from a series of significant microlevel changes. The little contributions add up to make a big difference." It is a call for each of us to take seriously our part in changing the world. It is worth your time to check out and be challenged to become a revolutionary parent!
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by Timothy K. Beal
Product Group: Book
Publisher: Beacon Press (2005-05-15)
ISBN: 0807010626
EAN: 9780807010624
Dewy Decimal #: 203.50973
Hardcover: 216 pages
Edition: 1
SKU: 082508018
Condition: Used: Good
Comments: ...no markings or highlighting...minor wear on dustjacket
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Editorial Reviews
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Product Description
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.
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Customer Reviews
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Best Religion Book of the Year
Rating (5)
Date: 2006-03-26
A witty, charming, and eye-opening jaunt on the offbeat side of
religion. A great book to pack along on your next trip along the blue highways of America. Move over William Least-Heat Moon.
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Great idea, less-than-great results
Rating (3)
Date: 2005-07-15
5 out of 5 customers found this reveiw helpful
After hearing Dr. Beal in an interview and reading a few reviews of ROADSIDE RELIGION I was eager to read the book. What I liked best was the idea itself -- the family vacation spent visiting religious Americana in a motor home -- and Beal's curious and respectful approach to his subject matter. As he explains throughout, this was as much a trip as it was a journey of faith and rediscovery.
Although the Introduction and some of the chapters are a rambling mess, the Conclusion was insightful and inspiring. In four pages, Beal describes his rediscovery of faith as something more/other than mere belief alone: "Faith is a leap of hospitality, an opening of oneself to the other... an opening toward an unknown other....faith as vulnerability, risking relationship." Especially in a world that's divided by power and fear, this was sheer heaven to read.
My disppointments with the book are few, and mostly about the structure and omissions.
For subject matter that is as visual as it is spiritual, photos seem lacking and of poor quality: 25 in all, small scale, black and white only. Also, there are times when a simple diagram or even a primitive hand-drawn sketch whould have been far better than the dull prose trying to describe the same thing (such as the layout of Paradise Gardens). While this is not a guidebook, a simple map of the route taken to the visted sites seems like a given, but it's not. Finally, the lack of an INDEX, NOTES, or even FOR FURTHER READING represents a missed opportunity to improve the quality of the book and inspire futher exploration of the subject matter.
In the end, hearing Dr. Beal describe his journey is far more engaging than the way he wrote about it. Nonetheless, it's worth the read, and the sites themselves, worth the visit.
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Roadside Sermons
Rating (5)
Date: 2005-06-22
7 out of 7 customers found this reveiw helpful
Four years ago, Timothy K. Beal and his family were driving through the Appalachian Highlands of Maryland when they saw a steel girder framework for an upcoming building, incongruously set in a grassy field. A large sign said "NOAH'S ARK BEING REBUILT HERE!" They drove on by, but Beal, a professor of religion, started keeping a list of roadside religious attractions all around the country, and in the summer of 2002, the family rented a mobile home and hit the highways of the Bible Belt to get to see the Ark in progress and many other religious sites constructed out of piety, inspiration, or enterprise. In _Roadside Religion: In Search of the Sacred, the Strange, and the Substance of Faith_ (Beacon Press), Beal gives a report on what he saw, and what he thought, and especially how he felt. Skeptics like myself probably would be happier with a book that conveyed amusement and incredulity at the sights, and Beal's book does have such a tone in many places. Indeed, Beal started out with a plan of a book of "witty and wry observation," but although it is funny in many places, it is altogether more respectful, sympathetic, and understanding of these very odd shrines than he originally expected.
Near Mammoth Cave in Kentucky are plenty of roadside attractions, but on Beal's list is Golgotha Fun Park, a miniature golf course which is described in a chapter wittily titled "Stations of the Course". Bizarrely, the name comes from the Aramaic for "the skull" and is the name of the place where the gospels say the crucifixion happened. Some fun. There are some ceramic skulls on the sixteenth hole: "Although they don't pose much of a putting challenge, they _are_ rather creepy and distracting." The eighteen holes tell the story from creation to Resurrection. At hole four, Moses parts the Red Sea to let your ball pass, and on the back nine, representing the New Testament, Mary and Martha kneel prayerfully on either side of the putting green assigned to them. The eighteenth hole has a statue of the risen Christ, encouragingly looking on as golfers take their final shot, and it is the easiest hole on the course. "It's not easy to venture a theological interpretation of Golgotha Fun Park," Beal assures us, but he is compelled to try anyway, interpreting the obstacles (any good miniature golf course needs obstacles) as not only athletic, but theological - believers conquer smaller ones on the way to the big one, the belief in the risen God. Beal is content to be instructed by these roadside visions, but he is not uncritical. At the Fields of the Wood near Murphy, North Carolina, is the world's largest Ten Commandments, concrete letters five feet high on a hillside. The intent here, Beal says, is to inspire religious awe "in the face of a sacred law that is overwhelmingly, _ineffably huge_ in a most literal way." It's not what the words say, but how big they are. This is, Beal concludes, "the Word of God as image, and I dare say idol." The commandments, including the proscription against graven images has been turned into the "World's Largest" graven image.
There are plenty of others; the worldly Beal is surprisingly affected by the cutesy Precious Moments Inspiration Park in Missouri, or dismayed by the End Times ideology of The Holy Land Experience in Florida, where there is a daily crucifixion, weather permitting. Anyone who has driven America's highways has seen billboards for this sort of attraction, and many will be amused by the descriptions of what Beal has found; he has actually paid his money and gone so that the rest of us don't have to. More importantly, this is a personal book, a religious book by an intelligent thinker who has picked some seemingly unpromising subjects to describe and learn from. As he openly shares his learning and self-reflections with us, it's just the sort of generosity he admires in the makers of these strange visions.
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