The book has been very interesting and I would recommend it to other people. I think that it is interesting because it fits the pilgrimage models that we have been learning about in Religion class.
Kevin is a very interesting person and is very open to new ideas and trying to new things. This trait is in some ways good and in some ways bad. He changes his views throughout the book because of this trait and now he has different views on Liberty students and how they really are. When his family makes a judging comment about Liberty students he is sort of offended because that is not always true about them.
I personally believe that the Turner pilgrimage is closer to what happened to Kevin rather than the Eliade pilgrimage. He leaves Brown, his family, and his old life at college, the world of convention, and departs to Liberty and starts learning the Liberty way; the Limin. He now is trying to meet new people. In this process he forgets about his old life because he cannot maintain the two worlds at once. Another anti structure could have been the Liberty way because it broke down his old habits and how he used to think. Then he starts to rebuild a new community with the students at Liberty and with the students on his hall. The metaphorical death is when he stops having the same outlook on the Liberty students, he prays daily, and he has different ethical views, now. He then returns to Brown, his family, and his old life; and now he is a changed person and does not have the same outlook on life.
I agree that the Turner model of pilgrimage best fits Kevin Roose’s story. The progression of the book fits the steps of the Turner model very well. The biggest thing to me is how he left the world of convention, and that is a huge part of the Turner model. Kevin’s entire story is about his adaptation from Brown to Liberty, and along the way, he covers every step. I definitely agree with your views on the anti structures. There is not necessarily one specific anti structure, and there are quite a few to choose from. Your view on the metaphorical death is the same as mine because I believe that it occurs when he begins to pray and really take Liberty seriously. He becomes like the other students and completely leaves the way he was.
Jack,
I decided it was finally time to comment back on one of your blogs. I agree with saying to recommend the book to others. I really enjoyed reading Unlikely Disciple. I thought it was a great example of how to look at something we were learning about in class and put it into another context to help us understand it. After making it through midterms looking back at this, I feel like without this book I wouldn’t have been able to understand the Turner Model near as much. I agree with you when talking about how Kevin’s pilgrimage fit Turner’s Model very well.