..Book Reviews..

The basic set up is the Kierkegaardian story where Russell Rathbun (a pastor at the very unchurch House of Mercy in St. Paul, Minn.) finds a collection of writings from the Rev. Richard Lovelamb, a seemingly crazy preacher who talks at length about the conspiracy that is Contemporary Christian Culture. Apparently we've all missed the boat with our megamall churches, polo shirts and SUVs. The entire book is Lovelamb's journal entries and sermons, plus a few scattered comments from Rathbun, as Lovelamb tries to expose the conspiracy.

I resonate with the idea. I laughed a few times. But as a whole the execution just didn't do it for me. The hardcore emergent types out there will probably love it (which explains the kudos), but the rest of us probably won't be so satisfied. It's a book that raises a lot of questions, but doesn't provide a lot of answers. It speaks to the growing audience of people dissatisfied with church as a cultural institution, but it's not the best book out there on the subject. It's certainly unique in the field, but for this reader, unique didn't mean better.

I think my biggest disappointment was the title. It's pitched with this post-rapture setting, a sort of Left Behind but nobody noticed thing. But that's not exactly the literal case. A few of Lamblove's journal entries explore that territory, but the whole book doesn't flow from that setting.

Bottom line: It doesn't live up to the hype.