We have a lot of good people here at IM, and I count many of you as dear and wonderful friends. But I got to making this darned list….Who actually hangs out here, reads this blog every day and comments on the posts?
1. People who strive to understand what I’m doing and take something good from it.
2. People who respect the diversity of opinions here and protect that by their respectful participation.
3. People wanting to learn more about evangelicals or other Christians.
4. People monitoring me for employers, friends and the “Chat Channel.”
5. Calvinists who are still mad at me for something I said in 2005.
6. People who appreciate common ground, but also want me to portray their tradition accurately.
7. People who genuinely disagree, but are nice about it.
8. People who want the opportunity heckle or insult me.
9. People who disagree with every word I write, have sworn me off, and still can’t stop reading.
10. People who seriously think I’m on my way to becoming a ________________, and they want to help me get there.
11. People who seriously think I’m on my way to becoming a _________________, and they want to stop me.
12. People who believe they are psychiatrists. My psychiatrists.
13. People who want to rail at me over the rosary ad, the Lutheran ad and the Catholic books ad.
14. People who know I’m right and can’t stand it.
15. People who are sure I’m angry all the time, and read every word as if I’m yelling and throwing a chair.
16. People who trust me.
17. People who want to see what I’m going to do next.
18. People who want to see if I mention their blog.
19. People…..people who love people…..are the luckiest people in the world….
20. Surfnetter…..who fits no known category.
The Internet Monk Archives 
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I enjoyed this one.
#20. I am Nettersurf (or was that nutterserf?)
I am going to bed and I am not going to look it up. But I enjoy showing up in odd places reading and then disappearing again until I decide to give everyone a heart attack by coming back and responding to whatever might have been said to me.
I think I am the last person on this site, so this is me signing off.
Good night and God Bless.
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You left out people who come for the pictures. Ya got great pictures with your articles. I mean, who needs the SI Swimsuit issue when you can come here and see beauties like the one shown in this post!
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KY boy,
I just want to mention that I enjoy your comments, especially I could almost use the same nickname. Just change the gender. π
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Yes 1. 2. 3. 17.
From someone who over comments at times. Too many times.
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“desperate for any kind of wisdom on how I can come back to some form of believe without completely lying to myself.”
Just don’t wait for a perfect church. There aren’t any. After all they are run by people.
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I just want you to know man…. I am a serious Calvinist and I just can’t get enough Internet Monk. Been reading, and sometimes commenting, for well over a year. Its always humbling and enlightening and christ-centric.
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Can you make money doing #4?
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Justin: You’ve got half! Damn. Call the reporters.
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I’m not much of lurker, but, at times, more than one apply. Keep it up, Michael!
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im the one who reads articles to pass time while i’m not doing work in class.
i’m also the one who feels like an idiot because i can’t understand half the things you say.
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im #2. and thanks for hosting!
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I guess I’m a 1, 2, a bit of 3 and definitely a 17. I hadn’t considered 18, but now that you mention it . . . π
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Lotsa little comments in this thread, and I’m feeling a little silly today:
21. People who want to win converts to their denominations, and figure youΓ’β¬β’d be a nice feather in their cap. (Sorry: jewel in their crown….) — K.W.Leslie
Just say “Notch on their Bible” and we’ll call it even.
Γ’β¬ΕDozens of delicate lurkers who are lying in wait for the right / Appointed time to share their End Times Prophecies and Special Revelations with the IM audience.Γ’β¬Β — Pat Lynch
Naah. They’re busy rushing their own End Time Prophecy books to print after the last election.
Gotta love those internet mystics – say hello! — Pat Lynch
Just as long as they’re not managing my money.
The Evangelical Wilderness can be a confounding place but IM helps me make some sense of it. — Morgan
Evangelical Wilderness or Evangelical WEIRDNESS?
There’s a lot of the latter in the former, and sometimes you have to laugh to keep from screaming.
“What a long, strange trip it’s been…”
— The Grateful Dead
This could actually be the IMonk Enneagram: if you add up the square of your top five numbers, divide by the year you were born minus the longitude you live in you will arrive at the number of the bible verse in the Book of Revelation that is the answer to the secret of the universe? — Joe M
Contact Discovery or History Channel with a proposal. They’ve been doing a LOT of that kind of “documentary” lately. You might end up with “Bible Code Secrets” or “Nostradamus 2012” as a lead-in…
peace. IΓ’β¬β’m going to bed. ms — IMonk
Pax Nabisco-cookies…
(Glad to see that your part in our Ultra Top Secret Papist Global Domination Plan is going so well. If we maintain our high level of secrecy, no-one will ever suspect until itΓ’β¬β’s too late!) — Martha
NOBODY EXPECTS THE SPANISH INQUISITION!!!!!
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I don’t know where I fit… I added your blog a long time ago (during the time I’m pretty sure I was a false convert). I kept it in my feed when I was well and truly saved, mostly as a counterpoint to my “truly reformed” blogs (Pyromaniacs and Blog/Mablog).
I am a Calvinist (#5), but not angry. Maybe #6.
And I must confess to a little of #18 π
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I’d like to call myself a 1,2 or 16.
But I think I fit in a none of the above category as well:
I came across your blog and added it to my regular reading because I’m a disallusioned bitter ex-evangelical super Christian, desperate for any kind of wisdom on how I can come back to some form of believe without completely lying to myself.
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And then there’s the Pope repeatedly moving his hands in alternating vertical and horizontal hypnotic gestures on CNN. π
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Martha,
I knew there was a reason I never wanted to go to the dentist.
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“we believe everyone already is Catholic”
Surfnetter, shhhh! You don’t want to alert them to the fact that the fluoridation of the public water supply was a distraction operation to disguise the implantation of the mind-control chips!
Which reminds me: have you been to your dentist recently? I think your implant – er, I mean, your fillings, yes, fillings, that’s it – may not be functioning correctly π
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I have a new category — or maybe it’s a characteristic of #20 —
I’m waiting for Imonk to realize that the Roman Church itself is at least as diverse as all of Protestantism and most “evangelical” Catholics are too busy trying to convert each other to worry about him and people like him. π
Martha — Actually we* believe everyone already is Catholic and will find that out in the next life.
*Note: except me — my own take on that issue is way too long and way off topic.
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Of course I’m not in on any plot – I’m happy for any Christian prayers said while holding my rosaries. Hail Marys are great, but we don’t even have to say those. Anyway, Jesus Prayers, Our Fathers, Scripture chunks, Glory Bes, whatever helps you focus and open your heart to God, crank ’em out. I do think it’s pretty cool, though, when a Baptist Worship Pastor orders a rosary from a funky Catholic guy. I have no dreams of his in-house “conversion.” I do see connection, though – good stuff. Why are we talking about this again? I’m not #’s whatever and whichever and I am #’s whatchadoodle – doodleedooo π Peace.
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Michael, we believe that in the next life, *everyone* will be Catholic π
For what it’s worth, I don’t see you converting to anything (except maybe a bigger hammer to hit us idiots over the heads with).
Peace, brother, and good day to you.
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“Now, should I let the cat out of the bag and tell them how many of these rosaries I have sold to Protestants??”
Alan – the moon rises at midnight. The ducks fly backward over Vienna. Grandmother’s spectacles are to be found at the poste restante >.>
(Glad to see that your part in our Ultra Top Secret Papist Global Domination Plan is going so well. If we maintain our high level of secrecy, no-one will ever suspect until it’s too late!)
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idude,
for me, it is your brutal honesty and fantastic writing.
M
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I guess I am a number 2.
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Take all this interest in Protestant conversions, go to your parish and do some evangelism, folks. Evangelism. Those thousands of pagans Mark Driscoll has brought into his church from nothing. That’s your audience. Not Protestants who already believe in Jesus and you basically consider to have a faulty ecclesiology and a faulty view of authority. Evangelism. If that means, “convert Protestants” there’s a problem. In our part of the world- no disrespect- we call it sheep stealin’.
peace. I’m going to bed. ms
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People who think I am going to quit the Baptist ministry and become a Wal Mart greeter, move to ???? and repudiate a good sized chunk of what I believe in order to get absolutely no more in with Jesus than I am now amaze me. Where is this clue that at 52 I want to stop preaching and teaching the Bible (the only ministry I’ll ever have) so I can go to mass? Think about it, will ya? Someone is watching too much Journey Home. Do you think I’m going to be some apologist on CA, explaining how indulgences were right there in the New Testament all the time? It’s hilarious. Do like the Hindus. Pray I’ll be a good Baptist and in my next life I can be a Catholic.
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Holy cow – this is crackin’ me up. haa! Now, should I let the cat out of the bag and tell them how many of these rosaries I have sold to Protestants?? π I shall refrain from trying to categorize myself. Peace to the house of iMonk.
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Cindy — What about “Father take this cup from me…”
Even Jesus, one with the Father as He was (and is) had to be convinced to do the Father’s will.
But off topic this is.
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We’re not going to wake up tomorrow reading the comment thread concerning your infallibility posting are we?
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I’m #17 I guess. I mostly await the next “Liturgical Gangstas”, that’s what brought me here in the first place. Then you had an exceedingly great Gospel post a few weeks back so I added you to Google Reader. Since then I’ve mostly disagreed with you. So now it’s just a waiting game. Will IM become Catholic? Will IM become Lutheran? (Boy, I hope so) And what will the next LG-6 have to say?
–orthodoxy hunter
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His Near-Holiness Pope Dude I, Your Excellency:
I have self-identified as a #1, #2, #3, #16, and #17 with occasional detours into #7, but this business of self-identification is such an iffy process, prone to much error, because the simple truth is there are none so blind as those who will not see, and it is also good for a loquacious simpleton such as I to remember that in the land of the blind the one-eyed man is king.
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Dude I–That’s the reason why I come.
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But in re the latter — what happens when you pray: Thy will be done?
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Anna A, I was tending towards the spiritual works, since I couldn’t see where it fit in as a corporal work, but then it hit me:
“Give drink to the thirsty”
Of course! All those who are driven to drink because they’re fed up to the back teeth of those rosary ads! π
(Naturally, as a spiritual work, it incorporates both “Instruct the ignorant” and “Convert the sinner”, because of all the fervent invocations of “Great God Almighty”, as in “Great God Almighty, are those pagan idolatrous Papist goddess-worship beads *still* being advertised on iMonk’s page?”) π
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Surfnetter – yep, you’re a Gallican π
Thanks to Cardinal Cullen, Ireland is (or was) Ultramontane. That probably explains the tendency in the American church towards Gallicanism – as a reaction to all the Irish clergy who had been so influential during the expansion of the Church in America π
I’m using these terms in the sense, to quote Patricia Byrne on American ultramontanism, of
“The ultramontane temper affected church life in the United States from workings of the hierarchy to details of the Catholic home, where a devotional revolution shaped patterns of prayer and religious sensibility from the middle of the 19th century until the dawn of Vatican II. That milieu, which many older Catholics remember as “traditional,” was intimately connected with a specific and very Roman understanding of Church, one that came to be synonymous with “Catholic.” …The transformation of ultramontanism – from a political and ecclesiastical power struggle in the 18th century to a mentality colored by personal devotion toward the pope in the 19th…”.
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The Dudacy of Imonk
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Pope Dude …?
Isn’t that a bit redundant …?
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Dude I
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Hey — Imonk — if elected Pope what name would you choose …?
Maybe a “suggestions from the gallery” topic of another thread. π
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Hey, Michael, I hope I am #1, #2, and #3. I enjoy your writing and your topics and I enjoy the give and take within the comments too. And I like what Terri wrote too, “People who simply find the conversations interesting even if they havenΓ’β¬β’t come to a firm conviction on every subject.”
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imonk,
or….people who think you’re a lifeline to sanity in the midst of the evangelical circus!
I’m a canadian baptist http://www.cbwc.ca who thinks you ought to be our executive minister (that’s the pope of the cbwc). if you were, we might actually be able to keep and inspire the under 40’s in our denomination.
Mercy!
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Fr. Ernesto curls up into a little fetal ball because he is so tired of self-analyzing–Romans, chapter 7. OK, tell the truth, iMonk, is this one of those Lenten-check-yourself-out posts? I confess; I fail; I fall short of the glory of God; I am a sinner.
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Martha,
I think that annoying people with the rosary counts as a double, both spiritual and corporal.
I think that I would fall under categories 1, 2, 3, 16,and 17.
Michael, I do think that you forgot one. Making a safe place for us on the outskirts of Christianity to be, and make friends.
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Looked ’em up, Martha.
Given that the Papacy is no longer a political entity anywhere but within the confines of the Vatican, the clergy and within the bounds of Church property, the terms “Gallican” and ‘Ultramontane” are archaic and moot.
Neither the Pope and the Magisterium nor God and all His angels have any authority over my will — the former never had it and the latter permanently relinquished it when He made it. And being that belief is the very beginning willful act of any decision I make about how I will behave, then even God must convince me rather than order what I choose to believe.
Do you really think that a philosopher like the one formerly known as Caridinal Ratzinger would argue with that …?
He didn’t get a category all his own, did he? π
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Martha — More stuff I have to Google.
Maybe that’s it — I’m a Google-Catholic π
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Did I miss it? I didnΓ’β¬β’t see the lonely divorcee from Great Falls Montana that has a fatal attraction for you. SheΓ’β¬β’s in the red Buick that followed you to Krogers on Saturday morning . . . you know, the stalker. She has your photos and cut-outs of every word that you’ve every written taped up all over her double-wide.
Well, I guess I just created another one . . . the wise guy who tries to be funny but never is. :>(
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24, for sure, and a few others.
Is there some satanic sense to all this? This could actually be the IMonk Enneagram: if you add up the square of your top five numbers, divide by the year you were born minus the longitude you live in you will arrive at the number of the bible verse in the Book of Revelation that is the answer to the secret of the universe? Maybe I’m reading too much into this.
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IMONK,
I check you out a lot. I think one of the main reasons I read your posts is because I think you are a stimulating writer.
I don’t always agree, but I think I tend to like being stimulated.
I guess it is kind of like this–you are a talented writer and so I appreciate your talent.
I also think you are headed more and more in a direction in your thinking that I would probably be sympathetic to.
God Bless,
Benji
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(oh, so what Dave138 said.)
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I feel like I’ve been left out.
I’ve been reading your blog since not very long, but I would fall under the category of “People who are also beleived by others to be on the way to becoming a ________________, and find it amazing that others might think alike.” Call it a subcategory of #1, if you like… π I basically grew a little weary of evangelicalism, and almost left my church, etc., but found something extremely valuable in the “universal” Kingom. Then fell in love with the Church again. The one with the big C.
I enjoy your blog a lot, and keep the good stuff coming! π
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Regarding #13, help me out here, my fellow Catholics: is annoying people with the rosary one of the spiritual or corporal works of mercy? π
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I think some would say they read your blog for the same reason many say that they read in general– to know that they are not alone.
And for that, I thank you.
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I think I’m a 3, 6, 7 (at least, I hope I’m nice about it when I disagree!) and 17. I’d also agree with Lynne about being from another country and tradition who wants to undestand American evangelicalism.
As for Surfnetter, God bless and keep him!, maybe he’s one of the “spiritual, but not religious”? Though he is A Typical Catholic more often than not(and yes, blithely ignoring what Them Over There In Rome say is Typical Catholic of long-standing tradition, not necessarily left-wing or liberal). Maybe he’s best classified as Gallican rather than Ultramontane? π
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The Evangelical Wilderness can be a confounding place but IM helps me make some sense of it .
IM, and its contributors often provide me with
a unique form of encouragement, new perspectives, and challenging views in ways that my church and my peers cannot. It sort of fills a void that has frustrated me these last couple of years.
Thanks for the ministry !
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This list should also include, “Dozens of delicate lurkers who are lying in wait for the right / Appointed time to share their End Times Prophecies and Special Revelations with the IM audience.” Gotta love those internet mystics – say hello!
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Guilty as charged (#1 and #2), but I come here everyday, seldom post, and always come away with something to ponder about.
C. Hays
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And I guess I also fit into #10, but just as written, given #20 π
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More in depth analysis on #18:
I picture your psyche thus in this regardw, im —
“Why risk destroying my own property when with one click of the mouse I can completely shatter the offender’s hopes and dreams.” (Moderator is such a lovely title. So seemingly “moderate” but it really signifies “Lord and King of the Blogosphere!”) π
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I will admit to:
1. People who strive to understand what IΓ’β¬β’m doing and take something good from it.
2. People who respect the diversity of opinions here and protect that by their respectful participation.
6. People who appreciate common ground, but also want me to portray their tradition accurately.
10. People who seriously think IΓ’β¬β’m on my way to becoming a ________________, and they want to help me get there.
11. People who seriously think IΓ’β¬β’m on my way to becoming a _________________, and they want to stop me.
17. People who want to see what IΓ’β¬β’m going to do next.
And the fill-in the blank for #10 and #11 is Roman Catholic or Orthodox (Greek, Russian, Antiochian, etc.) – take your pick.
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Well, I’m a lurker who mostly likes what you have to say! And doesn’t have the energy or desire to argue if I don’t. π
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Hmmmm…I’d fall into categories 1, 2, 3, 7, occasionally 9, now and again 14, generally 16, definitely 17, and I’m working on 19. Thanks for letting me have an occasional voice in the chorus.
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oops…didn’t see that someone had already come up with 21-25. Renumber mine as 26, 27, and 28.
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On #18 —
I love this blog because you take wisdom from such diverse sources.
But for a conservative Southern evangelical to be quoting Barbara Streisand is above and beyond. π
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21. People who have too much time on their hands.
22. People who like to read the way a comment thread with over 200 comments, can see-saw from topic to topic and have some pretty good one-liners in it.
23. People who simply find the conversations interesting even if they haven’t come to a firm conviction on every subject.
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While I was being silly last night, I forgot about the serious side of number 18. I am really thankful for all of the bloggers, that I wouldn’t have noticed otherwise, that you have mentioned and brought to our attention. There are quite a few that I still read on some sort of regular basis. You catch a lot of stories that I don’t have the time or scope to find otherwise and I do appreciate it.
Oh, and K.W., thanks for your additions. I have been guilty of 22 on any number of occasions as well.
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I do love it Cindy.
I love being included for not fitting in.
aka — “He’s in a category all his own.” π
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Cindy — I just wish he would tell us who that honey-voiced sweet-spirited Southern gentleman is who he pays to read the copy on his podcasts. The real Imonk has to sound more like Rush Limbaugh.
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Oh dear, I must now brace myself for the “or else.”
I meant to add a funny in there. I really did, but now I’ve got nothing.
I love #20. Surfnetter, I hope you love it too.
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Your honor, I plead guilty on the following charges:
But mostly, I come here because I never knew this was out there. Wait, that doesn’t quite cover it.
See, I’m a sandbox convert. The Christians I knew early on in my life were something special (that word doesn’t do them justice). I assumed all/most/much of Christendom was like them.
And then I grew up.
And then I grew jaded.
I walked away from the church (but never Christ) for ~18 years.
And then I grew up some more, and realized the church is made up of people, and I’d better accept that fact. Then my husband, children and I found a church, still…unfortunately…made up of people, and not ones as special as my first church, but real and sometimes even good. But I seek solace –fellowship with others who’ve noticed how often the emperor goes streaking through town — fellowship with those who see those stains and tatters on the bride’s gown, but who also recognize our own muddy footprints on her once and future glorious train, our own greasy fingerprints on her veil.
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Wow — I’m finally famous!
I don’t know how you mean that, but I’m taking it as a compliment. (You knew I would, didn’t you.) π
Actually I would fit into #15, but I can never picture you throwing a furniture.
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As a general proposition, most Christian blogs are a very bad idea for a lot of good reasons. The motivation for writing is almost never for the edification of the brethren, the proclamation of the gospel, all done for the glory of God. There’s always the subtle undercurrent of ME.
Despite the undercurrent that sometime flows under this blog, M is willing to write about hard things in an inviting way. And if he wasn’t a good writer, he’d have no readership. As it is, he attracts enough of a diverse group of people to make it interesting. While M runs the show, I wouldn’t be here without the thoughtful supporting cast.
Bottomline, this is a useful place. It’s not an echo chamber of people reinforcing the one true theology and damning anyone who disagrees. I may have the one true theology but I’ve learned some things here that have really helped me think about God and his creation in better ways. For that I’m thankful.
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#19 songs, always with the songs…
Must be the musician He has placed in thee.
He’s still working on me, to make me …
———–
I appreciate what the Potter has done with your clay
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I’m a #1, and when I agree or disagree I always appreciate the IMonk!
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You left out “people who find me interesting”.
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Did the IM just quote Rush Limbaugh in that list?
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On a gray day in the Blue Ridge mountains, some people need a cup of coffee and a wry comment. Like #20. Now I am in a better mood to pray over the message. thanks!
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Paul:
Hmmm. Narcissistic? A blogger? Surely not.
Whining? I disagree there, because the critics are just part of the team.
A post like this is what I write instead of long preachy sermons about blog behavior, standard fare at many pious blogs. It’s a gently humorous way to say “We’re all different. It’s a bit of a zoo, and btw….some of you are jerks and we all know it.”
But I can do it without being a puritan. So it may sound a bit self-serving, but I am the main character in the story line of this blog, and that’s part of why I have the numbers I have. This isn’t Challies.com, and that’s the way I want it.
peace
ms
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I would never rail at you for featuring the Treasury of Daily Prayer.
: )
Michael, several points, or rather, reminders:
1. As you know when you put yourself “out there” and have the integrity and courage to use your real name on your blog site, you will be criticized.
2. It is best not to complain, or explain, but take the flak and if there is something to be learned from a critic, no matter how harshly stated, learn from it, and move on.
3. Don’t waste bandwidth on this kind of “who reads my blog.” It [Mod edit] gives the turkeys some satisfaction that they have “gotten” to you. There is no better way to deal with a mindless critic than to ignore them, entirely and completely. Hard to do, but very effective. Don’t feed trolls.
And finally, I read this quote from Teddy Roosevelt, in one of his speeches a long while back as I began to get myself into situations where I became more widely known around our church body, and have never been able to get it out of my head.
Here’s the best attitude to take over against those sad, sad little people who spend their time on this planet doing nothing but criticizing others, finding fault, picking at nits and otherwise apparently only finding happiness by tearing others down.
“It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.”
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What did you say in 2005? π
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I think all you needed were two categories.
1. People who interact with you in a benevolent way, though their motivations and intentions vary.
2. People who interact with you in a malicious, selfish way, though their motivations and intentions vary.
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I like #25 posted by K. W. Leslie.
Also, I would add:
People with too much free time, who have newly discovered blogs, and are currently making a list of their favorites.
With the continued searching of the blogosphere the favorite list keeps changing. After all, even the amount of “free time” has a limit.
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I notice a few more categoriesΓ’β¬Β¦ but if I’m too blunt, I expect you’ll moderate this post into something nicer.
21. People who want to win converts to their denominations, and figure you’d be a nice feather in their cap. (Sorry: jewel in their crown. Gotta keep it in Christianese.)
22. People who are hoping the profound statements they make here will get some of your readers to visit their blogs.
23. Know-it-alls who condescendingly say, “Yes, Michael, very good, but then there’s also thisΓ’β¬Β¦” and then proceed to post a 5,000-word dissertation. Then they won’t stop adding comments ’cause they consider themselves an authority on that particular subject. (I plead a bit guilty to this one.)
24. People who can’t read a blog entry anywhere without posting something in response to it.
25. People like me who have too many opinions and too much free time.
I’m sure other readers can pitch a few more categories, as well as identify their own.
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Okay, now that Jeff M has admitted to #18, I’ll take it one step further and admit that there’s a little closet desire in me to make the blogroll. But that applies to any blog. π
“15. People who are sure IΓ’β¬β’m angry all the time, and read every word as if IΓ’β¬β’m yelling and throwing a chair.”
The Bobby Knight of Christian blogging?
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I’m a regular reader and semi-regular commenter. I’m drawn to your blog because of your fascinating ways of viewing people who live on the other side of the spiritual railroad tracks.
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Put me down for one spot each in categories 1,2,3, hopefully 7, definitely 17, and maybe in the closet on number 18 but I just came out if that is the case. Actually, in the flesh I am in category 18 and in the Spirit I have gotten beyond such things. Oh what a wretched man am I. (kidding of course about all but the wretchedness and maybe the other stuff too). Ah heck, if I say I am in category 18 will it get a mention? Oh yeah, and category 19 too if I only believed in luck.
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well, I don’t think I count as a regular commenter, because what can I possibly say about American evangelicalism, or Baptists in particular? But I’m definitely a #1, 2 and 3 and also another category: Christians from other countries or traditions who want to better understand that strange creature called American evangelicalism, (which influences us all) and find you a trustworthy guide to both its strengths and weaknesses
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