cover image Rapture Ready!: Adventures in the Parallel Universe of Christian Pop Culture

Rapture Ready!: Adventures in the Parallel Universe of Christian Pop Culture

Daniel Radosh. Scribner Book Company, $25 (310pp) ISBN 978-0-7432-9770-7

Christian popular culture is a fast-growing and lucrative phenomenon in the US, so much so that Radosh, a Jewish author and contributing editor at The Week magazine, took the time to research this complicated and fascinating world. The author's style is funny and direct, which helps the prose flow smoothly. He takes the reader on an amusing trek through the sometimes bizarre world of Christian popular culture, deftly critiquing it without being overly condescending. The author discovers that just about everything found in mainstream popular culture has a Christian counterpart: books, all forms of music, television shows, movies, comedy, skateboarding, and even wrestling. Radosh has the astute sense of a journalist and the evocative humor of a stand-up comic. He balances his rather skeptical perspective with respectful stories about the lives of people he encounters. The tension between being in the world and of the world, a common Christian challenge, is present throughout, and reminds all people of faith to question how tightly they wish to embrace popular culture.