THE FAMILY THE SECRET FUNDAMENTALISM AT THE HEART OF AMERICAN POWER 1ST EDITION PDF, EPUB, EBOOK Jeff Sharlet | 9780060560058 | | | | | The Family The Secret Fundamentalism at the Heart of American Power 1st edition PDF Book In response to a question the Bishop said and I paraphrase that certainty was not a good thing. Many readers will be shocked and dismayed at the inroads that have already been made. The questions were, where and when to begin. Be prepared to take your time accumulating all the information Sharlet has unearthed. For His pleasure, nothing else. Not here. This is a must read. What i had heard of this book and expected was the sort of conspiracy you might find in a Dan Brown novel. They can get away with it because there is nothing to tie the Family to these dictators. The Family is an important read because it exposes a form of Fundamentalism unlike any you know. The true story of fundamentalism in America and its manifestation in the halls of power today is well researched and frightening in its implications for the way things get done in certain spheres of influence. Refresh and try again. One of the reasons is that very few people even know the Family exists, not because they are secretive but simply because they do not talk about it. That was what Jesus said. Not shocking is the list of folks that have had ties to the family, lots of good Washington folk, past and present. Sharlet is disingenuous at times. I'm a contributing editor for Harper's and Rolling Stone and I also write about music for Oxford American, politics for The Nation, and media for The Revealer, a review of religion and the press published by the New York University Center for Religion and Media, where I'm an associate research scholar. Aug 25, J. Think of the immense power these three men had, these nobodies from nowhere. This angst comes out most clearly in the mocking physical descriptions frequently employed to portray various Christians, both historical and present-day, who have had a role in the fundamentalist movement. American Family. Coincidentally, the recent Congressional sex scandals have brought this Family into the limelight again, so Democracy Now talked to Jeff Sharlet the other day. Echoes: A Story of an American Family. I learned some new, alarming things in reading this. But a likelier medium in which to plant those seeds is with those who already have a large wedge of the pie. That relatively recent expression of politicized fundamentalism began with court decisions forbidding the federal funding of segregationist schools, prominent among them being Falwell's Liberty University. Sharlet has broken faith with readers like my father-in-law, and millions like him around the world. Javascript is not enabled in your browser. This insightful study shows how the trope of the family recurred to produce contradictory images - both intimately familiar and frighteningly alienating - through which Americans His take on evangelical Christian masculinity think John Eldgredge is, I think, accurate, as are some but not all of his criticisms of evangelical views on sexuality. Aug 22, Mary Gail O'Dea rated it really liked it. Internet Archive Books. That's not to say it doesn't exist, it's just not described in the book. Much of what he initially described wasn't all that o I had an unsettling feeling as I began reading this book. Underlying this apparent diversion is Sharlet's interest in the how elite and popular fundamentalism intertwines or contrasts. Home 1 Books 2. National Prayer Breakfast. The book is MUCH too long for my taste , and over-written -- it reads for long stretches almost novelistically -- and he ain't no Faulkner. This movement is an infection in our nation, one that will, if left unchecked, lead to the destruction of our country, and possibly more, by making ours a leadership ridden with a prionic madness. It is official, not NGO Halverson recounted at that meeting how he and his colleague, the rabbi working with him in a pastoral capacity to the US Senate, had become very close, and that when the rabbi expressed astonishment some years before that their religious outlooks were so similar, Halverson responded "I've never heard you say anything I didn't completely agree with! I live in Brooklyn with my wife, Julia Rabig, and a fascist cat named Richard. So, why does the more rational-minded liberal Christian and secular segments of the population not speak out more? And Sharlet's discussion of Jonathan Edwards is unrecognisable. On the evidence of his interpretation of Edwards, Sharlet is one sick puppy. As these rings grow larger, the connection to the Family becomes more opaque- the Family wants to be heard, its influence felt, not seen. Read this book and be amazed. Their goal is 'Jesus plus nothing. The Family The Secret Fundamentalism at the Heart of American Power 1st edition Writer Abraham Vereide's name is familiar enough if you know modern evangelical history or read Christian books — Billy Graham describes him as "a remarkable man", Corrie Ten Boom sought out his endorsement when she arrived in the USA after the war, and Norman Grubb of the World Evangelisation Crusade wrote a popular biography for Zondervan in the s — but his political significance remains under-appreciated and the motivation of his movement unscrutinized. The questions were, where and when to begin. The purpose of the original American Prayer Breakfast, Sharlet shrewdly notes, was "to lop oft the left end of the political spectrum and cauterize the wound", and today the Family enjoys influence across the political establishment in America; it is far bigger than the "Religious Right", and Hillary Clinton is a "friend". The point of his effort is not missed or misconstrued by any sensible reader. They consider themselves the new chosen—congressmen, genera A journalist's penetrating look at the untold story of christian fundamentalism's most elite organization, a self-described invisible network dedicated to a religion of power for the powerful. The true story of fundamentalism in America and its manifestation in the halls of power today is well researched and frightening in its implications for the way things get done in certain spheres of influence. Jeff Sharlet. They pray. This is precisely why I value separation of church and state. Very relevant in the current political discourse. That said, the book terrified me. One of those students was Henry Ford. A million. Retrieved July 20, That was what Jesus said. He not only explains how The Family operates, identifying a dizzying assortment of Members at every level of Society, but delves into its motives, failures and successes. Everything is done through private channels, and no documentation exists. This is the product of years of journalistic research about and involvement in American fundamentalism as it pertains to U. I learned some things I didn't know, but the weaknesses of the book detracted from the more important points about the mix of religion and politics that Sharlet made. And then it hit me on page 48 when one of the men in the Family purportedly said "I have enjoyed, in the past anyway, the complete absence of doubt. There are no reviews yet. The author's primary interest, however, is in the dialectics of power obtaining between elites, particularly as they've played out since the Depression. For Sharlet, Vereide "stood at the vanguard of an elite fundamentalism that shaped the last half century of American and world politics in ways only now becoming visible". The breadth of reach of its tentacles is breathtaking. Mostly they are afraid of a changing nation. I was a bit surprised to find Hilary Clinton referenced. Better World Books. Sharlet's grotesque description of Edwards is really shocking, and I wanted to confirm that my understanding of Edwards was founded on something other than my failing memory of these books. Had a hard time finishing this book. But they bound themselves together in an agreement I can only hope he continues bringing to light the shadow cult of personality of Doug Coe and the power elite of the Family that makes its own rules and has skillfully conned countless leaders into doing its will. On issues with which I was familiar he seems to be off-base. And those boundaries have been dangerously blurred of late. The style complaint hurts Sharlet in the place where it really matters: I don't like to just take his word for it so easily, but it's hard to distinguish when he is presenting someone else's view, his own opinion, a supposed fact, a hyperbolic observation, etc. Sharlet calls it "the Idea" — a flexible faith for an expanding American empire which is so lacking in content that even the Muslim General Suharto can come on board: Vereide valued submission to power rather than belief, and this concern with "power", Sharlet suggests, motivates the Family's strategy. Jun 06, Mark rated it really liked it Recommends it for: political junkies, freethinkers. It also gave me a different picture if the candidate I supported In public we see the Prayer Breakfasts, and in Al Gore's name-dropping of Vereide's successor Doug Coe in debate with James Inhofe, but in private there are prayer cells and retreat houses where Family theology facilitates a back-channel of influence and networking both in the USA and abroad. The author's thesis is that Christianity, founded as it is on notions of special, as opposed to natural, revelation, on the bible rather than on scientific investigation, has been an enduring feature of American history since early colonial days.