Faith in the Halls of Power

After speaking with many of my friends and colleagues, I realize now that I am one of the last people to read Michael Lindsay's Faith in the Halls of Power: How Evangelicals Joined the American Elite.What a great book! I have just added it as a required text for my students to read for my upcoming course on "Contemporary Religious Issues."

I nearly busted out laughing right before bed one night after reading a quotation from Barbara Nicolosi, the head of the faith-based program Act One. In describing the different views of evangelicals with regard to  Hollywood, and specifically Act One, Lindsay writes:

Although nearly every Hollywood evangelical I met speaks very highly of the program, segments of the evangelical world remain unsupportive. One Focus on the Family staff member met Nicolosi at a writers' conference in North Carolina and remarked, "We don't need Hollywood because we have Focus on the Family... We provide enough for any family to raise their children with." Incredulous, Nicolosi says, "I was like, 'What, are you smoking, crack?'"

 It is material like this that raises the bar for academic writing. Why don''t more scholars introduce humor in their writing?