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# Posted 12:21 AM by Ariel David Adesnik

READING LIST: I've gotten lots of great messages in response to my posts on Left Behind. In addition to personal experiences, readers have been sharing their recommendations for what books to read to learn about evangelical Christianity.

Reader AW recommends Mine Eyes Have Seen the Glory: A Journey into the Evangelical Subculture of America by Randall Balmer. RH recommends a novel, This Present Darkness by Frank Peretti.

Finally, I'm going to recommend Amy Prykholm's Rapture Culture: Left Behind in Evangelical America, of which I have now read the first 60 pages. The WaPo published a very negative review of the book which says that it is hopelessly mired in post-modern jargon.

I disagree completely. Some of the jargon is there, but you can safely ignore and focus on the book's real message. Prykholm is an avowed secular feminist, but she develops an impressive degree of empathy for those who love Left Behind.

However, the WaPo does provide one delightful elbow to the ribs, directed at both Prykholm and fellow scholar H. Hendershot:

Hendershot, rather than analyzing with care the tendency of evangelical media to preach to the choir, seems content simply to lament it. Neither author seems to notice that this same tendency is rife in virtually all didactic entertainment, from Michael Moore's films to Rush Limbaugh's radio schtick. Why should evangelical media be any different?

Hehehehe.

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