Consulting the Faithful: What Christian Intellectuals Can Learn from Popular Religion

This book is a credible discussion of the usefulness and credibility of popular Christian culture - in its artifacts and intents. I found the discussion very useful. I am not likely to go out and buy a plastic Jesus for my dashboard, but that is because I have a palm cross on my visor/sunscreen - pinned there since Palm Sunday last. I also have an iconic cross hanging from my rearview mirror on a beaded string which is not a rosary but more like a chotki. While my choices seem to me to be more substantial than a plastic Jesus, this author granted me insight into both my motivations and the motivations of those who might choose a plastic Jesus. In fact, I found this book a large "yes" to the Chestertonian idea that tradition arising from the laity is to be listened to closely - and not just the highbrow tradition! This is an excellent discussion of the nature of the community of the faithful in which intellectuals and those not so considered are equally members of the Body, each capable of their respective important contributions to devotion, art, and faithful expression of their belief as it impacts their lives: body, mind, and spirit.