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The Road Trip that Changed the World: The Unlikely Theory that will Change How You View Culture, the Church, and, Most Importantly, Yourself
What if the problem is us? Sixty years ago a goatee beard would have gotten you beat up in a lot of places. Chin fuzz was the symbol of the Beats or Beatniks, a mid-century, marginal group who pioneered a new kind of lifestyle. Their approach to life was hedonistic, experiential, fluid, and individualistic. Their contradictory approach to spirituality combined a search for God with a search for 'kicks'.
In 1947, these Beatnik heroes set out on a road trip across America re-writing the "life-script"; of all future generations. Theirs was a new kind of lifestyle for a secular age. Their lives then (like so many of our lives now) were built upon experience, pleasure, mobility and self-discovery. They would also model a new approach to desiring Christ, while still pursuing a laundry list of vices. Yet this dream would turn into a nightmare and the open road would lead back to an ancient half-forgotten path.
This was a path trodden by millions of feet over thousands of years. It was a path that began with a single step of faith as a pilgrim named Abraham stepped away from a cynical culture. A path of devotion that would lead to a cross on a hill named Golgotha.
In 1947, these Beatnik heroes set out on a road trip across America re-writing the "life-script"; of all future generations. Theirs was a new kind of lifestyle for a secular age. Their lives then (like so many of our lives now) were built upon experience, pleasure, mobility and self-discovery. They would also model a new approach to desiring Christ, while still pursuing a laundry list of vices. Yet this dream would turn into a nightmare and the open road would lead back to an ancient half-forgotten path.
This was a path trodden by millions of feet over thousands of years. It was a path that began with a single step of faith as a pilgrim named Abraham stepped away from a cynical culture. A path of devotion that would lead to a cross on a hill named Golgotha.
288 pages, Paperback
First published April 20, 2012
61 people are currently reading
959 people want to read
About the author
Mark Sayers
20 books260 followersMark Sayers is the senior leader of Red Church and the cofounder of Über Ministries. He is particularly interested in the intersection between Christianity and the culture of the West. Mark lives in Melbourne, Australia, with his wife, Trudi, and their daughter (Grace) and twin boys (Hudson and Billy).
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 46 reviews
February 21, 2013
Karl Barth used to teach his young students to read the Bible and the newspaper at the same time, so that they could interpret culture through the grand story of Scripture.
Mark Sayers is a champion at this.
The Road Trip That Changed The World is a diagnostic narrative on the lightweight spirituality we inherited from Jack Kerouac, who, in his novel, On The Road, reacted against the conformity of the 1940’s by abandoning home, family, and place in search of the unfettered freedom of the road. But even if you haven't read Kerouac's definitive work on the Beatnik generation, you are certainly affected by it along with the rest of our culture. Ever wonder why American Christianity seems so lackluster and flimsy? Well, this is a book you should read. Sayers gives extensive treatment of Kerouac's worldview--known hereby as "The Road"--that wound up affecting the spiritual climate of Western culture with consumerism, individualism, and a thirst for change. Charting this affect as it ripples through decades of both secular and Christian culture, a reoccurring theme in The Road Trip is that people today want a spiritual experience without being shackled down to the spiritual requirements. This "on-a-journey-with-no-destination" mentality paved the way for the Sixties, and post-Christian America, creeping all the way to the coast, with California symbolizing a dead-end to a spiritually frustrating road trip. In what Sayers describes as our endless search for the next "woosh" moment, life became a series of cheap thrills with no backstory.
The book begins with an illustration of a fork in the road which helps bring together two major sections.
The first section is the diagnosis. He presents the road of unrestricted hedonism that our culture is following. Chapters 5 through 15 work out some of the less desirable implications that go with the journey on "The Road." Sayers is a masterful story-teller, so you never feel like you're sitting through a history lecture. It feels more like theatre. In Seinfeld-ian style, the reader is drawn through vignettes of American culture, before piecing them together into an image revealing how deeply this generation is hurting. One of my favorites was his portrayal of Sayyid Qutb, whose religious devotion provided a contrast to Kerouac's shallow excesses. These vignettes all serve as indictments against the thin spirituality so common in our culture.
The second section is the prescription. Sayers directs the Christian on a different road with the cross in view. He calls for consumeristic Christians to come back to the gospel, and the rich practices of historic Christianity. Sayers pleas for a church with "believers who are deep"(267), in an attempt to peel back the lid that has stifled the Christian imagination. He often explains the worldview of "The Road" alongside destructive facets of contemporary culture that came as a direct result. While his conclusions are more broad and immeasurable than I was hoping for, it was still a much-needed call for returning to the self-denial that used to identify a disciple of Jesus. And throughout these 271 pages, the visible backdrop of the gospel looms, with a hope that transcends cultural and social norms by evoking our hearts with a greater story.
Mark Sayers is a champion at this.
The Road Trip That Changed The World is a diagnostic narrative on the lightweight spirituality we inherited from Jack Kerouac, who, in his novel, On The Road, reacted against the conformity of the 1940’s by abandoning home, family, and place in search of the unfettered freedom of the road. But even if you haven't read Kerouac's definitive work on the Beatnik generation, you are certainly affected by it along with the rest of our culture. Ever wonder why American Christianity seems so lackluster and flimsy? Well, this is a book you should read. Sayers gives extensive treatment of Kerouac's worldview--known hereby as "The Road"--that wound up affecting the spiritual climate of Western culture with consumerism, individualism, and a thirst for change. Charting this affect as it ripples through decades of both secular and Christian culture, a reoccurring theme in The Road Trip is that people today want a spiritual experience without being shackled down to the spiritual requirements. This "on-a-journey-with-no-destination" mentality paved the way for the Sixties, and post-Christian America, creeping all the way to the coast, with California symbolizing a dead-end to a spiritually frustrating road trip. In what Sayers describes as our endless search for the next "woosh" moment, life became a series of cheap thrills with no backstory.
The book begins with an illustration of a fork in the road which helps bring together two major sections.
The first section is the diagnosis. He presents the road of unrestricted hedonism that our culture is following. Chapters 5 through 15 work out some of the less desirable implications that go with the journey on "The Road." Sayers is a masterful story-teller, so you never feel like you're sitting through a history lecture. It feels more like theatre. In Seinfeld-ian style, the reader is drawn through vignettes of American culture, before piecing them together into an image revealing how deeply this generation is hurting. One of my favorites was his portrayal of Sayyid Qutb, whose religious devotion provided a contrast to Kerouac's shallow excesses. These vignettes all serve as indictments against the thin spirituality so common in our culture.
The second section is the prescription. Sayers directs the Christian on a different road with the cross in view. He calls for consumeristic Christians to come back to the gospel, and the rich practices of historic Christianity. Sayers pleas for a church with "believers who are deep"(267), in an attempt to peel back the lid that has stifled the Christian imagination. He often explains the worldview of "The Road" alongside destructive facets of contemporary culture that came as a direct result. While his conclusions are more broad and immeasurable than I was hoping for, it was still a much-needed call for returning to the self-denial that used to identify a disciple of Jesus. And throughout these 271 pages, the visible backdrop of the gospel looms, with a hope that transcends cultural and social norms by evoking our hearts with a greater story.
July 13, 2012
A potent, cogent critique of contemporary Christianity using two "road trips" as the framework. Jack Kerouac's book "On the Road", which the author argues had a profound impact on culture including religious culture. In contrast, the author considers the Old Testament story of Abraham to be paradigmatic for articulating what the Christian journey should be. Essentially, Sayers believes that modern Christianity is superficial, directionless, and powerless. He calls modern Christians back to an Abrahamic road trip of total commitment.
This book is an excellent read and Sayers uses language poetically and powerfully. I couldn't help thinking, though, that Sayer's view is perhaps a romantic yearning for a world and a Christianity that may not be possible in the 21st century. It's definitely a provocative perspective and worthy of every thinking Christian's time to read it.
This book is an excellent read and Sayers uses language poetically and powerfully. I couldn't help thinking, though, that Sayer's view is perhaps a romantic yearning for a world and a Christianity that may not be possible in the 21st century. It's definitely a provocative perspective and worthy of every thinking Christian's time to read it.
January 22, 2024
Made me think a lot!
September 10, 2019
This book will be absolutely fascinating and extremely helpful for anyone with an interest in the cultural and philosophical shifts that have defined America since WWII. Many church leaders have struggled with how to lead the church forward in light of these profound cultural developments. Mark Sayers excellently takes us through history, based in Jack Kerouac’s popularized Road-Trip philosophy, to show us how we’ve gotten to our current state and lays out a theological map to guide us through these unsettled times.
Some quotes from the book might whet your appetite:
Sayers points out the “contradictory picture of the worldview of the culture of the road. On one hand we wish for a Godless reality, looking for meaning in the immanent, and on the other hand looking for a greater sense of meaning, a force in the cosmos that tells us that our lives matter, a god who will offer us a chance at the eternal.” This attempt to join two opposites, “helps us understand how many in our culture can hold to a fuzzy kind of belief in God, yet also simultaneously act like atheists."
“The ideas of covenant and wholehearted commitment are anathema to the culture of the road, which is grounded in ideas of personal autonomy and radical individualism.” However, “Instead of escaping the commitments we find ourselves in we must reorient our perspective, re-envisioning those commitments as God’s classrooms of spiritual formation.”
“The choice before us is now clear. To follow our culture’s collection of stories that go nowhere, to believe that the world is a meaningless place, out of which we can only hope to eke out passing moments of pleasure. To follow a road which at the end of our lives will leave us only with a well-groomed Facebook page, a collection of digital photos, and a library of downloadable songs and movies. Our lives will be reduced to a digital memorial that can be erased with the click of a mouse. We will live and die as shallow people living in a shallow culture."
In contrast to several other books I’ve read on American culture, I appreciated Sayer’s conclusion: “The need of the hour is not for a church that is relevant. We do not need to infect the world with a generation of believers who are hip and cool; we need a Church, and we need believers who are deep.”
I highly recommend this book to anyone interested in American culture and religion.
Some quotes from the book might whet your appetite:
Sayers points out the “contradictory picture of the worldview of the culture of the road. On one hand we wish for a Godless reality, looking for meaning in the immanent, and on the other hand looking for a greater sense of meaning, a force in the cosmos that tells us that our lives matter, a god who will offer us a chance at the eternal.” This attempt to join two opposites, “helps us understand how many in our culture can hold to a fuzzy kind of belief in God, yet also simultaneously act like atheists."
“The ideas of covenant and wholehearted commitment are anathema to the culture of the road, which is grounded in ideas of personal autonomy and radical individualism.” However, “Instead of escaping the commitments we find ourselves in we must reorient our perspective, re-envisioning those commitments as God’s classrooms of spiritual formation.”
“The choice before us is now clear. To follow our culture’s collection of stories that go nowhere, to believe that the world is a meaningless place, out of which we can only hope to eke out passing moments of pleasure. To follow a road which at the end of our lives will leave us only with a well-groomed Facebook page, a collection of digital photos, and a library of downloadable songs and movies. Our lives will be reduced to a digital memorial that can be erased with the click of a mouse. We will live and die as shallow people living in a shallow culture."
In contrast to several other books I’ve read on American culture, I appreciated Sayer’s conclusion: “The need of the hour is not for a church that is relevant. We do not need to infect the world with a generation of believers who are hip and cool; we need a Church, and we need believers who are deep.”
I highly recommend this book to anyone interested in American culture and religion.
June 22, 2019
Mark Sayers is a sage. This book shows the emptiness of secularism and unpacks its roots. Sayers talks a lot about Jack Kerouac and his book "On the Road." I've never read it but now I basically have read it. Sayers shows how religion and living for self can be so closely tied together in modern America. We oddly want the transcendence of religious experience but with no sort of commitment or devotion to God that would result in moral living. This is impossible. Christians need to be strange again and Sayers is the perfect prophet to lead us there.
June 17, 2024
3.5 stars. Mark Sayers is undoubtably a brilliant social commentator and an excellent communicator. I really liked the premise of the book, but I think it could have been shorter while still conveying its points. I really enjoyed the middle and the end of the book, but the middle dragged and felt a bit repetitive.
May 27, 2012
Australian pastor and author Mark Sayers put out a request for reviews of his new book, The Road Trip that Changed the World a few weeks ago, and I’m happy today to take him up on it. I had previously read his book Vertical Self and enjoyed it quite a bit, so I was looking forward to his newest offering.
The Road Trip that Changed the World draws its title and chief topic from the classic American novel On The Road by Jack Kerouac. Sayers examines how Kerouac’s novel incited a generation to leave the ideals of home, family, and place and instead to chase the dream of the road, the hope of whatever lays just beyond the horizon.
He spends a good chapter discussing our search for the transcendent, and notes how when we fail to notice and embrace the transcendence in the material here and now, we end up constantly looking for the next “woosh” – a fleeting moment of awe that makes us feel alive but quickly leaves us searching for the next hit.
The first two-thirds of the book is devoted to this examination of the shift in American culture brought on by Kerouac; the last third brings things around to the gospel. Sayers discusses Abraham as “the first counter-cultural rebel”, and traces a path through the Old and New Testaments, ultimately concluding that we need to reject the endless search for the “woosh” over the horizon, instead finding joy and meaning and transcendence in the here and now, as we experience true community and relationship with God.
I’ll say this – Sayers has the spirit of the times nailed. If anything, I didn’t respond to it more because it already seemed so familiar. His diagnosis of cynicism, distance, and the search for transcendence in “woosh” moments is right on. His prescription of embracing community and finding transcendence in experiencing God is a call appropriate for the time. If my cynical generation is willing to hear it, The Road Trip that Changed the World is a great call back to what really matters.
Note: I was provided a free copy of the book in return for reading and posting a fair review.
The Road Trip that Changed the World draws its title and chief topic from the classic American novel On The Road by Jack Kerouac. Sayers examines how Kerouac’s novel incited a generation to leave the ideals of home, family, and place and instead to chase the dream of the road, the hope of whatever lays just beyond the horizon.
He spends a good chapter discussing our search for the transcendent, and notes how when we fail to notice and embrace the transcendence in the material here and now, we end up constantly looking for the next “woosh” – a fleeting moment of awe that makes us feel alive but quickly leaves us searching for the next hit.
The first two-thirds of the book is devoted to this examination of the shift in American culture brought on by Kerouac; the last third brings things around to the gospel. Sayers discusses Abraham as “the first counter-cultural rebel”, and traces a path through the Old and New Testaments, ultimately concluding that we need to reject the endless search for the “woosh” over the horizon, instead finding joy and meaning and transcendence in the here and now, as we experience true community and relationship with God.
I’ll say this – Sayers has the spirit of the times nailed. If anything, I didn’t respond to it more because it already seemed so familiar. His diagnosis of cynicism, distance, and the search for transcendence in “woosh” moments is right on. His prescription of embracing community and finding transcendence in experiencing God is a call appropriate for the time. If my cynical generation is willing to hear it, The Road Trip that Changed the World is a great call back to what really matters.
Note: I was provided a free copy of the book in return for reading and posting a fair review.
March 1, 2020
It’s hard to understand what Sayers is doing in this book. It seems a jumble of stories and social commentary (which is all brilliant) but without much cohesion and flow of argument through the book. There are amazing insights into human life and culture from Jack Kerouac, Sayyid Qutb and Takashi Nagai.
I was disappointed, however, with his insights from the Bible which read as illustrations of his theme not clear exposition that makes God’s word heard today. Sayers wants a deeper Christianity, and I finished the book wanting him to have taught that deeper Christianity from the Bible. He nails the need for it, but struggled to unveil it with clarity.
I was disappointed, however, with his insights from the Bible which read as illustrations of his theme not clear exposition that makes God’s word heard today. Sayers wants a deeper Christianity, and I finished the book wanting him to have taught that deeper Christianity from the Bible. He nails the need for it, but struggled to unveil it with clarity.
February 26, 2013
Interesting contrast - Jack Kerouac's road vs. the Christian journey. I really believe the first part of this book is over my head, to be honest, but I could relate to the last half. ;-) I wonder if "On the Road" was really all that important and defining. Perhaps. Our lives have definitely changed in hundreds of ways since Kerouac's pleasure-seeking days, but unfortunately, we still live in a hedonistic world; we often prioritize impulsively, and we need an Anchor to give us objectives, passion and a purpose.
March 18, 2013
I read Kerouac's book first & found this reflection on it very helpful - for a perspective on Kerouac & the themes of contemporary culture that influence my life & ministry. I expected Sayers to be a bit more unconventionally radical but I found him radical in the sense of calling us back to the life found in Jesus - engaging in covenant relationships & accepting a role as God's ambassadors to a sick world. Very insightful & pulls no punches.
June 19, 2024
Sayers documents the cultural shift that led to the abandonment of objective truth in favour of subjective sensation. Our culture is becoming a "feelie" world in which something is something is only true and real if we can palpably feel it. Truth is reduced into that which makes me feel good. Thus we prefer a form of faith that does not ask us to encounter our pain, to deny ourselves, to grow in areas that may be uncomfortable. (p116)
Christian Smith and Melinda Lundquist Denton, researching the religious views of teens, discovered that - across the board, Christian, Jewish, Hindu and Buddhist - teens held to Moral Therapeutic Deism. Its tenets are:
1. a God exists who created and orders the world and watches over human life on earth.
2. God wants people to be good, nice, and fair to each other, as taught in the Bible and by most world religions.
3. The central goal of life is to be happy and feel good about oneself.
4. God does not need to be particularly involved in one's life except when God is needed to resolve a problem.
5. Good people go to heaven. (p138)
Jesus lived in a world of religious factions: liberal Sadducees, evangelical-like Pharisees, countercultural Essenes, politically-minded Zealots. Scholars today try to place Him in one of these factions. (p173)
Adam's sin of passivity leads to the expulsion from Eden and the breaking of relationship with God, creation and others. It leads to the murder of Abel and is foundational to the modern world's desire to escape responsibility. (p177)
The resemblance between songlines and the walk of Abraham as a shomer. (p182)
As the Father breathed the breath of life into Adam, so Jesus breathed the life of the Holy Spirit into His disciples. (p185)
The shomer becomes the shaliah. (p186)
Leon Kass writes; " In creating man, God had breathed life into the ruddy earth (adamah) to create adam, the ruddy earthling. In contrast, the earthlings here [at Babel] burn the ruddy earth into ghostly and lifeless (white) brick. The word for brick, levenah, comes from a root, lavan, meaning white. In this subtle way, the text already hints that man's creative project is in fact a reversal of God's creation of man, and that its results may well be deadly." (p194)
The desire of the builders of Babel to make a name for themselves is a desire to be remembered for posterity. They are mimicking God who, by giving humanity a name, indicated power over them. In turn God gave humanity the power to name creation. The builders of Babel want to cast off God's authority and rename themselves. (p196)
Richard Keyes makes the observation that idols come in pairs. The nearby idol which serves the human need for dominion, control and autonomy. The faraway idol does not burden the worshipper with expectations or morals. (p199f)
The modern Moloch is God as the facilitator of our personal dreams. We sacrifice God's future of promise and potential for gratification in the moment. (p205f)
Theory and travel are linked words. A "theorin", a detached viewer, was a citizen who would travel to a Greek city to observe a religious ceremony. (p226)
God's lessons in covenantal living to Abraham were to model a contrast to the sexual and marital relationships in the world around him. Marriage is for character formation, not for fulfillment of romantic and ego needs. (p237f)
GK Chesterton on virtues going mad and doing more damage than vices. (p250)
Christian Smith and Melinda Lundquist Denton, researching the religious views of teens, discovered that - across the board, Christian, Jewish, Hindu and Buddhist - teens held to Moral Therapeutic Deism. Its tenets are:
1. a God exists who created and orders the world and watches over human life on earth.
2. God wants people to be good, nice, and fair to each other, as taught in the Bible and by most world religions.
3. The central goal of life is to be happy and feel good about oneself.
4. God does not need to be particularly involved in one's life except when God is needed to resolve a problem.
5. Good people go to heaven. (p138)
Jesus lived in a world of religious factions: liberal Sadducees, evangelical-like Pharisees, countercultural Essenes, politically-minded Zealots. Scholars today try to place Him in one of these factions. (p173)
Adam's sin of passivity leads to the expulsion from Eden and the breaking of relationship with God, creation and others. It leads to the murder of Abel and is foundational to the modern world's desire to escape responsibility. (p177)
The resemblance between songlines and the walk of Abraham as a shomer. (p182)
As the Father breathed the breath of life into Adam, so Jesus breathed the life of the Holy Spirit into His disciples. (p185)
The shomer becomes the shaliah. (p186)
Leon Kass writes; " In creating man, God had breathed life into the ruddy earth (adamah) to create adam, the ruddy earthling. In contrast, the earthlings here [at Babel] burn the ruddy earth into ghostly and lifeless (white) brick. The word for brick, levenah, comes from a root, lavan, meaning white. In this subtle way, the text already hints that man's creative project is in fact a reversal of God's creation of man, and that its results may well be deadly." (p194)
The desire of the builders of Babel to make a name for themselves is a desire to be remembered for posterity. They are mimicking God who, by giving humanity a name, indicated power over them. In turn God gave humanity the power to name creation. The builders of Babel want to cast off God's authority and rename themselves. (p196)
Richard Keyes makes the observation that idols come in pairs. The nearby idol which serves the human need for dominion, control and autonomy. The faraway idol does not burden the worshipper with expectations or morals. (p199f)
The modern Moloch is God as the facilitator of our personal dreams. We sacrifice God's future of promise and potential for gratification in the moment. (p205f)
Theory and travel are linked words. A "theorin", a detached viewer, was a citizen who would travel to a Greek city to observe a religious ceremony. (p226)
God's lessons in covenantal living to Abraham were to model a contrast to the sexual and marital relationships in the world around him. Marriage is for character formation, not for fulfillment of romantic and ego needs. (p237f)
GK Chesterton on virtues going mad and doing more damage than vices. (p250)
August 19, 2017
It has been a good summer for reading. And this was either top of or near the top of the list.
Charles Taylor wrote a book far too thick for me called A Secular Age. James Smith wrote a brief and more accessible version of it Called "How Not to be Secular." This book by Mark - a Forge Guy - is yet another and perhaps even prior book in the direction of Taylor. And it is superb, accessible and timely.
I was thrilled with the way he wrote. Easy to get into. I was challenged with his prophetic call to the church to re-enter into covenant, and to pay attention to what we have done to our faith. I was encouraged with his vision of life with Christ, that compels us as followers of Christ to never settle for less than life with him.
A Wonderful read... worth reading in a group and wrestling with the implications. But just don't read it... put it into practice.
Charles Taylor wrote a book far too thick for me called A Secular Age. James Smith wrote a brief and more accessible version of it Called "How Not to be Secular." This book by Mark - a Forge Guy - is yet another and perhaps even prior book in the direction of Taylor. And it is superb, accessible and timely.
I was thrilled with the way he wrote. Easy to get into. I was challenged with his prophetic call to the church to re-enter into covenant, and to pay attention to what we have done to our faith. I was encouraged with his vision of life with Christ, that compels us as followers of Christ to never settle for less than life with him.
A Wonderful read... worth reading in a group and wrestling with the implications. But just don't read it... put it into practice.
September 8, 2020
End of the Road
This book was recommended to me a couple years ago. I wish I had read it sooner. In a strange coincidence I had also been reading Letter to the Church by Francis Chan. Both see the church and the Christian culture have gone off the trail. It’s taking the wide path. The middle of the road instead of the pioneering path created by God. This is parallel with stories of Kerouac, a man who’s experiences in America led him to write about its evils and eventually influencing Osama Bin Laden. There is also hope as we see a man who’s last few years of life because beacon of hope for those who survived the atomic bomb on Nagasaki. Powerful book and my description is not doing it justice.
This book was recommended to me a couple years ago. I wish I had read it sooner. In a strange coincidence I had also been reading Letter to the Church by Francis Chan. Both see the church and the Christian culture have gone off the trail. It’s taking the wide path. The middle of the road instead of the pioneering path created by God. This is parallel with stories of Kerouac, a man who’s experiences in America led him to write about its evils and eventually influencing Osama Bin Laden. There is also hope as we see a man who’s last few years of life because beacon of hope for those who survived the atomic bomb on Nagasaki. Powerful book and my description is not doing it justice.
January 25, 2019
I was first introduced to Mark Sayers through his podcast with John Mark Comer. Over the three seasons, I’ve come to admire how he adds history, culture, and context into discussions around what it means to be a follower of Jesus. In this book, he tackles our era of discontent and our “journeys” of faith and the gods we serve. I found it to be thought provoking; the comparison and contrast he gave between Abraham and the culture he lived in and the gods his father sold vs the God Abraham served was new to me.
March 30, 2019
I’d give this book 10 stars if I could. Mark Sayers, once again, does stellar cultural exegesis- uncovering the roots of a non-committal, post-Christian culture that wants meaning without devotion. Worship without sacrifice. A kingdom without a king.
He traces it all back to the birth of the beatnik culture of the post- WWII era By looking at the author Jack Kerouac and his ground breaking novel “On the Road”. This provides a beautifully woven backbone narrative for the book.
This book is faithful, intelligent, fair, and hopeful. Take up and read.
He traces it all back to the birth of the beatnik culture of the post- WWII era By looking at the author Jack Kerouac and his ground breaking novel “On the Road”. This provides a beautifully woven backbone narrative for the book.
This book is faithful, intelligent, fair, and hopeful. Take up and read.
September 23, 2021
This is an excellent book. Very much worth the read. The author uses On the Road by Jack Kerouac as a way for us to understand how American culture has been influenced by an ideology that is always "seeking" and "journeying." He suggests that we are running away from home, looking for self-actualization, but we are actually undercutting our own efforts in doing so. I highly recommend this work.
May 13, 2017
Whom do you live for?
Excellent. This short book makes you analyze your motives for living as you do. I also had to dedicate my life to God's call for me, rather than my call for me.
Excellent. This short book makes you analyze your motives for living as you do. I also had to dedicate my life to God's call for me, rather than my call for me.
June 24, 2017
The payoff of the book takes some time as Sayers takes you through the story of Jack Kerouac in the first 3/4 of the book, but once he gets to the point in the final chapters it all comes together excellently. Really good examination of how we got to where we are culturally.
January 30, 2020
Wow
Such a beautiful telling of such a mixed up world. From Mesopotamia to California. And such a tale of Atomic horror where the Cross becomes stronger. Amen, Mark. Amen dear Lord.
Such a beautiful telling of such a mixed up world. From Mesopotamia to California. And such a tale of Atomic horror where the Cross becomes stronger. Amen, Mark. Amen dear Lord.
February 22, 2021
Mark Sayers uncovers Kerouac’s immense influence on western culture and considers the implications on Christianity, the church, individualism and the road ahead. Sayers ability to name the cultural forces brewing in the cultural cauldron is a gift. Five stars.
September 28, 2022
This is a great book and one I would recommend to anyone in any kind of leadership. Many people turn to Christ, but a secular worldview persists in their outlook of life. This book describes the two roads that are opposed to each other.
November 29, 2018
Great book. Interesting insights into western culture.
April 13, 2019
A must read for Christians living in the West. This book has helped me understand myself in a completely new way.
August 16, 2019
A great read that I would recommend to anyone trying to understand what's wrong with our culture.
September 12, 2019
Very unique and incredible insight into where we are as a culture in relation to "the journeys," whether it be religious, spiritual, hedonistic, sexual or materialistic in nature.
January 9, 2020
Potentially one of the best books for understanding some of the sociological differences between secularism in the west and Christianity. If that is something that interests you, pick it up!
November 19, 2021
A really interesting premise that opens up your mind into the current state of how we see our faith and life based off of a cultural phenomenon.
May 26, 2023
One of the most insightful books I’ve ever read! Such a unique read and very humbling.
October 13, 2018
This book had some many elements that I enjoyed and I found myself really examining my own spiritual life. The author examines Jack Kerouac's book, "The Road" with how much it has affected thought and culture in America today. The combination of the literary analysis, with sociology and theology brought a lot of self examination on my own thoughts and spiritual life. I recommend anyone to read this if you are looking for some deep spiritual digging. This book now ranks one of my favorite nonfiction spiritual reads.
November 20, 2022
Completely flips the script on the values of modern culture.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 46 reviews