The Jesus People: Old-Time Religion in the Age of Aquarius

by Ronald M. Enroth, Edward E. Ericson Jr., C. Breckinridge Peters

Book by Ronald M. Enroth, Jr., Edward E. Erickson, C. Breckenridge Peters

Genres: History

249 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1972

Reviews

[Heidi · Rating 4 out of 5]

Full disclosure: I picked this book up because my husband and I are both millennials who've gotten a bit cynical about our parents and what their generation did to American Christianity, and we've recently been asking ourselves what on earth happened back in the 1970s that drove the Baby Boomers to...well...turn out the way they did. This book did not disappoint, and it connected a lot of dots for me. It's an utterly fascinating read, especially with 40 years of distance to lend some perspective.

Written in 1972, at the peak of the Jesus movement, The Jesus People is a ethnographic overview of a youth movement that flummoxed the established church and garnered extensive media attention. It traces the history of the movement, describes the major players and groups, and outlines the dominant theological trends.

While the authors made no attempt to remain objective and injected a fair amount of commentary and critique along the way, they avoided the sensationalism and dismissiveness that much of the other media of the day fell prey to. They clearly spent an extensive amount of time following the Jesus People, interviewing them, and working to understand their motivations and ideals.

Forty years after the peak of the Jesus People movement, this book remains valuable as a piece of 20th century religious history, a snapshot of a religious movement which has shaped mainstream American Christianity today.

[Steven H · Rating 5 out of 5]

THREE WRITERS PROVIDE A CAUTIOUS ASSESSMENT

The authors wrote in the Foreword to this 1972 book, “As far as the facts are concerned, this book is a description of the state of the Jesus Movement as of the fall of 1971.” They add in the Introduction, “Hippies and drug addicts are becoming Christians in significant numbers… The new Christians are known variously as Jesus Freaks, Jesus People, Street Christians… many of those involved in this new movement were formerly on drugs… lor had adopted the transient life style of dropouts from straight society… We have chosen the blander term ‘The Jesus People’ … because not all of the new converts have used drugs or rejected straight society, though the majority… have.” (Pg. 9)

They chronicle the Alamo Christian Foundation, noting that “The contrast between the Alamos and their disciples is unbelievable. Tony, forty-ish and a few years younger than his wife, is a picture-book example of successful America. He and Susie live … in the hills of Studio City overlooking Hollywood.” (Pg. 59-60) They continue, “As would be expected, drugs, drinking, and social dancing are prohibited [for disciples]. (Cigarette smoking is not on the list of forbidden fruits. The exception can be traced to Tony’s post conversion experience of scorn and ridicule by an established church for his tobacco habit, in spite of his supernatural encounter with God. The sin is admitted by Susan but dismissed conveniently as a ‘sin of the flesh not of the soul,’ quite like overeating.)” (Pg. 63)

They report of Arthur Blessitt, “The days when His Place hosed ‘the hottest head in town’ appear to be at an end in Hollywood. The [Sunset] Strip itself s withered; the action has shifted to Hollywood Boulevard… In its prime the Strip became a target for the strict enforcement of anti-loitering laws… What remains of the ministry Blessitt had on the Strip has been altered in the face of the exodus… Blessitt himself has been unable to adapt to the changing situation and to the possibility of a ministry less spectacular, less adventurous, and less successful (in terms of numbers of conversions…)” (Pg. 69, 71)

They note that a criticism of the Jesus People is “the prevalence of hip jargon in a spiritual context… the use of such language … ‘lowers Christ to a worldly level. Jesus is not a cool cat; He’s not hip; God’s not groovy’…” (Pg. 98)

Turning to the Christian World Liberation Front (CWLF), they observe, “Probably straight Christians are most confused by CWLF’s use of revolutionary-sounding language and hip jargon… Some outsiders accuse CWLF of espousing liberal and radical political causes. Actually the organization bends over backward to avoid any kind of political label. As an organization it is clearly apolitical..” (Pg. 109)

They point out, “the periphery of the movement is presently supporting a growing number of teaching ministries. The most impressive are those headed by ex-staff members of Campus Crusade for Christ. Several disaffectd former associates of Bill Bright---among them … Hal Lindsey… share the flourishing anti-institutionalism common to the movement, but they lack other trappings…” (Pg. 136)

They continue, “The best known of these works is the J.C. Light and Power House, administered by Lindsey and [Bill] Counts… [It] is a live-in arrangement equipped to handle up to forty residents… Members of the co-ed… pay $125 a month for room and board… the fame of the house … no doubt results from Lindsey’s authorship of ‘The Late Great Planet Earth’…” (Pg. 137-138) They add, “Though the goal of the J.C. Light and Power House… may square with that of the Jesus Movement as a whole, the method of Lindsey and Counts is quite removed as a whole from the mainline Jesus Movement… [It] prefers more traditional patterns of instruction.” (Pg. 140)

They explain, “Hollywood Presbyterian Church has perhaps penetrated the movement more successfully than any other representative of the establishment. As early as 1968… Hollywood Presbyterian Church opened the Salt Company, one of the first coffee house ministries… [It] is still somewhat of an alien in a strange land… there is far more substance to it than the clever bumper stickers and colorful buttons might suggest… the various outgrowths of Hollywood Presbyterian attempt to infuse the surrounding revolution with a deeper, more intellectual dimension than the movement itself seems interested in.” (Pg. 144-145)

They conclude, “Which way will the Jesus People go? They had better … [avoid] permanent and irreconcilable alienation from the church, which for all its faults is still the main bearer of the tradition of the historical Christian faith… Simply because the Holy Spirt may be considered to be present within the movement does not guarantee that only good results can possibly come… The net result of the Jesus Movement cold be a situation worse than before the movement ever appeared. We do not think that such will be the case, and we devoutly pray that it will not be so.” (Pg. 246)

This book will be of great interest to anyone studying the Jesus People movement.

[Phyllis · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was on my husband’s bookshelf for years, and he pulled it out to show me during a conversation we were having the other day about a church we used to attend in San Francisco in the 1970s and 80s. Once I started reading, I couldn’t put it down. Published in 1972, it’s about a “movement” of young evangelical Christians that emerged in the late 1960s-early 1970s. This was about me and “my people,” and I was curious about how our story fit in with the book’s research on the beliefs, the cults, and the churches of that time.

In our late teens, we eloped and joined a Christian commune in early 1973 in Southern CA, after first attending Calvary Chapel in Costa Mesa, CA in 1972. The commune turned into a cult not long after we all moved to Vancouver, WA and my husband and I soon escaped. (Could have been an example from this book). A few years later my husband and I were living in San Francisco and cautiously began attending a church called Park Presidio Bible Church, which coincidentally was formerly pastored by Edward E. Plowman, who is mentioned in this book and was strongly involved in the “Jesus Movement.” In fact, he wrote a book similar to The Jesus People, mentioning many of the same people and documenting the same facts about hippies who gave up drugs for Jesus, and lived in communes and cults.

I found The Jesus People to be engrossing from a historical point of view, but disappointing to me as it ended too soon. So much happened after 1972 related to the various Christian churches and leaders. The “movement” began in the late 1960s and there was so much more to be written after this was published in 1972. For instance, Calvary Chapel and its founder Chuck Smith (and Lonnie Frisbee) are mentioned in passing, while today the church is a well-established international foundation of 1,800 churches. The authors had no idea at that time which groups would become cults and which would go on to become healthy, lifechanging organizations. The perspective of time makes a difference!

There are some black and white photos scattered throughout the book, but I would have liked more images. Nonetheless, this is a valuable and fascinating historic snapshot of a unique time of idealistic believers, sincere leaders, and manipulative cults. 3.5 stars rounded up to 4.

[Tor · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this book because I wanted to gain a sense of the Christian movement of my parents' generation -- one I know my mother was deeply influenced by. This book is a fascinating look at a particular pocket of time in American Christianity, and while the movement itself has long faded away, so much of it managed to maintain its influence and continue to carry over into today. The authors of this book, at the time of the writing, had no way to predict what Christianity would become or how much of the ideas that they felt were unsustainable would still be around today.

In the chapter "The Last Days" they wonder at what will happen to a generation that sees itself as the fulfillment of end times prophecies, "the last generation of youth to walk the face of the earth." They wonder, "If this is not the last generation, someone will have a lot of pieces to pick up -- and that someone will have to have a Christian faith not so thoroughly linked to the fiercely apocalyptic mood of the Jesus People. (pg. 193) They had no way of knowing at the time how much that "fiercely apocalyptic mood" would remain by the sheer dissonance of people who are so convinced that they *cannot* and *will not* die because Jesus will *absolutely* return in their lifetime. That failed prophecies would not necessarily shake the faith, but merely be reinterpreted to be about *now* rather then *then*. In that regard, this book was a bit of a melancholy read -- what they predicted as detrimental and unsustainable managed to continue to sustain itself beyond what they realized.

It's a well-written book -- not objective, obviously, but bias are made known and they attempt very much to be fair, to not generalize the entirety of the Jesus People movement onto everyone. They acknowledge its diversity, and they pinpoint some good ideas as to *why* this movement gained traction. I'm not a Christian anymore, but I found this very readable, and it certainly helped me make some sense of my Pentecostal upbringing.

[Carly Trask-Kuchta · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pretty solid

[Scott Holstad · Rating 4 out of 5]

I survived this movement. It's like everyone in my parents' generation and their own scene took some type of religious LSD. Interesting book. Provides some context...