A review by nate_meyers
Celebrities for Jesus: How Personas, Platforms, and Profits Are Hurting the Church by Katelyn Beaty
3.0
My one-line review is that this book might've been more effective as a series of essays.
Even so, some of the books strengths are:
1. Effectively and efficiently chronicling the rise of celebrity culture within modern Christianity (Part 1 of the book) and describing three problematic temptations that intrinsically come with celebrity culture in the church (Part 2 of the book).
2. Providing nice distilled summaries of other works on "the fall of white male pastors with large followings," such as Mike Cosper's podcast on the Rise & Fall of Mars Hill (Mark Driscoll) and the book A Church Called Tov (covering Bill Hybels).
3. A clear view of certain Christian celebrities strengths along with their weaknesses. For instance, she recognizes the many positive elements of Billy Graham's ministry alongside the new kind of Christian celebrity culture it ushered in
4. Chapter 5 is maybe the best in the whole book, as it draws on the authors experience within the Christian publishing industry
Even so, some of the books strengths are:
1. Effectively and efficiently chronicling the rise of celebrity culture within modern Christianity (Part 1 of the book) and describing three problematic temptations that intrinsically come with celebrity culture in the church (Part 2 of the book).
2. Providing nice distilled summaries of other works on "the fall of white male pastors with large followings," such as Mike Cosper's podcast on the Rise & Fall of Mars Hill (Mark Driscoll) and the book A Church Called Tov (covering Bill Hybels).
3. A clear view of certain Christian celebrities strengths along with their weaknesses. For instance, she recognizes the many positive elements of Billy Graham's ministry alongside the new kind of Christian celebrity culture it ushered in
4. Chapter 5 is maybe the best in the whole book, as it draws on the authors experience within the Christian publishing industry