People in Glass Houses (shouldn’t throw stones)
August 18, 2007
Some people attribute the above quotation to Chaucer and its an appropriate title for this book . We should be skeptical of those who claim to be righteous or have a special religious hotline to God .This pithy little saying could also apply to the author of this book, Tanya Levin as this memoir traces her life in the Australian religious congregation that later became Hillsong . Its a story that is both funny and sad as we trace Tanya’s journey from a wide eyed naive teenager to disallusioned skeptic . I especially like Tanya’s teenage diary entries which give the reader a flavour of what it was like growing up in the Assemblies of God .
Sunday 4th January 1987
“This is the day I was freed from the Spirit of Rock and Roll . I started up a conversation with John who DJ’s and he told me he despises the music . He told me the worst person Satan had annointed was Bruce Springsteen . I told him he was telling the wrong person . He disagreed . We talked . Rock and Roll is all about fornication , especially Dancing in the Dark It hit me so hard . He told me to pray when I got home . He released me from the spirit of R n R and seduction and I cried. He told me that God loves me and has so much for me . I came home and for one and a half hours I sat in the dark crying , taking down posters , breaking records and destroying tapes. I’m giving rock music up”.
One of the things that interested me about the book is that it is a story about growing up in the Assemblies of God in Australia – but its also a wider story about growing up in a belief system where there are no other frames of reference – where the world of black and white Christianity is the only world you know . And the author vividly portrays how difficult it is for those who want to start asking questions .
In one section of the book Tanya writes about how she found it difficult to plan her life – she had been brought up to believe that “the rapture could come at any moment “and it was “sort of like having a terminal illness for Jesus” . Nothing else mattered .
The book does have some flaws . Tanya claims that Hillsong has a large back door – this may be true but it would have been helpful to have some comparative figures for other congregations . She claims that Hillsong is a cult and it may have a authoritarian culture but I felt that this part of the book was not convincing .
However this book is both an indictment and a challenge to churches on how they treat young people especially those who become estranged from their faith . I noticed that Tanya had quotations from James Baldwin – the original Pentecostal boy preacher and author . I guess this only reminds us that the questions she has raised are nothing new . Hopefully somebody will listen this time .
TBA
Your brief appreciation of the book is an insightful one.
I’ve got a longer (and possibly fairly tedious) review in the making, and will be back to comment when it’s done.
My review is finished.
http://rynosseros.com/2007/08/19/book-review-people-in-glass-houses-tanya-levin/
I hope many people are encouraged to read Tanya Levin’s book.
Thanks,
Ryno
A brief review in response:
The Hillsong Church has become a highly divisive topic of conversation within both Christian and non-Christian circles. Accordingly, one would imagine that there would be a high demand for a book that clearly, critically, and logically assesses the strengths and weaknesses of the Church leadership, congregants and beliefs. Unfortunately, Levin has not delivered such a book. Instead she has written what is often a poorly structured rant in which she makes some very interesting and accurate points, but fails to collect these points into a cohesive critique.
The auto-biographical element of the book is funny, sad, and, for Christians, often embarrassing. The disappointing aspect of the book comes when Levin explains various aspects of the Church’s practices and beliefs. This had the potential to be a fascinating analysis of the Church by an insider, but, apart from Levin’s attempt, midway through the book, to define Hillsong as a cult, she generally leaves her stories to speak for themselves rather than draw any overall conclusions. Perhaps, she does this to avoid having to fully reference her assertions, which are occasionally as unsubstantiated as some of the Hillsong’s theological principles. For example, she does not cite the statistics or the source of her reference to the “huge rate of suicide and attempted suicide in fundamentalist Churches all around the world”, which would make an interesting book in itself if she is factually correct.
I agree with Kerrie that the book makes some pertinent criticisms of all Churches and that these are issues that the Church should engage in and grapple with. I was just disappointed that, as a congregant from the very beginning, Levin did not finish the book with an overall assessment of Hillsong’s strengths and weaknesses and perhaps some musings on where she believes it went wrong.
Liz, I’m not saying this as a snark, but I would like you to read the book again with the viewpoint of a person of compassion, rather than a reviewer.
Levin’s book is primarily a catharsis, in my opinion. Her need for an outpouring can be interpolated from the stages of personal experience within the narrative.
The “where it all went wrong” is a long process, and the book touches on the parts that Levin herself saw or experienced. Try the pages near “Colombian drug dealer” for what I saw as the turning point.
Unfortunately, I am certain Tanya Levin’s book is as close as the outside world will be allowed to get to the dispassionate assessment of Hillsong’s strengths and weaknesses you appear to have been hoping for.
I do not seem to find any promise of such an objective examination in any of the advance material or the jacket blurbs, but I would be delighted to read such a book, should it ever be written and released. Given the difficulty Levin experienced in getting to press (and thanks are due to Black Books Inc for their courage where a larger publisher quailed in the face of intimidation whose source one might well guess at), this is probably as good a reference as we’re going to get.
Sorry, there was a sentence omitted from the above.
Try:
“…person of compassion, rather than a reviewer. BE Tanya Levin and travel, as her (knowing what she knew at the time and growing in age and experience) through her world, growing as Hillsong grew; each changing gradually.”
Ryan, I found it easy to read Levin’s accounts of her time at Hillsong with compassion, particularly the times when she trusted the Church and its leaders and was let down. I felt deeply sad, but often not surprised, at the way some of the “Christians”, including Brian and Bobby, acted towards her at various times and dismayed by some of the intermittent stories she tells about her Hillsong contemporaries.
Had the book been a purely autobiographical account of her time at Hillsong, I would have not have hoped for some further assessment of the Church to be provided and indeed when I started the book I wasn’t necessarily expecting a critique. As I read the book, however, I found that it was not purely autobiographical, instead she moves into a section where she researches Hillsong’s controversial and short-lived relationship with the Riverstone Aboriginal Community Association (chapter 12) and muses about the traits that Hillsong shares with cults (chapter 13). Then she leaves this train of thought and goes on to discuss some of the Hillsong beliefs and her recent attempts to contact some of the Hillsong leaders from her past.
These second and third parts of the book made me wonder what her purpose was in writing this book. Clearly it was not just to share her experiences, as her research goes one step further than this. I imagine that you are right and that the book was purely her catharsis which explains why it often reads like a stream of consciousness – a collection of ideas, theories and feelings with little to connect them and tie them together. This makes for an interesting read, which I imagine will sell well and give many readers justification for their feelings of smug superiority over the Hillsong congregants, but it does not make a well-written book. I understand that it was difficult to obtain interviews and verifiable facts on the Church, but if Levin wasn’t going to undertake any analysis, why does she bother occasionally tossing in a few pages of research (unless perhaps it was a satire of the way the Hillsong pastors use the Bible in their sermons)? On the whole my problem lies more with the editors of the book than Levin herself, who clearly endured a very isolating experience as a lone questioning voice in what would become the Hillsong Church.
Thanks, Liz: your points are very well made.
As far as “why the research”, possibly (and I *am* projecting here) an experience like Levin’s can lead to self-doubt and a perceived need to show justification may have led to the research being included as validation.
You *could* see the narrative coming off as an embittered, kook, ex-member story, without some backup, could you not?
Anyway, I guess the real reasons are within Tanya herself, and I should not presume on her behalf.
I’ll leave it there and let the club have its forum back.
It’s been a nice visit, and thanks to all the readers who came over to The Ryno Pen.
Attended Hillsong previously (CLC Waterloo) for 7 years. A lot of what she wrote I experienced and saw first hand.
Great book Tanya.
Interesting that I a Pro Tanya commentator can not post on this site.
You must be funded by Hillsong? right?
Don’t want to upset your sponsors hey Cafechurch.
Anyway great book Tanya hope more people continue what you have started.
John
All points of view are welcome. Cafe Church does not try and censor this site – I started this site myself . I am blogging on Tanya’s book because I think it raises important issues .
Kerrie
I agree with you sorry bout breakdown in communication peace.
Just finished Tanya’s controversial book. I found it quite an interesting read – a little problematic, but interesting nonetheless.
It should be said upfront that it is a hatchet job, pure and simple, although one that I think badly needed to be written. Tanya should be applauded for having the courage to write the book. What comes across throughout, particularly in the heartbreaking last chapter, is the pain of being shut out from friends within the Hillsong community and the sense of moral uncertainty about the worth of a kiss-and-tell account.
I guess that in part explains the books unrelenting attack on Hillsong. It makes absolutely no effort to give any attention to any potential positives that may come out of the institution (and presumably some do). Rather, it presents chapter after chapter of criticism, some of which works well, some not so well. For example the chapter focusing on Hillsong as a cult was a bit of a stretch. Given the criteria, pretty much every group I know of qualifies for cult status.
More successful were the sections where Tanya related personal anecdotes and stories from the Hillsong community. It was a fascinating insiders account of the warts and all side of the community, one that seems to be (understandably) glossed over and rarely spoken about in plain English by the church leadership (take the Frank Houston ‘incident’ as example).
The airing of dirty laundry is never a comfortable or flattering process – particularly when a multi-million dollar marketing machine relies on presenting a particular image – but it is a healthy one, and a sign of a church confident with its theology and practices. Which is why the criticism this book has coped from Hillsong members, many who haven’t even read the book, speaks volumes about the church culture Tanya is attacking. (Google the title and browse some results if you don’t believe me.)
That to me was the real eye-opener in the book. I’ve only been to Hillsong once and was fairly non-plused by the whole experience. But I didn’t realise the extent to which dissent was stifled within the church. The stories of the savage virtual ex-communication of former members were brutally telling.
Overall it is not a complete success. As I’ve mentioned some chapters fell flat, many claims weren’t substantiated with references (in which case they shouldn’t have been made in the first place), and many points came across as vague ramblings. Least engaging for me personally was Tanya’s walk and struggles with Christianity. I know it sounds quite harsh, but I found myself skimming over these sections because it really just didn’t interest me.
But its a courageous book to have written, so kudos to Tanya Levin for braving it out and finally getting it to print. Her honest and pain is present on each and every page. Perhaps most importantly, it seems to have served as a launching pad for some passionate debate of the theology and culture of charismatic churches. I’m not a big fan of navel gazing, but the way I see it if a church reaches a point where it actively stifles debate and criticism (as members of Hillsong did by physically ejecting Tanya from a service) then something somewhere has gone very very wrong.