enough to be baptized and to take part in a mission to Alaska. Born and
brought up an atheist in California, and a graduate of Yale in 2001 with
a major in English, on moving E ast she cast about for a fit subject for a
research book, finally determining on investigating Evangelicals. To quote
from the inside leaf of the dust jacket:
Over the course of nearly two years, Welch immersed herself in the life and
language of the devout. She learned to interpret the world like an Evangelical,
weathered the death of Falwell, and embarked on a mission trip to Alaska
intended to save one hundred souls. Alive to the meaning behind the music and
the mind behind the slogans, Welch recognized the allure of evangelicalism,
even for the godless, realizing that the congregation met needs and answered
questions she didn’t know she had.
In the end, on parting from the church, Gina Welch left behind
people she had grown to love, and rituals and music she had grown to love
– people, rituals and music that remained in her heart and thought. She
left, because in spite of everything, she had found evangelical doctrines
intellectually unsatisfying. Guiltily, she remained throughout the atheist she
had been to begin with.
I think it clear that if Gina had been intellectually satisfied by the
doctrines, she would have remained an active member of the Thomas Road
Church; and this prompted me to revisit the question of membership in the
General Church. It suggested to me that rituals of worship and music are for
some people not enough, no matter how engaging; that family and friends, too,
are not enough, no matter how well loved. For some people the doctrines must
also be intellectually satisfying.
The founders of all the embodiments
of the New Church were such people. In
the Writings they discovered their questions
answered. That includes the founders of the
General Church – the so-called Academy
movement – whose faithful embrace of the
doctrines led to their split from the General
Convention.
What were the founders’ questions? And
what were the answers they discovered?
Early New Church people were
particularly impressed by F