Reverend Jerry Farwell referred to his evangelical university as “Bible Boot Camp” in The Unlikely Disciple: A Sinners Semester at America’s Holiest University, signifying the rigorous training milieu of Liberty University. Throughout the book, the relevance of Rev. Farwell’s rearticulation transcended arduous inference, as I noticed several correlations between author Kevin Roose’s experience at Liberty University, and actual military boot camp. Beyond his introduction to Rev. Falwell’s boot camp ---analogy, Roose paralleled similar constructs of those who alternate between vastly disparate cultures, such as members of the military experience as they transition from and back to civilians. Under this context, I found greater applicability of the theories of intercultural and cross-cultural …show more content…
Simultaneously ubiquitous, organizational communication barriers pertained to the incongruence within message transmissions. Roose had to learn communicative norms and proscribes, especially as miscommunicating cultural and organizational customs could result in a reprimands or monetary fines. Kinesics, such as occulesics come to mind as one example of a nonverbal communication hurdle that Roose humorously comprehended as more prominent in stricter evangelical universities. Roose uses the example of Pensacola Christian College (PCC), where opposite sex eye contact may be perceived as “optical intercourse” or “making eye babies” (p.173). The PCC’s extreme expectancy violation is almost too unreal and difficult to fathom. As a young adult, barely 18 years old, I was sent to Pensacola, Florida for eight months, and if not for my experience there, I would think that Roose sensationalized the tenaciousness of the PCC. Even after experiencing Pensacola, I am still in disbelief of the religious fanaticism dominating that area. Even with a Catholic upbringing, I was unprepared for the biblical culture shock that ensued. Then again, Roose had