Introduction: Remembering the Jesus Generation
1: 'God Knocked Me off My Metaphysical Ass': The First "Jesus
Freaks" in San Francisco
2: Jesus Comes to Haight-Ashbury
3: ". . . and Your Sons and Your Daughters Shall Prophecy": The
Jesus People Movement in Southern California, 1968-1969
4: Unto Seattle, Milwaukee, New Jersey, and the Uttermost Parts:
The Jesus People Movement Goes Nationwide
5: It Only Takes a Spark: The Jesus People Movement in the National
Spotlight
6: The Jesus Kids: The Jesus People Movement Becomes Evangelical
Youth Culture, 1971-1974
7: Division in the Camp: The Jesus People vs. the Children of
God
8: Sweet, Sweet Song of Salvation: Music and the Jesus People
9: I Wish We'd All Been Ready: The Jesus People Fade From View
10: God's Forever Family: The Long-Term Impact of the Jesus People
Movement
Appendix A: Jesus People Survey: Tabulations and Comments
Larry Eskridge was born in North Carolina and raised in the Chicago area, where he was involved with the Jesus People movement in the 1970s. A student of evangelicals' relationship to mass media and pop culture, he has been on the staff of the Institute for the Study of American Evangelicals at Wheaton College since 1988.
"[An] excellent new book...The book reads as an invaluable
chronicle of an important moment in the history of American
evangelicalism...This is an important, valuable, and engaging book
that will certainly be the standard on the Jesus People movement
for years to come."--Church History
"Larry Eskridge has written what will instantly become the standard
account of the Jesus movement and its legacy...all scholars of
recent American religion would do well to take a turn through God's
Forever Family."--American Historical Review
"This is an important contribution to our historical understanding
of American (and global) Evangelicalism." --Encounter
"This book is the first serious, scholarly account of the Jesus
Movement...We owe [Larry Eskridge] a debt of gratitude." --The
Gospel Coalition
"If you haven't yet checked out Larry Eskridge's God's Forever
Family: The Jesus People Movement in America, you should move it to
the top of your "to read" list right away. Beyond being beautifully
written, the history (or histories) of the Jesus People it narrates
should provoke some interesting questions for anyone interested in
religion, culture, and politics in the twentieth century...
Eskridge persuasively argues that despite the Jesus People
movement's relatively short lifespan, it significantly changed
evangelical culture in the long run. But God's Forever Family also
gives us a much deeper look at the movement itself than previously
available, and
thus offers us an opportunity to consider it within the broader
religious and cultural transformations of the period." --Religion
in American History
"[A] painfully funny yet deadly serious study of the Jesus People,
circa 1966 to 1976...The book presents a deft study of a timeless
process of challenge and renewal in American Christianity." --The
Christian Century
"It's extraordinary that it's taken this long for someone to write
a comprehensively researched history and analysis of the Jesus
People of the '60s and '70s... [Eskrdige] deserves our grateful
thanks for this account of how large numbers of young people from
the '60s hippie counter-culture embraced Christianity...God's
Forever Family fills a vital gap in chronicling a movement which
radically changed the face of the American Church and should
therefore be on the book shelf of every theological college."
--Cross Rhythms
"[A] rich, tender history of one of the more surprising
developments of the late 1960s Thanks to Larry Eskridge, the Jesus
People finally have a rich, documented history of their own."
--Christianity Today
"Right on time for a new generation to reflect on the free flowing
move of God that transformed people and institutions...The sheer
enormity of fact-gathering in Eskridge's exploration of the Jesus
Movement makes this a terrific reference." --Worship Leader
Magazine
"Larry Eskridge does a great job of highlighting this often
forgotten yet extremely influential segment of American
evangelicalism, bringing his own personal experience and humor to
brighten up what could have been a dull, scholarly tome. Just a
great, fun, enlightening and informative read."--National Religion
Newswriters
"This book is the epitome of definitive, with rich, entertaining
detail on all the key players and personalities that united
1960s/70s youth culture and evangelical Christianity. Anyone who
has background in the Christian counterculture, the 1970s
charismatic renewal, or the Calvary Chapel, Vineyard, or Willow
Creek church associations, will feel a sense of reading one s
autobiography in this book. More broadly, the book is a must-read
for anyone wanting to
understand the shape of contemporary evangelicalism." --The Anxious
Bench
"This rich and surprisingly entertaining book is the definitive
work on the Jesus People movement, a significant shaper of
contemporary evangelicalism. Eskridge masters an incredible range
of stories and sources. For anyone with a background in the Jesus
People movement, Calvary Chapels, Vineyard churches, the Willow
Creek Association, or the charismatic renewal that began in the
1970s, this is like reading an autobiography." --Thomas Kidd,
Baylor University
"This long-awaited book tells one of the most important untold
stories in postwar American religious life. One cannot understand
the resurgence of American evangelical Christianity without taking
into account the way the hippie Christians shaped its character and
development. God's Forever Family is a splendid history. Both
thoroughly researched and engaging, it will become the
authoritative account of the Jesus People." --Tanya Marie Luhrmann,
author
of When God Talks Back: Understanding the American Evangelical
Relationship with God
"Blossoming amidst the fads and frenzy of the youthful
counterculture, the Jesus People blurred traditional boundaries
between conservative religion and consumer popular culture. With
clarity and insight, Larry Eskridge unearths the backstories and
central dynamics of this curious phenomenon to show how it left a
lasting mark on American evangelicalism. Solidly researched, God's
Forever Family is sure to become the go-to text on the Jesus
Movement."
--William D. Romanowski, author of Reforming Hollywood: How
American Protestants Fought for Freedom at the Movies
"In this substantial contribution to American social history,
Eskridge [...] makes a cogent case for the continuing relevance of
the youth-oriented Jesus movement that peaked in the 1970s, was
largely neglected by scholars in subsequent decades, and is given
definitive treatment here. Eskridge rightly credits the movement
with changing attitudes of evangelicals from separatism to
engagement in the world. Highly recommended." -G.R. Thursby,
emeritus, University
of Florida, CHOICE
"Eskridge does an excellent job of offering a narrative of the late
1960s and 1970s jesus people Movements while inserting
retrospective insights that position the vents in the wider
socio-historical context of American culture and ecclesial
responses to social change... This is an important contribution to
our historical understanding of American (and global)
Evangelicalism. It will serve as a sourcebook for years to come."
--Encounter
"This well-researched and deftly written book will probably become
the definitive history of the Jesus People movement, which caught
the attention of the American public in the early 1970s."
--Religious Studies Review
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