God’s Choice: The Total World of a Fundamentalist School

Is Bethany Baptist Academy God’s choice? Ask the fundamentalist Christians who teach there or whose children attend the academy, and their answer will be a yes as unequivocal as their claim that the Bible is God’s inerrant, absolute word. Is this truth or arrogance?

In God’s Choice, Alan Peshkin offers readers the opportunity to consider this question in depth. Given the outsider’s rare chance to observe such a school firsthand, Peshkin spent eighteen months studying Bethany’s high school--interviewing students, parents, and educators, living in the home of Bethany Baptist Church members, and participating fully in the church’s activities. From this intimate research he has fashioned a rich account of Christian schooling and an informed analysis of a clear alternative to public education.

Alan Peshkin is professor of comparative education at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. ＂God’s Choice＂ is the third in his series of studies exploring American communities and their schools. The other books in the series, ＂Growing Up American＂ and ＂The Imperfect Union,＂ were also published by the University of Chicago Press.