PTL : the rise and fall of Jim and Tammy Faye Bakker's evangelical empire

425 Pages·2017·1.99 MB·English

by  Bakker

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PTL
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PTL
The Rise and Fall of Jim
and Tammy Faye Bakker’s
Evangelical Empire
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JOHN WIGGER
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© Oxford University Press 2017
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ISBN 978– 0– 19– 937971– 2
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Printed by Edwards Brothers Malloy, United States of America
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For Melodie, Hannah, Allison, Natalie, and Emma
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Contents
Acknowledgments  ix
Introduction  1
1. The DJ and the Queen  9
2. A Show of His Own  25
3. Everyday in the USA  41
4. Abundant Life  61
5. The Emperor’s New Groove  77
6. Look Me in the Eye  92
7. Time Bomb  107
8. Special Math  125
9. Secret Lives  149
10. Four Days and Three Nights  166
11. Cover- Up  193
12. Saturday Night  222
13. Scandal  247
14. Holy War  272
15. Judgment Day  301
Epilogue: Apocalypse Chow  329
Notes  339
Index 393
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Acknowledgments
Many friends helped to make this book possible. Thanks to my cur-
rent and former graduate students: Brandon Flint, Hunter Hampton, Josh
McMullen, Josh Rice, Jonathan Root, Luke Schleif, T. J. Tomlin, Darin
Tuck, Jenny Wiard, and Cassie Yacovazzi. They formed the wonderfully
generous and supportive community in which this book took shape and
their careful reading of draft after draft made it much better. Extra thanks
to Jonathan Root, who worked for me as a research assistant and whose
own scholarship on the prosperity gospel helped me to understand its
nuances. Thanks to my colleagues John Frymire, Jonathan Sperber, and
Steve Watts, who listened to me drone on about this project for years and
still had the patience to read the final draft and offer their wisdom. Thanks
as well to Kate Bowler, Barry Hankins, and Phil Sinitiere, who graciously
read the final manuscript and offered their expert advice, and to Mark
DeMoss, Dan Foster, Armin Mattes, Ben Park, and Randall Stephens, who
commented on various chapters. Melinda Lockwood became my executive
assistant when I became department chair in 2013. Since then she has far
exceeded her job description to help me track down sources and arrange
interviews, always in the most cheerful and professional manner imagina-
ble. It was worth becoming chair just for her assistance. Thanks to Maria
David of the Charlotte Observer who graciously helped me find sources and
photos. Thanks also to my brilliant agent, Colleen Mohyde, and my won-
derful editor at Oxford, Cynthia Read.
The University of Missouri Research Council funded portions of
the research for this book, as did the Kinder Institute on Constitutional
Democracy at the University of Missouri.
I conducted scores of interviews for this book, the majority of them on
the record. Thanks to those who were willing to talk with me, particularly
since the ministry ended in disappointment for most of them. Their con-
tributions added immeasurably to the story and are evident throughout