James Hynes

My friend John Marks never does things halfway; it's balls to the wall, or not at all. So not only is he touring with Reasons to Believe, his wonderful new book about evangelical Christianity, he's touring with A Purple State of Mind, the new film he's made with his old Davidson College roommate, Craig Detweiler. (Watch the trailer here.) Craig and John's years of sharing a room coincided with the first stirrings of Craig's faith, and the last stirrings of John's, and they've made a terrific, funny, and moving film about it, chronicling their history as friends and their diametrically opposed (but still respectfully and affectionately expressed) views on faith.

They've been traveling around the country, showing the film and engaging in intense discussions with audiences, and at last they're coming to John's home state. They're screening the film at 6 pm on Monday, March 31, in my neighborhood, at the Alamo Drafthouse South in Austin; the show will feature music by local fave John Dee Graham, the film, and a discussion with John and Craig afterwards. Then, since Craig will have braved the godless Obamanians of my neighborhood, John will brave the Christians of Baylor University, when they show the film on Baylor's campus on Tuesday, April 1. On April 2, John will return to Austin (if he survives his night in Waco) to read from his book at Bookpeople at 7 pm.

It promises to be an interesting few days, especially for John: some of his family will be in the audience in Austin, and I'm looking forward to hearing their reaction to John's first question to Craig about Jesus in the film. Now that I think about it, John may not make it to Waco.

Anyway, it's going to be lively, provocative, and fun. Y'all come!

Today, a shameless plug for a new book and a new movie from my good friend John Marks over at the Purple State of John. John's a gifted novelist, a veteran journalist, a fluent speaker of German, a lover of country music and barbecue, and my partner in horror movie self-indulgence (Rawhead Rex, anyone? Hellraiser IV? Tombs of the Blind Dead? No?). Here are three things you need to know about John:

1) He's just published his first nonfiction book, Reasons to Believe: One Man's Journey Among the Evangelicals and the Faith He Left Behind, in which John interweaves brilliant and insightful reportage about evangelical Christianity with a powerful memoir of his personal journey from born-again Christian to unbeliever. Most books on this subject are written by journalists who treat their subjects like aliens and act like visiting a megachurch in Colorado Springs is as dangerous as dropping in on Osama Bin Laden in Tora Bora. John, on the other hand, writes without condescension and with genuine compassion and respect, even when (especially when) he disagrees with them. It's a terrific book, and I say this as an atheist who is somewhere to left of Richard Dawkins.

2) A byproduct of the book is John and Craig Detweiler's provocative new documentary film, Purple State of Mind. In the course of researching Reasons to Believe, John renewed his friendship with Craig, who had been John's roommate at Davidson College in the 1980s and who had been witness to the first stirrings of John's unbelief. Craig's a filmmaker, an author, a minister, and a professor at Biola University, a Christian university. They started to talk about their faith or their lack of it for the first time in years, and they've filmed four of their conversations for the documentary. It's riveting stuff, often very funny, and finally incredibly moving. Which leads me to the third thing you need to know, which is that...

3) John and Craig are on tour with the film and with John's book. They're screening the film and continuing their conversation with audiences at colleges, churches, and bookstores across the country through April. John's been blogging about their appearances and getting some passionate and unexpected responses from viewers, and I'm looking forward to seeing them in Austin in April and asking them a couple of unexpected questions myself.

John and Craig, I'd say "Godspeed" to you both, but, well, you know. So good luck, and see you in April!