“One by one they fell away, the doctrinal pillars of the house his father built.” This is the story of Chuck Smith, Jr., and his movement away from the stern beliefs and fundamentalist community of his father’s church. The story of the fissure—and continued relationship—between father and son is both delicately and muscularly handled by Goffard, who portrays both men as complex and sympathetic characters. He also sets both men in historical context, making this a story both about particular men and the forces that shape them.

Read “Father, Son and Holy Rift,” by Christopher Goffard

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