Smile Pretty and Say Jesus: The Last Great Days of PTL. - book reviews

Christian Century, July 13, 1994 by Leo P. Ribuffo

By Hunter James. University Of Georgia Press, 210 pp., $22.95.

HUNTER JAMES, who covered the collapse of Jim Bakker's PTL empire for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, evidently aspires to be today's H. L. Mencken. He pointedly identifies himself with crusty journalists of the old school, presents television reporters as pretty people devoid of brains, and--like Mencken--enjoys turning a catchy phrase. His book adds little to the basic story. In early 1987, Jim and Tammy Faye Bakker were riding high as the impresarios of interlocking enterprises that included a television network and the Heritage USA theme park. Rumors had circulated for some time, however, that Bakker was defrauding his contributors and soliciting sex from persons other than his wife. The revelation that Bakker had had a fling with--and then paid hush money to--Jessica Hahn began a scandal that left his empire in shambles. Jerry Falwell's temporary receivership of PTL produced acrimonious--and often televised--exchanges among diverse clergy but no financial reorganization. By late 1989, Hahn had posed for Playboy, Heritage USA had closed, and Bakker had been sentenced to prison. in the process, the venerable stereotype of fundamentalists and Pentecostals as buffoons and charlatans was strongly reinforced.

James retells this story with verve, a wariness of stereotypes and an eye for human foibles, including his own. In this account, the lawyers, and reporters nibbling on the crumbs of the scandal look no less venial than the Bakkers. James's portraits of Bakker and Falwell are particularly astute. Since his insecure adolescence, Bakker had attempted to mesh godliness and glitz. In its prime PTL grandly fulfilled his teenage aspirations. Falwell emerges as a more complicated figure. James, who covered Lynchburg, Virginia, as a young reporter, roots Falwell's ambition in his childhood exclusion from the circle of that city's elite. Yet instead of reducing Falwell's career to a manifestation of "status anxiety," James nicely captures his mixture of showmanship and earnestness.

Mainstream media coverage of religion is notoriously bad. Perhaps the issues involved are too serious to engage reporters in our glib age. James does not entirely escape the debunking proclivities of his profession, but he does understand that bunk is not solely the possession of conservative Protestants. Looking down or up at him, Mencken just might be half proud.

Reviewed by Leo P. Ribuffo, professor of history at George Washington University in Washington, D.C.