have been used by Christians for centuries as a form of imitatio dei, the imitation of God, it gained greater currency following the publication of the book.
[3] In 2006, the critic Gregory Jackson wrote that "Even today, In His Steps is the focus of annual youth gatherings" and part of the What would Jesus do?
Other characters include Ed Norman, senior editor of the Raymond Daily Newspaper, Rachel Winslow, a singer, and Virginia Page, an heiress.
The same man appears in the church at the end of the Sunday sermon, walks to "the open space in front of the pulpit," and faces the people.
He quietly confronts the congregation — "I'm not complaining; just stating facts" — about their compassion, or apathetic lack thereof, for the jobless like him in Raymond.
Later, Virginia takes Loreen, a drunken "lost girl" and prostitute[4] who was earlier converted, to her house, to the dismay of her grandmother.
[5] The reviewer objects to the book's theology as a "gross caricature", and says that "its tendency is toward the creation of the morbid and the priggish, the Philistine and the piously fraudulent".
[4] He notes that "the Christian religion, whether viewed in its historical, institutional or personal aspect, plays an extremely limited role in the novel.
[4] For him, the interest is in the white middle-class society shown in the book, which is "deeply fearful of, yet simultaneously fascinated by, the burgeoning immigrant working-class population which is crowding into the cities.
At the same time, and perhaps more intensely, the members of this middle class are troubled by the emotional atrophy and the inadequacy of social relationships which characterize their lives".
[4] The critic Gregory Jackson, writing in 2006, said that it is difficult for modern readers to understand the contemporary response to Social Gospel novels like In Our Steps.
[2] He notes that the book is "a sharp call for social intervention", and that it led to people taking action in their communities to address poverty and inequality.
[2] An example is the kindergarten Shelton's congregation set up to bring about integration between racially-segregated communities; Jackson writes that this was part of early civil rights activism.
Jesus goes from Raymond to New York City and then Washington, D.C., at points making a public splash, including media attention.
The non-stereotypical character of Jesus seems fully capable of supernatural power (not showing up in pictures, for example) but chooses a nondescript mode of presenting himself.