Crossroads Reading Guide & Discussion Questions

Book Club Discussion Questions

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For supplemental discussion material see our Beyond the Book article, Vietnam War Draft Lottery and our BookBrowse Review of Crossroads.

Please be aware that this discussion guide will contain spoilers!

1. The Hildebrandts share a complicated bond of compassion and conflict, honesty and infidelity. Consider their family dynamic. In what ways are the Hildebrandts good toward one another? In what ways are they deceitful or manipulative? If you had to identify a crucial hitch—or "barrier" (page 26), as Rick Ambrose might call it—that hinders their relationship, what would it be?
2. When we first meet Russ Hildebrandt, he's a pastor "starved in spirit" (page 17) who's desperate for a change in his professional, personal, and spiritual life. Discuss Russ's outlook at the beginning of Crossroads. Do you think he sees himself as a martyr of forces beyond his control or a victim of his own misdeeds? What are Russ's solutions for turning his life around? How do you view his plight?
3. Crossroads is a powerful force in the New Prospect community, inspiring both devotion and skepticism. For some, the youth group is a Christian sanctuary of "honesty, confrontation, and unconditional love" (page 32); yet even Rick Ambrose worries that Crossroads is "just an intense kind of psychological experiment [that] could just as easily end up hurting people as liberating them" (page 74). Discuss the youth group's virtues as well as its dangers. How do you feel about its methods? When does it foster fellowship among its followers? When does it resemble a cruel social game to be played—and if it is a game, who do you think is winning?

Unless otherwise stated, this discussion guide is reprinted with the permission of Picador. Any page references refer to a USA edition of the book, usually the trade paperback version, and may vary in other editions.