Bare-faced Messiah - Reception

Reception

Reviews of Bare-faced Messiah were overall very positive, though some reviewers criticised what they regarded as omissions on Miller's part. The Church of Scientology was highly critical of the book. Its view of Miller's book was summed up by the executor of the Hubbard estate, who called it "a scumbag book ... full of bullshit", while a Scientology spokesperson in Canada compared it to "a life of Christ by Judas Iscariot."

"Bare-faced Messiah... remains the best and most comprehensive biography of L. Ron Hubbard"

— Janet Reitman, Inside Scientology: The Story of America's Most Secretive Religion, 2011

The American science writer Martin Gardner's review in Nature called Bare-faced Messiah an "admirable, meticulously documented biography". Gardner had previously written about the start of Scientology in his classic 1952 book Fads and Fallacies in the Name of Science, at which time he regarded Hubbard as a harmless crank, but Miller's book persuaded Gardner that Hubbard was "a pathological liar who steadily deteriorated from a charming rogue into a paranoid egomaniac". Sociologist J. Gordon Melton has stated that along with Stewart Lamont's Religion Inc., Miller's book is "by far the best" among the books published by Scientology critics, though he notes that the Church of Scientology has "prepared statements on each indicating factual errors and omissions." According to Melton, Miller's book is compromised by its author's lack of access to documents charting the early history of the church. Marco Frenschkowski, in a survey of the available literature on L. Ron Hubbard and Scientology, called Bare-Faced Messiah the "most important critical biography of Hubbard. Like and it is extremely polemical and very much tries to pull Hubbard to pieces." He added that Miller's book had "definitely exposed some inflated statements about Hubbard's early achievements," but that the Church of Scientology had been able to counter a number of the points made by Miller: "Hubbard's assertions about his military career in WWII, e.g., have been much nearer to the truth than Miller is trying to show."

Writing in Kingdom of the Cults, an overview of new religious movements written from a Christian perspective, Walter Ralston Martin commented that of the various books on Hubbard's life, "none are so thoroughly damaging to his credentials" than Bare-faced Messiah and Bent Corydon's book. The British science fiction author and critic David Langford rated Miller's book as "altogether more even-toned and better-written" and argued that it "deserves to be a standard reference" on the life of Hubbard. Sociologist David G. Bromley described the book as "among the most significant" accounts of Hubbard's life. Janet Reitman, who documented the history of Scientology in her 2011 book Inside Scientology: The Story of America's Most Secretive Religion, called Bare-faced Messiah "the best and most comprehensive biography of L. Ron Hubbard."

" scumbag book ... full of bullshit"

— Norman Starkey, deposition in New Era Publications v. Henry Holt, 1988

Malise Ruthven observed in the Times Literary Supplement that Miller "forces no thesis on his readers, allowing them to draw their own conclusion from the facts he uncovers." He took this as both a strength and a weakness of the book, in that it leaves open the question of whether Hubbard was a deliberate con-man or sincerely deluded. He also expressed frustration that Miller had not explained how Hubbard had achieved such a following, but complimented the author's meticulous research in separating fact from fiction. The satirical magazine Private Eye described the book as "meticulously documented" but observed that the author "does not theorise, nor even very often moralise. The reader must provide his own interjections, laughter and gasps of astonishment."

The Sunday Times described the book as "admirably written, well documented and it must have entailed a great deal of painstaking research." It praised Miller for standing up to Scientologists' attempts to discredit him. The New Statesman praised Bare-faced Messiah as accessibly written and diligently researched but, like Private Eye, criticised it for not illuminating why people find Scientology appealing. Patrick Skene Catling's review in The Spectator recommended the book "unreservedly", calling it "an unsurpassably scathing study of money-mad, power-mad megalomania." Peter Conrad, in The Observer, was generally complimentary about the book, but criticised Miller for omitting "the recognition of Hubbard's topicality. Miller treats him as a loony and a freak; in fact he was a morbid symptom of America itself". The psychologist and TV presenter Anthony Clare listed Bare-faced Messiah in The Times as one of his books of the year for 1987, commenting that it was "a testament to the gullibility of man in the face of the charlatanry of Scientology", while the film and literary critic Tom Hutchinson complimented Miller for "fascinatingly recount" what he described as Hubbard's "bizarre career."

In Canada, David Todd of news magazine Maclean's commended the way that Miller had "arriv at a portrait of founder that is by turns hilarious and deeply unsettling", commenting that "while scathingly critical of Hubbard and his church, Bare-Faced Messiah is, in fact, scrupulously fair." Michael Harrison of the Toronto Financial Post criticised the book for "lack a critical perspective beyond the requisite snide commentary" and professed himself disappointed by Miller's avoidance of the question of whether Hubbard was "genuine or just a fraud", which Harrison considered an important omission "since the questions of selfishness, integrity and motivation are key issues in biographies of people who suffer from the messiah-complex.".

The Sydney Morning Herald's Judith White called the book "absorbing" and "well documented and graphically told." Alan Roberts wrote in the Adelaide Advertiser that Bare-faced Messiah was a "minutely researched, densely evidenced account" of the "endless catalogue of deception, distortion and psychopathological mendacity" perpetrated by Hubbard and "almost tediously chronicled" by Miller. The Brisbane Sunday Mail's reviewer characterised the book as "entertaining reading that packs a mighty punch", in which the impact was delivered by "Miller's careful and professional research which is evident in the manner he builds the man up and then knocks him down, fact by fact."

The Oregon Law Review described Bare-faced Messiah as "a revealing, enthralling biography of a controversial public figure." Charles Platt, writing in the Washington Post, called the book "impressively thorough" though he chided Miller for "miss no opportunity to poke fun at Hubbard. Indeed, he belittles the man so thoroughly, the exercise almost begins to seem pointless." He noted that in advance of the publication of his review, the Church of Scientology had sent his newspaper "a large package of documents intending to refute many of Miller's statements." His review was subsequently disputed by the Church of Scientology International's Vice President, Brian Anderson, who denounced the book in a letter to the newspaper, claiming that it had been "obviously calculated to make a quick buck capitalizing on L. Ron Hubbard's name" and was a "fast and shoddy" work. In response, Platt pointed out that " does not dispute the success of L. Ron Hubbard's work; he merely presents evidence that suggests fraud. This is the point of Russell Miller's book, and I find it significant that Brian Anderson makes no attempt to answer it."