As many of us do, I’m always paying attention to what others are reading and adding books to my list to check-out from the library or purchase. When several people mention a particular book to me, I usually bump it up the list. That’s exactly what happened earlier this year when a pastor friend recommended the book The Kingdom, The Power, and The Glory: American Evangelicalism in an Age of Extremism by Tim Alberta as one of the most insightful and important reads on what is happening in the evangelical Church today. The next week, Robert Davis shared that he was reading it, too. Then Robin Ramsay Lee mentioned it at lunch one day. I purchased the book that day, and it’s come up in countless conversations ever since.
Alberta writes from his perspective as a political journalist, a practicing Christian, and the son of an evangelical pastor. After the unexpected death of his father in 2019, Alberta expected to receive condolences and love from his father’s congregation at the funeral. Instead, person after person offered him critical remarks about his recent political writing. “In our house of worship,” he writes, “people were taunting me about politics as I tried to mourn my father.”
After that experience, he sets out to interview pastors, churches, and organizations across the country in order to piece together what he believes is the foundational problem in evangelicalism. “America,” one pastor says to him. “Too many of them worship America.”
As Publishers Weekly has shared, “Alberta adeptly illustrates how Christian nationalism is 'destroying the evangelical church' on a big-picture level, as well as how it’s justified individually, framed scripturally, and blared over pulpits...While he suggests a 'true Christianity' might still be salvageable, Alberta’s own evidence reveals how deep the rot has already spread. It’s an incisive, unsparing look at a movement in crisis."
On October 16, 23, and 30, Bruce Maples, Robert Davis, and I will be co-leading a Wednesday night series on Christian Nationalism and will facilitate discussion around excerpts from Alberta’s book. While reading the book in advance is not necessary, we wanted to give you plenty of time to join us in reading before the conversation if you’re interested. If you’re like me, you might consider bumping this book up your list. It offers significant insight into this election season and awakens all of us to the dangers of marrying our love of “God” and “country.”
~ Mary Alice Birdwhistell