Good overview of evangelical Trumpism
A good read by an author who happens to be evangelical but certainly not a Trump person.
Hardcover, 512 pages
English language
Published Jan. 1, 2023 by Harper.
The Kingdom, the Power, and the Glory: American Evangelicals in an Age of Extremism
American Evangelicals in an Age of Extremism
by Tim Alberta
5 stars
(3 reviews)
The award-winning journalist and staff writer for The Atlantic follows up his New York Times bestseller American Carnage with this timely, rigorously reported, and deeply personal examination of the divisions that threaten to destroy the American evangelical movement.
Evangelical Christians are perhaps the most polarizing—and least understood—people living in America today. In his seminal new book, The Kingdom, the Power, and the Glory, journalist Tim Alberta, himself a practicing Christian and the son of an evangelical pastor, paints an expansive and profoundly troubling portrait of the American evangelical movement. Through the eyes of televangelists and small-town preachers, celebrity revivalists and everyday churchgoers, Alberta tells the story of a faith cheapened by ephemeral fear, a promise corrupted by partisan subterfuge, and a reputation stained by perpetual scandal.
For millions of conservative Christians, America is their kingdom—a land set apart, a nation uniquely blessed, a people in special covenant with God. This …
The award-winning journalist and staff writer for The Atlantic follows up his New York Times bestseller American Carnage with this timely, rigorously reported, and deeply personal examination of the divisions that threaten to destroy the American evangelical movement.
Evangelical Christians are perhaps the most polarizing—and least understood—people living in America today. In his seminal new book, The Kingdom, the Power, and the Glory, journalist Tim Alberta, himself a practicing Christian and the son of an evangelical pastor, paints an expansive and profoundly troubling portrait of the American evangelical movement. Through the eyes of televangelists and small-town preachers, celebrity revivalists and everyday churchgoers, Alberta tells the story of a faith cheapened by ephemeral fear, a promise corrupted by partisan subterfuge, and a reputation stained by perpetual scandal.
For millions of conservative Christians, America is their kingdom—a land set apart, a nation uniquely blessed, a people in special covenant with God. This love of country, however, has given way to right-wing nationalist fervor, a reckless blood-and-soil idolatry that trivializes the kingdom of Jesus Christ. Alberta retraces the arc of the modern evangelical movement, placing political and cultural inflection points in the context of church teachings and traditions, explaining how Donald Trump's presidency and the COVID-19 pandemic only accelerated historical trends that long pointed toward disaster. Reporting from half-empty sanctuaries and standing-room-only convention halls across the country, the author documents a growing fracture inside American Christianity and journeys with readers through this strange new environment in which loving your enemies is "woke" and owning the libs is the answer to WWJD.
Accessing the highest echelons of the American evangelical movement, Alberta investigates the ways in which conservative Christians have pursued, exercised, and often abused power in the name of securing this earthly kingdom. He highlights the battles evangelicals are fighting—and the weapons of their warfare—to demonstrate the disconnect from scripture: Contra the dictates of the New Testament, today's believers are struggling mightily against flesh and blood, eyes fixed on the here and now, desperate for a power that is frivolous and fleeting. Lingering at the intersection of real cultural displacement and perceived religious persecution, Alberta portrays a rapidly secularizing America that has come to distrust the evangelical church, and weaves together present-day narratives of individual pastors and their churches as they confront the twin challenges of lost status and diminished standing.
Sifting through the wreckage—pastors broken, congregations battered, believers losing their religion because of sex scandals and political schemes—Alberta asks: If the American evangelical movement has ceased to glorify God, what is its purpose?
An important glimpse into the corruption, and potential revival, of American Christianity.
5 stars
Tim Alberta's The Kingdom, the Power, and the Glory is essential reading. Both for Americans who are religious and those who aren't, as well as for anyone outside of America who is wondering what the hell is wrong with American Christianity.
The book focuses primarily on the evolution of Evangelical churches since the rise of Trump and the Covid pandemic, but gives essential background information and history where needed. For roughly the first half of the book, Alberta gives a sweeping survey of the state of Evangelical churches, pastors, and the power brokers within Evangelical circles. It is a heart breaking and terrifying glimpse of a community that has gone off the rails. In the second half, after clearly making the case that the Evangelical movement is broken in some fundamental way, he makes the case that there is light at the end of the tunnel, introducing the reader to …
Tim Alberta's The Kingdom, the Power, and the Glory is essential reading. Both for Americans who are religious and those who aren't, as well as for anyone outside of America who is wondering what the hell is wrong with American Christianity.
The book focuses primarily on the evolution of Evangelical churches since the rise of Trump and the Covid pandemic, but gives essential background information and history where needed. For roughly the first half of the book, Alberta gives a sweeping survey of the state of Evangelical churches, pastors, and the power brokers within Evangelical circles. It is a heart breaking and terrifying glimpse of a community that has gone off the rails. In the second half, after clearly making the case that the Evangelical movement is broken in some fundamental way, he makes the case that there is light at the end of the tunnel, introducing the reader to the Christians that are fighting against Christian Nationalism and corruption within their churches.
I left Christianity years ago, before the recent rise of Christian Nationalism. Watching, from the outside, those who I once respected turn away completely from the tenants of Christianity has been troubling, even if their movement didn't threaten human rights and American democracy. While Alberta does go into the history of how American Christianity got where it is, I would have appreciated more discussion of the rise of Christian extremism in the 90's and Bush years. The problems and charlatans he describes and interviews have a long history. This is not a slight against the book, as it is slightly outside of what Alberta was focusing on, and it is not supposed to be a comprehensive overview of the corruption of American Evangelicalism. All in all, after finishing this book I felt more informed and was even left with a little bit of hope.
Subjects
- religion
- politics
- American politics
- Christianity