Steven's Reviews > The Kingdom, the Power, and the Glory: American Evangelicals in an Age of Extremism

Great book for the man without a country--or the evangelical without a political party.

I have been a Republican for life, decades longer than Donald Trump, as a matter of fact. But the Republican party of today does not look much like the Reaganites that I supported in 1985. More importantly, Christians--evangelicals and particularly members of Southern Baptist churches like mine--have drifted into new waters. Are we called to share the gospel or to win the culture wars? Are we called to love our enemies or to be "Warriors for Christ"?

Following a string of ridiculous scandals, many involving people I personally know, I began reading the Roys Report. And it was on the Roys Report Podcast that I first heard about this book. I knew it would hit the spot. What I did not know was how well-written it would be. Alberta is a clever writer, building arguments that neatly defeat hypocrisy. Reading his book was a delight. It was sad and disappointing too. But it rings true--and I was after truth.

I also appreciated Alberta's perspective. Though the son of a Michigan preacher, he certainly is not from my Southern Baptist/Texas culture. He provided an outsider's helpful reality check.

Great work.

I shared a few quotations on Facebook--and to be honest, I would have shared more passages, but did not want to deal with the constant pushback from my friends.

***

"In the darkest chapters of Church history--the Crusades and Inquisition, the slave trade and sexual abuse scandals--the common denominator has been a willingness on the part of Christian authority figures to distort scripture for what they perceive to be some greater good."

--Tim Alberta, THE KINGDOM, THE POWER, AND THE GLORY: AMERICAN EVANGELICALS IN AN AGE OF EXTREMISM.

****


I was today years old when I learned there are different kinds of euphemisms. One is the "BOWDLERIZED EUPHEMISM."

Best-known example is the partisan slogan inadvertently created by NBC Sports reporter Kelli Stavast at the Talladega Superspeedway, October 2, 2021.

Yep. A bowdlerized euphemism.

The more you know...

HT--Tim Alberta.

(Not ONE PERSON commented in a manner indicating that they recognized the "Let's Go Brandon" reference.)

****

YOU’RE GONNA WANT TO READ THIS TWICE ...

“In 1968, CHRISTIANITY TODAY, the flagship evangelical publication founded by Billy Graham, convened a symposium of some two dozen theologians who ultimately could not agree whether abortion was sinful. In 1971, the Southern Baptist Convention passed a resolution affirming the procedure under a generous range of circumstances [this resolution was re-affirmed by the SBC many times in the years following]. W.A. Criswell, the SBC ex-president and legendary pastor of First Baptist Church in Dallas, … approved: ‘I have always felt that it was only after a child was born and had a life separate from its mother that it became an individual person.’ In 1973, Barry Garrett, the D.C. bureau chief for the BAPTIST PRESS, reacted to the ROE decision by writing that the Supreme Court had ‘advanced the cause of religious liberty, human equality, and justice.’”

--Tim Alberta, THE KINGDOM, THE POWER, AND THE GLORY: AMERICAN EVANGELICALS IN AN AGE OF EXTREMISM.

****

(AND FINALLY, THIS ESSAY BASED ON THE ABOVE PASSAGE FROM ALBERTA'S BOOK.)----

ARGUABLY IRREVERENT THOUGHTS ON SANCTITY OF HUMAN LIFE SUNDAY.

Those of us who are pro-life have long fancied ourselves knights on white horses, fighting for those who cannot fight for themselves--the unborn. Of course, those who are pro-choice feel the same way--they are sincere about helping young women in a crisis.

It is Christians, Christ followers who created "Sanctity of Human Life Day." And being a Christ follower is tough. There's nothing easy about it if you take it seriously. Love your enemies? Pray for them? Are you serious, right now? But surely Jesus doesn't expect me to love an abortionist? Or to pray for the head of Planned Parenthood? Of course not. Those people are monsters, right? Jesus never said to pray for monsters. They're demons, Satan's minions. No one prays for them. God does not expect us to love them.

You can tell yourself that all day long. And Jesus looks at you and repeats it: "Love your enemies. And pray for them."
But they're monsters!
Love them.
They're killing babies!
Pray for them.
They're AntiChrist Armageddon Monsters!
Love them.
They're not monsters. They're broken, fallen humans, no worse than those who crucified Jesus. And He loved them. He forgave them. He prayed for them.

Christians have perfected the artifice of demonizing our political opponents so we can justify hating them. We tell ourselves they are monsters so we can justify the hateful way we speak and act. We tell ourselves those on the left are devils and we do not have to love devils. We hate them. We call them clever names and turn them into cartoonish caricatures rather than fellow sons and daughters of Adam, made in God's image. Cartoons and caricatures and monsters are easy to hate. But Jesus commands us to love. It's not a suggestion. Jesus commands us to pray. It's not a suggestion.

Instead, we slander. We name-call. We sling mud. We spread lies and half-truths. We elect politicians who will be hateful on our behalf, then congratulate ourselves for holding our tongues.

(But the principal is always liable for the actions of his agent--if an elected official is my agent, am I not responsible for everything he or she does?)

Here's the thing about abortion. When Roe v. Wade was decided, a great many prominent Christians were in FAVOR of the decision. (SEE BELOW.) It took ten or twenty years of reflection for the church to line up solidly on the side of life. (Medical ethics is forever raising new, difficult questions that require serious study and reflection to sort out. We need time and Godly wisdom--and a lot of prayer.)

But if it took the church--a body ostensibly filled with praying men and women of God--a dozen years to sort out the issue of abortion, how can we demonize those who maintain the initial position of our fathers in the faith? After all, it took praying people years to line up on the pro-life side. But who is praying for the pro-choice side? Have we on the right spent as much time praying for those on the left as we have calling them "murderers"?

If we demonize our political opponents instead of praying for them, how can we expect them to change?

THE CHURCH WILL NEVER CHANGE THE WORLD THROUGH POLITICS, BUT BY LOVING, SERVING, AND PRAYING FOR OUR "ENEMIES."

Below is a remarkable account of early responses to the ROE decision from various Christian parties. Prayer and Godly wisdom would later birth in these Christians (and others like them) a deeper understanding and devotion to the sanctity of human life. Perhaps humility, love, and fervent prayer would produce the same result in those we have failed to persuade with forty years of name-calling and mud-slinging.

“In 1968, CHRISTIANITY TODAY, the flagship evangelical publication founded by Billy Graham, convened a symposium of some two dozen theologians who ultimately could not agree whether abortion was sinful. In 1971, the Southern Baptist Convention passed a resolution affirming the procedure under a generous range of circumstances [this resolution was re-affirmed by the SBC many times in the years following]. W.A. Criswell, the SBC ex-president and legendary pastor of First Baptist Church in Dallas, … approved: ‘I have always felt that it was only after a child was born and had a life separate from its mother that it became an individual person.’ In 1973, Barry Garrett, the D.C. bureau chief for the BAPTIST PRESS, reacted to the ROE decision by writing that the Supreme Court had ‘advanced the cause of religious liberty, human equality, and justice.’”

--from Tim Alberta, THE KINGDOM, THE POWER, AND THE GLORY: AMERICAN EVANGELICALS IN AN AGE OF EXTREMISM.