Book Review: The Kingdom, The Power, and The Glory

“The Kingdom, The Power, and the Glory: American Evangelicals in an Age of Extremism” by journalist and Christian Tim Alberta was a very interesting read. I still believe that to really understand the problem with evangelicals in the United States, the book “The Scandal of the Evangelical Mind” by Dr. Mark Noll is a better resource. However, Tim Alberta’s book takes readers in a practical and down-to-earth way to the root issue of Christians not challenging what they hear from pastors and Christian leaders. I have an opinion on that issue, but I will leave that for another day, maybe.

Tim Alberta spent four years on this project, conducting interviews and attending meetings, conferences, and church worship services. The result is an excellent collection of data points that paint a perfect picture of what is happening with evangelicals today in the United States.

The most impactful part of the book is stated by the author on page 432:

“What is the purpose of the Church? For most of my life, I thought the answer was simple. The purpose of the Church is to make disciples of all nations – first by sharing the gospel, then by baptizing unbelievers into faith, and ultimately by training followers of Jesus to become more and more like Him…What I struggled for so long to accept – what I finally was forced to confront during the four years I spent reporting this book – is that not everyone shares this vision for the Church. To some evangelicals, the purpose of the Church is to “own the libs” with an aggressive, identitarian conservatism. They might cloak their ambitions with biblical language … but that facade isn’t sustainable.”

There are many stories about institutions such as FloodGate Church, Liberty University, and the Southern Baptist Convention, as well as interviews at different events such as the American Restoration Tour and the Road to Majority annual symposium organized by the Faith and Freedom Coalition, that informed the causes and consequences of the topic at hand. However, I’m only going to highlight those parts that caught my attention.

Here are some highlights from the book:

“Fundamental disconnect between Christians who view issues through the eyes of Jesus versus Christians who process everything through a partisan political filter.” (P. 3)

A discussion with a pastor: “A lot of people believe there was a religious conception of this country. A biblical conception of this country … And that’s the source of a lot of our problems. Two things can be true. First, most of America’s founding fathers believed in some deity, and many were devout Christians. Second, the founders wanted nothing to do with theocracy. Many of their families had fled religious persecution in Europe; they knew the threat posed by what George Washington, several weeks into his presidency in 1789, described in a letter to the United Baptist Churches of Virginia as “the hours of spiritual tyranny.” Washington was hardly alone: From skeptics like Benjamin Franklin to committed Christians like John Jay, the founders shared John Adams’s view that America was conceived not “under the influence of Heaven” or in conversation with the Creator, but rather by using “reason and the senses.” (P.26-27)

A discussion between a pastor and a church member, “I’m afraid we have to leave the church after all these decades,” the man said, “because you’re not interpreting the Bible in light of the Constitution.” (P. 49)

Discussion between Tim Alberta and Wheaton College Professor John Dickson. “the American Church is suffering from “bully syndrome.” Too many Christians are swaggering around and picking on marginalized people and generally acting like jerks because they’re angry and apprehensive. Every teacher will tell you, the bully on the playground is usually the most insecure boy. It’s a compensation mechanism. If the boy were truly confident, he wouldn’t need to throw his weight around … It’s the same with the Church. The bully Church is the insecure Church.” (P. 128)

Laurel Bunker during a Wheaton College Conference, “The public hasn’t turned against Christians because they act better than the rest of the world, she said. The public has turned against Christians because they act worse than the rest of the world.” (P.132)

Discussion with Theologian Vincent Bacote: “The genius of evangelicalism is the breadth of it. The hazard is the lack of depth. A lot of these people are just not going deep enough. By remaining shallow in the scriptures … too many American Christians have avoided a necessary showdown between their own base cultural proclivities and God’s perfect standard. When Christians are discipled primarily by society, inevitably they look to scripture for affirmation of their habits and behaviors and political views.” (P.135)

Discussion with Miroslav Volf, Professor and Theologian at the Yale Divinity School: “I’ve come to believe … that the Christ of the gospel has become a moral stranger to us … If you read the gospels, the things that profoundly mattered to Christ, they marginally matter to most evangelical Christians. And the things that really profoundly matter to them, marginally mattered to Christ. Christ concerned himself greatly with the poor … but the poor are “hardly mentioned” in today’s evangelical discourse. Christ actively avoided fame … but today’s evangelical leaders are “drunk on fame.” Christ demanded that we love our enemies … but “not even lip service is being paid to this” in today’s evangelical churches.” (P. 242)

“If Christians were so perceptibly failing to seek first the kingdom of God – instead prioritizing national identities, cultural squabbles, political agendas – who could blame unbelievers for concluding that the kingdom of God wasn’t worth seeking at all?” (P. 274)

“American evangelicalism has long been plagued by a certain pedagogical insecurity. Whatever their collective influence amassed in certain arenas – politics and business, certainly – evangelicals have chafed at their seeming exclusion from elite social, academic, and intellectual circles… evangelicals hate feeling like outcasts, and are quick to uncritically follow those who make them feel accepted, relevant, enlightened.” (P. 315)

Julie Roys, The Roys Report: “This evangelical – industrial complex – making million, getting famous, building some “brand,” restoring wolves to prey on more sheep – it has absolutely nothing to do with Jesus. And we’ve got to stop pretending it does.” (P. 392)

“Christian nationalism is a contradiction in terms: Paul told the Galatians, “There is neither Jew not Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.” This assurance – that anyone who accepts Christ becomes a part of the Abrahamic family, residents of the promised New Jerusalem – transcend all known racial, ethnic, and national identities.” (P.435)

As mentioned in the beginning, this book was a very interesting read that took me almost two months to finish because of my tendency to highlight, write personal notes, and engage in additional research. After all, I’m a lifelong learner, and my focus is on leadership, history, and current affairs, and this book hit all three of those areas.

I highly recommend this book to Christians or anyone who wants to get an inside view of the current problems affecting the Christian faith in the United States.

About the Author:

Tim Alberta is an American journalist and author. He has written articles for The Hotline, the Wall Street Journal, National Journal, National Review, Politico, and The Atlantic.

41 thoughts on “Book Review: The Kingdom, The Power, and The Glory”

    1. It could be that some follow that philosophy, but it’s probably more about blindly following leaders without challenging their rhetoric. Mostly, this is because they don’t take the time to learn correct doctrine. Also, Marxism is against capitalism, so I don’t think many Christians in the U.S. are pushing back on capitalism. Thank you for your comment.

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  3. More and more Australians have embraced extreme evangelical views over the last twenty years or so. Indeed Evangelicals have infiltrated the once great Liberal party and have undermined its ‘broad church’ principles. Your review possibly throws light on why this is happening here. And whilst that’s scary, I thank you for the interesting review.
    DD

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    1. Thank you so much for reading and commenting. I didn’t know that this issue was impacting Australia as well. It’s really sad how people forget about the past and are trying to undermine democracy.

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      1. It is so good, yes! We are close and conscientious readers. I am the same with certain documentaries or shows. Pausing and taking notes for further research. 👍🏼 You’re very welcome. I appreciated the perspectives presented in those quotes.

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        1. Oh wow, Michele. I do the same thing. Interesting.🤔 I’ll be Googling while watching a show or documentary and sending links to read afterward. One of the latest examples was when Jon Stewart interviewed Steve Levitsky on The Daily Show about his book titled Tyranny of the Minority. It was a fascinating discussion, and I ended up purchasing the book after doing some research.

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  7. Hi Edward, I am not religious myself, but I am happy to respect the views of all others provided they do not infringe on the rights and freedoms of anybody or groups of people. Fanaticism in any form is a very bad thing. This book sounds like it contains good information. Unfortunately, it won’t reach the people who need to consider this in the same way as people who don’t care about nature conservation won’t read my books on that topic.

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  8. Wow, what a fascinating review about a thorny issue. This really struck me, “Fundamental disconnect between Christians who view issues through the eyes of Jesus versus Christians who process everything through a partisan political filter.”

    Yikes. Thank you, Edward.

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    1. Thank you for your comment, Wynne. Yikes, indeed. The part that struck you is what I have been thinking for a while now. There is no good explanation, so I’m leaving that alone and focusing on the good instead, relying on the source rather than the religious institutions.

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  9. What an excellent review, Edward. Thank you for reporting on what you found in those highly researched pages. Like you, I would reread passages and highlight an intense book like this. Your excerpts show its depth.

    In their attempt to convince others of the “right” why to believe, evangelicals push people away.

    When I post on topics of faith, someone always tells me how to pray better, believe more correctly, or show me the right path. I know I don’t have all the answers. I can only tell what I think and what and why I believe. I am very interested in what and why others believe.

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    1. Thank you very much for your comments, Mary. What is more disconcerting to me is the disconnect between Jesus’ teachings and what most evangelicals are doing. They are definitely not getting that from the New Testament, for sure. From my readings, I can’t recall one episode where Jesus behaves in the way that most evangelicals do. That behavior is pushing people away, as you said, and it’s a sad commentary on the current state of affairs within the evangelical church. Faith is very personal, and there are not many people on this planet with the moral authority to tell us how to conduct ourselves. At this point in my life, I’m relying more on the source, Jesus’ teachings, than the institutions, the church, which seems to be failing in its mission.

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  10. By reading your post, and while having no opinion on this subject in particular, it came to my mind what’s also visible in so many things these days: that when the foundations deteriorate, the house finds its decay too.

    Distance from the origin creates a disparity in expression. This is very profound and worth considering… And I am grateful to you, Edward, for leading me to this insight. I wish you an amazing day, my friend, full of light and blessings. 

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    1. Thank you so much, Susana, for your comments. You’re absolutely correct, and I like how you framed it. There are many areas where foundations are deteriorating, directly resulting in institutions falling into decay. Your insight that “distance from the origin creates a disparity in expression” is so good and worth meditating on to regain balance.

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