The Kingdom, the Power, and the Glory: American Evangelicals in an Age of Extremism by Tim Alberta
My Goodreads rating: 5 of 5 stars
Tim Alberta, best-selling author, journalist with The Atlantic, and pastor’s son, chronicles a painful—and still developing—season in the American evangelical movement with heartbreaking detail and incisive analysis. Half of the book follows key figures any evangelical on Twitter would recognize, showing how deep and broad the author’s access was to the power players, along with a few lesser-known but still influential pastors—all of whom allowed culture wars to override the gospel of Christ. Alberta showed how retaining historical priority, the dominant white conservative culture, became equated with preserving Christianity in America. I was astonished at how many personal interviews he obtained, and how damning many of them were for those being interviewed. Did they realize they were giving permission for Alberta to use their words… and how poorly those words would reflect on themselves? Wow.
I appreciated the author’s ability to see the good, the faithful, and the likewise appalled Christians who have watched their church succumb to empire. Evangelicals as a whole are painted by society with a corrupt brush, but not all evangelicals are guilty of what their outspoken leaders have done. Many have been led astray, convinced political power is the answer to spiritual dilemmas. But they (we?) remain accountable to speak truth to power, in our churches and families, in our friend groups and communities.
Alberta’s book should act as a flaming arrow flying over the steeples of evangelical churches today, screaming “Stop the madness! Trust not in princes or presidents, but turn back to Christ and redeem this mess our generation has wrought.”
*This review would have made my top 2023 books, but I didn’t finish it in time for that list. Grab a copy here.
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