A SPIRITED BOOK CLUB DISCUSSion of ‘The Kingdom, the Power and the Glory: American Evangelicals in an Age of Extremism’ by Tim Alberta
Ever wonder what it means to be a part of the EVANGELICAL Lutheran Church in America when the word evangelical has come to stand for just about everything you’re not?
Join the conundrum and the conversation! Pastor Steve Holm, retired ELCA and Spirited daily devotions writer, joins facilitator Sheri Brown to unpack the E in ELCA, especially in the context of the word evangelical having become cultural code for “white conservative Republican.” We’ll frame the conversation with the book, The Kingdom, the Power, and the Glory: American Evangelism in an Age of Extremism by Tim Alberta.
Alberta—a journalist, a practicing Christian, and the son of an evangelical pastor —documents a growing fracture inside American Christianity and investigates the ways in which conservative Christians have pursued, exercised, and often abused power in the name of securing this earthly kingdom. 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 portrays a rapidly secularizing America that has come to distrust the evangelical church and asks: If the evangelical movement has ceased to glorify God, what is its purpose?
Book Overview
Evangelical Christians are perhaps the most polarizing—and least understood—people living in America today. In his seminal book, The Kingdom, the Power, and the Glory, Tim Alberta 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.
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.
Reviews for The Kingdom, the Power, and the Glory
“Alberta has a very readable style and I found the book fascinating. He obviously is a Christian who loves his faith and wrote the book to do more than poke holes in church walls, but offers faithful ideas and examples of returning to Jesus Christ and trusting in Him rather than the ‘arm of flesh.'” —Darrell Stacey
“I was simply blown away by the contents of this book! As a former political science and policy professional, I thought I knew how evangelicals fit into the broader picture of the rise of Donald Trump and the sustainability of his “base of support”. However, learning more about the pursuit of power and greed by so many evangelical pastors — particularly of so-called “mega church” pastors — described so well and so comprehensively by author Tim Alberta was truly shocking. … This book is an essential read for any registered voter concerned about how we got here and what we must do now to save our democracy.” —Ann O’Hara
“This is an excellent book on the origins and history of white evangelicalism, both the good and the bad. I highly recommend this book. As a Christian, this books gives me a context to work from as I see my fellow evangelical brothers and sisters and why they tick the way they do.” — Bernard Walker
Read Jeffery Cimmino’s review in Providence Magazine
CLUB DISCUSSION date
BOOK CLUB meets Thursday, July 11 @ 12:00 – 1:00 pm AZ (MST)
++Book discussion facilitated by Sheri Brown and Rev. Steve Holm
About the author
Tim Alberta is an award-winning journalist, best-selling author, and staff writer for The Atlantic magazine. He formerly served as chief political correspondent for POLITICO. In 2019, he published the critically acclaimed book, “American Carnage: On the Front Lines of the Republican Civil War and the Rise of President Trump” and co-moderated the year’s final Democratic presidential debate aired by PBS Newshour.
Alberta spent more than a decade in Washington, reporting for publications including the Wall Street Journal, The Hotline, National Journal and National Review. In 2019, he moved home to Michigan. Rather than cover the 2020 campaign through the eyes of the candidates, Tim roved the country and reported from gun shows and farmers markets, black cookouts and white suburbs, crowded wholesale stores and shuttered small businesses. He wrote a regular “Letter to Washington” that kept upstream from politics, focusing less on manifest partisan divisions and more on elusive root causes: the hollowing out of communities, the diminished faith in vital institutions, the self-perpetuating cycle of cultural antagonism, the diverging economic realities for wealthy and working-class citizens, the rapid demographic makeover of America—and the corollary spikes in racism and xenophobia.
Tim’s work has been featured in dozens of other publications nationwide, including Sports Illustrated and Vanity Fair, and he frequently appears as a commentator on television programs in the United States and around the world. Tim’s first book, “American Carnage,” debuted at No. 1 and No. 2 on the Washington Post and New York Times best-seller lists, respectively. He lives in southeast Michigan with his wife, three sons, and German Shepherd.
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