This audio book had actually been in my TBR “pile” since it came out just prior to that Christmas fortnight when I went on a binge of mostly cozy, Christmasy mysteries.  Now I have Sir Thomas More’s Utopia going for its 2nd reading which is much slower (usually) and picked up The Kingdom, the Power.  I got a couple chapters  into it and decided to go looking for reviews to see what was coming.  Right away I found quotes from the book which piqued my interest. 

The Kingdom, the Power, and the Glory
in an Age of Extremism
by Tim Alberta
2023/
read by author
Rating: 9.5 / politics and government
(both read and listened)

White Christians have perverted the faith and the party they say they stand for. Political mudslinging offers a “dopamine rush.” Exaggerating threats and calling the other side evil means that whatever you do, no matter how outrageous or cruel or contrary to Scripture, can be defended as righteous.

I ended up with both the Audible and the Kindle versions because after I got started I really wanted to read as I listened (or listen as I read) because this is a kind of intensive study of the evangelical community of churches today and how they got this way

Alberta was not only brought up in an evangelical church, Presbyterian, his dad was the pastor. And I get the distinct impression Tim is still very much Christian, but he’s NOT in the same pew as many of the right wing evangelicals he interviews and spotlights for this book. I read some of his articles in Atlantic and maybe elsewhere and I was impressed. 

Audible categorizes the book as being on “politics and government” and I’ll go with that, maybe adding “Christianity” as a related category. Every chapter has a brief Bible verse as an epigraph which adds a very nice touch. 

The Kingdom, the Power, and the Glory is told from the vantage point of memoir, but with substantive characters lending focus to the major points- “White Christians have perverted the faith and the party they say they stand for.”  

My personal opinions seem sooooo similar – instead of being a minister in a Presbyterian Church, my father was employed by the Republican Party of Minnesota – but he certainly was a committed Lutheran from birth to, in retirement, being a substitute minister in various small local congregations.  My mom was also a totally committed evangelical Christian of the  Lutheran denomination.

Alberta introduces his readers to others. mostly ministers or those working in the field, who are in a similar situation with Christianity and its role in American life today. So the book is a collection of mini-biographies and interviews of highly placed evangelicals in the US. He follows a few through some years and reveals and how they’re dealing with the differences in thinking focused on Trump, race, sexual ethics (or lack of) in churches and Christian schools “White supremacy and white nationalism are NOT Christian values.”

But it seemed as though when evangelical clergy preached love, tolerance and faith their congregations left to go with preachers who said what they want to hear, ie FOX news reports, and “own the libs” and so on: It’s become about fighting for freedom, not for love and tolerance. 

Alberta was not only brought up in an evangelical Presbyterian church, he has written on religion for Atlantic for many years. I’ve read several of his articles and find him to be quite knowledgeable – and I too am concerned with Christianity in the US – where has it been and where is it going?    

Audible categorizes the book as being on “politics and government” and I’ll go with that, but I could add “Christianity” as a kind of third subject.  It’s told as a kind of memoir but with substantive characters lending focus to the major point – White Christians have perverted the faith and the party they say they stand for.  

Alberta introduces us to other evangelicals who are in a similar situations with Christianity and its role in American life today. To me, and I identify with this group a lot due to my parents. So the characters Alberta is involved with are not cardboard stereotypes or angry old men. They strike me as very real people struggling with the gap between what Christianity appears to teach from the Bible and what their leaders want for the country.