Radical: Taking Back Your Faith from the American Dream

Platt writes his book as a reflection on basic Christian values—elements that he regards as foundational teaching for practical Christian living. He draws his portrayal of the Christian life from Jesus’s biblical teachings, and he challenges Christians to consider the ramifications of those teachings on practical issues of daily life. He positions Radical as a picture of ideal Christian values, one which Platt believes has been largely neglected in his own culture. This restorationist impulse—to recapture lost or imperfectly-practiced elements of original Christianity, as it was preached and practiced by Jesus and his apostles—is a recurring concern in Platt’s Christian context. He is a Southern Baptist pastor, and the Baptist movement had its beginnings in that very impulse. In the early 17th century, several groups of Christians in England sought to recover what they viewed as neglected aspects of early Christian practice—such as adult baptism, a ritual that symbolizes a rebirth into Christian faith. In contrast to infant baptism, in which parents dedicate their children to God, adult baptism signals an individual’s public commitment to Jesus Christ. Platt’s Baptist context also lies within the wider field of American evangelicalism—a subset of Christianity that centers a mandate to spread the