The Kingdom, the Power, and the Glory: American Evangelicals in an Age of Extremism

“Here, in our house of worship, people were taunting me about politics as I tried to mourn my father.”

At his father’s funeral, Alberta was accosted by members of his own church. This ultimately led to the genesis of this book, as he was baffled and hurt by their behavior and felt the need to explore it further. This quote shows Alberta’s use of personal anecdote to lend an intimate, emotional element to the journalistic investigation.

“If Trump possessed any of what Paul dubbed ‘the fruit of the spirit’ (love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control) it wasn’t hanging low enough to be picked.”

This quote shows Alberta’s characteristic sense of humor. Alluding the biblical teachings about idealistic personality traits for Christians, his wordplay disarms the reader and makes his observations more memorable.

“Whereas it was once feared that sinister geopolitical forces would target America as a means to extinguishing its holy light to the world, the narrative began to shift as the Moral Majority gained clout in the 1980s. Leading voices on the religious right argued that Christ’s kingdom could be advanced only if American believers were willing to fight for it.”

This quote shows the marked change in evangelical rhetoric in the 1980s. The Moral Majority turned Christians from an insular philosophy of separatism toward patriotism, a move that gave birth to the current form of Christian nationalism.

“Despite our different labels and traditions, we were crumbling under the weight of a shared spiritual legacy. We were saddled with a heritage that felt unsustainable; we were handed down an identity that no longer fit.”

This quote shows Alberta’s reflective, rueful analysis of his identity, which he shares with Nick Olson at Liberty University. They both feel burdened by the expectations of their faith as well as the Church’s past mistakes, which required reckoning and subsequent philosophical change.

“We were not merely discussing a coarsening of the culture; we were confronting a secular onslaught that would bring a Christian society to its knees. It was something he could not in good conscience ignore.”

This quote refers to Robert Jeffress’s apocalyptic rhetoric that aligned him with Trump. Jeffress’s view of Christianity as “under siege” dictated his decision to endorse Trump as a “strongman” who would defend evangelicals. This quote displays the irony used by Alberta in describing the perspective of extremists, letting their own perceptual distortions shine without comment.

“This road show was a call-and-response for American evangelicals. It was a lesson in being under siege and a tutorial in going on the attack.”

This quote discusses the American Restoration Tour, whose founding leaders profited off of the fear they fraudulently stoked. The war imagery in this quote emphasizes the martial attitude of many evangelicals when speaking about America.

“The first step towards preserving Christian values, it seemed, was to do away with Christian values.”

This quote is another display of Alberta’s typical irony. He points out the hypocrisy in the logic of extremists, who justify corruption and misbehavior in service of a hypothetical, idealistic Christian future.

“The great fault in the evangelical movement today, is that we’re disobedient to the commands of the one we claim to follow. What were those commands? Love your enemies. Pray for those who persecute you.”

This quote lays bare the fundamental crisis in evangelism. Though evangelicals prioritize the words of Jesus in the New Testament, many appear to feel no compunction in disobeying them. This leads to a perception of them in the secular world as hypocrites.

“Russia wasn’t merely using Christianity to endorse its ambitions. Russia was using Christianity to define its enemies.”

This quote shows the power of religious nationalism in Russia, allowing them to justify atrocities in the service of Christianity. It warns of the consequences of Christian nationalism in the US by providing a comparison to a country that many Americans often disregard as a polar opposite due to political alignments (Capitalism versus Communism).

“Their nation was nearly expired. Their politicians appeared powerless, and their God seemed indifferent. They were desperate to believe that America might be saved; that revival was within reach.”

This quote shows the fear felt by evangelical congregations. While the “shepherds,” or dishonest evangelical leaders, profit from this fear, many of their congregants genuinely believe in the terrifying warnings issued from the pulpit, leading to a rise in extremism.

“Christianity is inherently countercultural. That’s how it thrives. When it tries to become a dominant culture, it becomes corrupted. That’s been the case from the very beginning.”

This quote represents the philosophy of Zahnd, a joyfully apolitical pastor. He argues that Christianity should never be married to political power because it will inevitably corrupt believers and distort their values. This moment alludes to the theme of Politics’ Uneasy Alliance With Religion, providing a clear indication of the dangers in uniting them.

“The Church had been destabilized from within, its fringe infiltrating the mainstream in ways that warranted systemic criticism.”

This quote shows the fundamental, alarming change in Church culture. The fringe extremists now dictate the culture though views that originally represented a minority.

“By definition, the pursuit and application of absolute truth cannot be discriminatory. Yet Kirk was famous for picking and choosing the certainties his base wanted to hear—the things he could package into slick sound bites, market to the indignant masses, and monetize with breathtaking velocity.”

This quote showcases Alberta’s singular imagery, lending power and energy to his description of the extremist Charlie Kirk. The description of Kirk’s unscrupulous media manipulation emphasizes the speed and energy of Kirk’s rhetorical distortion and presents an example of Evangelism as a Tool of White Nationalism.

“What once seemed like heightened—but not unhealthy—political engagement turned out to be toxic, malevolent, paranoiac thinking.”

This quote demonstrates the simmering discontent that existed in evangelical culture for years. Though dismissed by moderate leadership as a minor issue, it erupted into a crisis in 2015, demonstrating the necessity of addressing extremism in the community head-on.

“The people who care about an institution, define an institution.”

French’s characteristic pithiness and clarity shines through in this direct quote. He defines the problem with the vocal minorities in the evangelist movement and dismisses the idea that the Church has a fixed identity. Extremism may not represent all Christians, but their fervor has a serious potential to influence the movement as a whole, as exhibited throughout Alberta’s book.

“The one thing that’s unambiguous, where we can take direct instruction from Jesus, is on the how of politics—when it comes to loving our enemy, having humility, showing mercy, pursuing truth.”

This quote from Curtis Chang demonstrates his strategy in moving forward. Taking instruction directly from the Bible, Chang shows genuine dedication to the fundamentals of evangelical thought.

“Maybe if we use the resources of the secular world to heal the evangelical Church, then we can also use the spirit of the evangelical Church to heal the secular world.”

This quote shows the broadening of the scope of resistance to extremism. No longer believing that they could effect change from within, Moore, French, and Chang decide to turn to outsiders for help, and this risk is rewarded. This shows how an open dialogue and positive relationship help create empathy and understanding between members of different ideologies.

“Churches might improve their self-policing, but they would never hold themselves fully accountable.”

This quote demonstrates the fallibility of individual churches and the SBC. The structures in place exist to conserve power and protect their leaders, which creates opportunities for abusers to escape consequences. The recruitment of outside secular forces helps change the Church by providing an oversight that prevents corruption.

“The notion of excluding women from Church seemed backward and decidedly unbiblical. It was Jesus who made the radical (by first-century standards) decision to reveal Himself, after rising from the dead, to groups of women.”

Alberta points out the lack of biblical evidence for evangelicals’ sexist policies excluding women from leadership. Pointing out the biblical contradiction should persuade evangelicals, showing an example of Evangelism’s Increasing Disconnect From Scripture.

“The set-your-watch regularity of evangelical pastors being exposed for victimizing their church members is bad enough. What’s worse is that Christianity has become institutionally desensitized to it.”

This quote decries the “numbness” of Christians to sex scandals. No longer a surprise, many Christians react as if abuse is an inevitability and sometimes attack the accuser for causing conflict instead of the abuser.

“I think the first step is reimagining the Christian worldview. And that means replacing our dominant metaphor—culture war—with something different.”

This is an example of one evangelical’s tentative philosophy for changing the Church. Though he emphasizes the need for personal accountability, he acknowledges that nothing will improve until the Church collectively admits its need for change.

“Cornerstone never belonged to my dad. It belongs to Jesus Christ, the chief cornerstone, who promised that He would build the Church and that the gates of hell would not prevail against it.”

Alberta reflects on his own complicated feelings about Cornerstone. He comes to terms with the fact that Cornerstone was much bigger than his father, using his distinctive Biblical allusions to illustrate the point. This concludes Alberta’s internal conflict and the book’s arc of seeking a means of resolving division with the Church: returning to a focus on the tenants of faith as opposed to politics.

“There is nothing here to reclaim. This country—a drop in the bucket, like all the nations, was never God’s to begin with.”

This quote points out the flaw in Christian nationalist thinking. Jesus and God both repudiated nationalism in the Bible, pointing out that earthly kingdoms are fleeting while the heavenly kingdom is eternal and undying. Alberta emphasizes that a fixation on national identity is a narrowminded and misguided approach to religion.