My Interview with Tim Alberta on his New Book on Evangelical Extremism
EXTRA: My Newest Column at RNS
This week saw the release of “The Kingdom, the Power, and the Glory: American Evangelicals in an Age of Extremism,” by Tim Alberta, staff writer at The Atlantic. Already, the book has been widely covered and highly praised. Here’s part of my interview with Tim:
I’ll be honest: The book was a hard read for me for a couple of reasons. One is that I know many of the people whom you interview at length. A few of them are ones who have disappointed me greatly in the turns their leadership has taken. But most of them have been, like me, hurt and betrayed by people and institutions you write about. Another reason the book became heavier and heavier as I was reading it is that the first two-thirds of the book was so male-dominated. I began to despair that either you had left out women’s voices — or worse — that women’s voices matter so little within evangelicalism. And then all of a sudden, the book took a turn, and the women appeared. Was this intentional on your part or is it just a natural reflection of the way the story — your story and the bigger story — took shape?
Karen! Very perceptive. Yes, it was intentional — both to demonstrate the degree to which women have been marginalized and treated as second-class citizens within the evangelical movement, but also to highlight the singular ways in which women have fought for truth and accountability inside the church. Doctrinal disputes notwithstanding — and I certainly believe Christians can have good-faith disagreements about complementarianism, egalitarianism, etc. — it’s just painfully obvious that evangelicalism has suppressed women’s voices in ways that exacerbate this crisis of credibility facing organized Christianity in America.
Read the rest of the interview here: https://religionnews.com/2023/12/07/tim-alberta-on-evangelical-extremism-and-the-pastors-who-profit-from-it/
I have so many thoughts related to these two points. But I think the first response is that the Western church - for this loss of focus is wider than just America - has disregarded the call to take up our cross and follow our Lord, who laid aside his glory to dwell among us. Like the rich young ruler, who went away sorrowing because of his great possessions, the Western Church so loves their comfort and privilege that they want to have Christ and the American dream, which has become the Western dream, too.
It isn't that I think Christians should live in self imposed poverty and obscurity - that would be an unnecessary 'voluntary humility' that Paul warns in Colossians is ineffective in actually curbing worldly desires. No, rather what is needed is the continual cultivation of a sense of being strangers and pilgrims, or in modern parlance refugees and immigrants, as citizens of Christ's kingdom left tlas his embassy in the world. The early Church understood this - the 2nd century Letter to Diognetus states it in nearly poetic phrasing:
"They dwell in their own countries, but simply as sojourners. As citizens, they share all things with others, and yet endure all things as if they had been foreigners. Every foreign land is to them as their native country, and every land of their birth as a land of strangers... They pass their days on earth, but they are citizens of heaven."
But two millennia of religious and 'Christian' nations have bewildered the Church's concept of the location and loyalty of Christian citizenship.
“Women have been marginalized and treated as second-class citizens within the evangelical movement”
Sadly, very true. I’m glad to see it acknowledged rather than another attempt at gaslighting. As a lover of history, I cannot help but think of the ancient Spartans, so admired for their heroism in battle. The truth is that Sparta maintained its power by enslaving a neighboring group of people called “helots.” These were the people they forced to do all the servile work. Measures were taken to ensure that the helots never flourished so that they would never be able to rise up in rebellion. Of course, similar situations have existed throughout history, but this idea of a servile class of humans that exists to empower a ruling class hits very close to home. It is why ardent patriarchalists tend to be the greatest apologists for the antebellum South. Jesus Christ, on the other hand, came to being abundant life to all human beings.