Join us on Thursday\, May 9\, for a discus sion with Tim Alberta on his new book\, The Kingdom\, the Power\, and The Glory: American Evangelicals in an Age of Extremism. This CALS Sp eaker Series event will be moderated by Nate Coulter. WordsWorth Books wil l be selling copies of the book at the event.
\nAbout the bo ok:
\nThe son of an evangelical minister\, The Atlantic sta ff writer Tim Alberta was sickened when\, on the day of his father&rsquo\; s funeral\, some members of the congregation eschewed compassion at this m oment of grief and took him to task for what he had written about the rise of Donald Trump in his New York Times bestseller American Carnage. &ldquo \;What the hell is wrong with these people?&rdquo\; his wife asked&mdash\; an off-the-cuff question that grew in Alberta&rsquo\;s mind and inspired t he journalist in him to attempt to find answers. In THE KINGDOM\, THE POWE R\, AND THE GLORY: American Evangelicals in the Age of Extremism (Harper\; December 5\, 2023)\, Alberta&mdash\;a practicing Christian&mdash\;investi gates the corruption of American Christianity and the subsequent fracturin g of individual relationships and church congregations alike.
\nIn s earch of answers\, Alberta spent some four years embedded inside the moder n evangelical movement. From the highest echelons to struggling congregati ons\, he toured half-empty sanctuaries and standing-room-only auditoriums while shadowing big-city televangelists and small-town preachers. Reportin g from inside hundreds of churches\, Christian colleges\, religious advoca cy organizations\, denominational nonprofits\, and assorted independent mi nistries\, Alberta offers a definitive account of American Christianity's decline. What he describes is a faith cheapened by partisan subterfuge and stained by scandal. The idea of America as God&rsquo\;s blessed land has abruptly given way to a right-wing nationalist fervor that merges two king doms into one and trivializes the witness of Jesus Christ. The Trump presi dency and pandemic bolstered long-held church teachings pointing toward di saster.
\nAlberta finds that many of today&rsquo\;s believers are de sperate for power that is frivolous\, fleeting\, and runs counter to New T estament teachings. &ldquo\;The crisis of American evangelicalism comes do wn to an obsession with &hellip\; worldly identity\,&rdquo\; he writes. &l dquo\;Instead of fixing our eyes on the unseen\, &lsquo\;since what is see n is temporary\, but what is unseen is eternal\,&rsquo\; as Paul writes in Second Corinthians\, we have become fixated on the here and now. Instead of seeing ourselves as exiles in a metaphorical Babylon\, the way Peter de scribes the first-century Christians living in Rome\, we have embraced our imperial citizenship. Instead of fleeing the temptation to rule all the w orld\, like Jesus did\, we have made deals with the devil.&rdquo\;
\nIf the American evangelical movement has ceased to glorify God\, then wha t is its purpose? THE KINGDOM\, THE POWER\, AND THE GLORY offers a thoroug hly reported and deeply personal exploration that meets at the intersectio n of real cultural displacement and perceived religious persecution.
\nAbout the author:
\nTim Alberta is a staff write r for \;The Atlantic\, the former chief political corresponde nt for \;Politico\, and has written for dozens of other publi cations\, including the \;Wall Street Journal\, \;Spo rts Illustrated\, and \;Vanity Fair. He is the author of the \;New York Times \;bestseller \;American Car nage: On the Front Lines of the Republican Civil War and the Rise of Presi dent Trump. He co-moderated the final Democratic presidential debate of 2019 and frequently appears as a commentator on television programs in the U.S. and around the world. He lives in Michigan with his wife and thre e sons.
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