Product details
- Publisher
:
Harper (December 5, 2023) - Language
:
English - Hardcover
:
512 pages - ISBN-10
:
006322688X - ISBN-13
:
978-0063226883 - Item Weight
:
1 pounds - Dimensions
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6 x 1.4 x 9 inches
- Best Sellers Rank: #13 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #1 in History of Christianity (Books)
- #1 in Christian Church History (Books)
- #1 in Sociology & Religion
- Customer Reviews:
Amazon Customer –
One of the constant challenges of a follower of the biblical Jesus is to reflect, evaluate and repent in order to be more like our Master. Tim Alberta has written a well documented book which should not be dismissed by cultural labels of the left or right. Humility is the quality needed to admit that ALL have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. May the people of God realize that Jesus Christ and His kingdom are the eternal goal, now and forever. Amen.
pamela –
What insight and deeper knowledge I received from this book.I could not put it down. These last 8 years have been filled with so much anxiety for many of us. You have pushed back the curtains on how this has happened and helped reassure me that Christ is still in control and will not forsake us if we truly seek to become like Him. He came to save mankind, not to force mankind but to draw us by His Love and to win others thru His Love…
James L. Lindberg –
As a life long Christian who has moved from the strict Conservative Baptist teaching of my youth to a better understanding of who Jesus was and what he taught, I find that the church is even worse off than I imagined. Like others I am no longer an Evangelical, just a follower of Jesus. I’m fortunate to be in a Church that preaches Jesus as the way of living and loving. Praise God from whom all blessings flow.
J. Deutschendorf –
I highly recommend this book.I especially thought Pastor Winans’ use of Game Theory (a philosophy of how people engage with the world) was compelling as it relates to the purpose of the church.Should the church engage and attempt to “win” the culture wars? That would be a finite game. Or should the church be about “always learning, growing, and being reminded of our own sin. This is not a competition; this is an infinite [or eternal] game. We’re to strive to be better than ourselves.”I also believe research into how humans make decisions (Kahneman and Tversky) could also be quite helpful as so much of evangelism in America has centered around forcing decisions, invoking emotional altar calls, and in many cases stooping to manipulating the masses: techniques Jesus and the apostles NEVER used. Research has shown humans utilize error-prone shortcuts to make decisions. Many so-called evangelists innately knew and exploited this long before these heuristics were identified by scientists.The evangelical church has focused on what is seen, and the decisions they have cajoled from Americans are hasty and superficial, exactly mirroring the age in which we live and the spiritual description of so many evangelicals in the American church today.
Nance A. Wabshaw –
The Kingdom, the Power, and the Glory by Tim Alberta. I don’t know how to give it enough praise. As an ex-vangelical long before this current era would have had me running for the door, this book elegantly and with gentle wisdom charts the course of the evangelical movement through powerful anecdotes and corroborated reporting. He is himself an ‘insider’ which makes his narrative both compelling and at times heartbreaking. But. Ultimately, his book ministered to me in a healing way and I believe it can offer healing to all kinds of disaffected and disheartened Christians. It offers the very course corrections the entire Church needs to engage before our message is silenced by the roar of authoritarianism and the Church’s amnesia about its own raison d’etre.
Amazon Customer –
Sometimes gut wrenchingly close-up and personal, sometimes with holistic clinical detachment, Alberta delves into the socio-political issues dividing Evangelical Protestantism. He traces the roots of this disruption back 50 years (though he might have gone much farther) with compelling examples and insightful interviews.Ultimately Alberta convincingly demonstrates how fear, impatience, and a misdirected sense of doing “God’s work” have lead millions of Evangelicals to forget what Christianity is really about. This far-right political mass is thus flirting with worshipping the idol of “America” as they hold rallies inside churches about national identity and power.Alberta has a very readable style and I found the book fascinating. He obviously is a Christian who loves his faith and wrote the book to do more than poke holes in church walls, but offers faithful ideas and examples of returning to Jesus Christ and trusting in Him rather than the “arm of flesh.”Highly recommended.
Ella Mc –
Excellent writing, excellent journalism, excellent Scriptural explanation, etc. The few quibbles I may have, as someone reading from outside this particular white, American, evangelical, politically and theologically conservative Christianity, are so insignificant as to not matter. What’s more as a liberal, American, ex-Catholic, this book reminded me to stop “biting my fingernails” and get on with the things I can do.If one is open to learning from any source on our journey toward maturing as citizens of whatever or no faith, this book is a very gentle teacher. It also contains a multitude of names and places where those of us who want to continue to grow. I am thrilled to have read this book, and now I will move on to many others mentioned within.Once again, Tim Alberta’s talent has taken me to a place and quenched a deep thirst I didn’t really know how to begin to tackle before I read his writing.
Linda Lou –
A pretty long book but I made it to the end. I appreciate greatly the honesty of the author. Although he obviously has great love for God and the Bible he also is honest to see & report on all the failings of Christendom. Actually, Revelations chapters 17 & 18 speaks about Babylon the Great, the great harlot, who sleeps with the Kings of the earth. This depicts all false religions in the world that make unholy alliances with the rulers and become rich & powerful by them. But God does not hold out hope for her reform, but instead predicts her destruction and warns us to flee from inside her so we do not share in her sins & the judgement of destruction that God foretells. (Rev 18″4-8) Actually it is not just Christendom that has been corrupted, most of the religions of the world have (thinking of Judaism & Muslim war in Gaza. Unthinkable atrocities are being done on both sides in the name of religion!) That does not mean that there is no true religion that God approves of and that consistently follows Jesus & what he taught in the Bible. For more info on this go to: JW.org.
L. Barton –
Since 2008, when I finally woke up after voting Republican for my whole life, I realized that the GOP had done an excellent job of using the church for their own ends. Maybe it started when a good friend of mine whispered to me in the church foyer “is it true you’re working on the Obama campaign”? And then it was seeing the hypocrisy and understanding how thoroughly Fox had brainwashed me and millions of others. I watched as politicians put out tables with voting cards that protray all Republicans as “A”‘s and Democrats as “F’s” as legilators. I went to a church that before you could enter the church, we were asked to put our name, address and email on a “petition” for a bill to be passed. And on January 6, my own family who watched the same coverage — rebuked ME for getting upset about what was going on! “This politics thing is too much….” And now I’ve watch Julie Green’s “profit”cies where she somberly tells us that Trump is “my David” and Joe Biden is being played by an actor — and Mike Flynn is telling “Christians” that it’s time to become part of militias. It just boggles my mind.This book is perfectly written. And one of the first pastors he talks to really has it figured out — some Christians started worshipping “America” instead of Jesus — or the version of America sold to them on Fox and now even more extremist networks with commentators who wear a delicate cross around their neck while simultaneously spewing lies and divisions.Tim has interviewed pastors from many touchpoints of current American churches — from Liberty University to his home church to Robert Jeffress. As I’ve said many times (and would love to see on billboards), the passage from 2 Tim 3:1-5 comes to mind in regards to Donald Trump — and when you read it, try to find a single adjective that doesn’t describe him. The last verse is the part where Christians are failing to obey – AVOID SUCH PEOPLE AS THESE. At first, I thought that people could vote for Trump — but I never ever thought that I’d see Christians start to emulate him. Tim’s book confronts us with that fact – that people have started to become what they focus on.3 But realize this, that in the last days difficult times will come. 2 For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, arrogant, slanderers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy, 3 unloving, irreconcilable, malicious gossips, without self-control, brutal, [a]haters of good, 4 treacherous, reckless, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, 5 holding to a form of [b]godliness although they have denied its power; avoid such people as these.
William –
Tim Alberta is a strong Christian himself so this book relates experience from within. It becomes a rare and valuable opportunity for non Christians like myself to better understand what is going on politically in our shared country. The author travels widely and speaks with pastors as well as other influential people. The strength of the book for me is in all the dialogue which he shares with us. There is a big split within the evangelical community insofar as what is important for Christians in the US at the current moment. On one hand is the fundamental Christian path of faith in Jesus and the salvation that stems from that faith and its concomitant forgiveness. This path also values personal effort to grow towards those virtues exemplified by Jesus’ life. On the other hand is the view of “Christian nationalism” which sees the US as a Christian country under assault from secular leftists. That view must be defended politically and often embodies a “the end justifies the means” embrace of un Christian actors. Clearly the Christian nationalism forces are predominant at the present time. Tim Alberta is not in that camp and he also illustrates communities where the focus on basic Christian values is once again growing in strength. Two other areas covered less extensively are (1) Liberty University and (2) the sexual assaults that are often perpetrated by leading Christian figures. These are surely important but are not related to the principal value of this book, for a reader like me.Also be advised that the book’s focus is on the evangelical community, the Southern Baptists primarily. I think another consideration is that most of us are more easily stimulated by action and resentment than by personal focus on Christian belief and behavior. The author speaks of this at times. I and others can speak of these things conceptually, but reading the book is experiential and especially valuable for just that reason. Very worthwhile for those on the “outside” like myself. I bet it’s also quite informative for the broader Christian community in the US.