Christians against Christianity How right-wing Evangelicals are destroying our nation and our faith

Hendricks (The Politics of Jesus), a professor of religion at Columbia and elder in the African Methodist Episcopal Church, delivers a thorough condemnation of right-wing evangelicalism in this lacerating work. Taking pains to distinguish between right-wing evangelicalism, Christian nationalism, and classical conservatism, Hendricks castigates contemporary "right-wing evangelicalism" for being a "brutal sham" and a "cynical conceit." Over eight thematic chapters--covering abortion and gender rights, firearms, minorities, and big business, among other topics--Hendricks explores how a desire for political power and religious uniformity has induced evangelicals to " to its very depths the Gospel's call to love and care for one another." He argues that "not only is their worldview not loving, not generous, not socially inclusive, but the notion of religious freedom they so extol extends no farther than their own ranks." In contrast, Hendricks praises the early evangelicals of the 19th and 20th centuries who advocated for gender equality, universal education, and the rights and well-being of minorities. While Hendricks's pessimistic conclusion is undoubtably genuine, the lack of hope or suggestions for ways to reconcile will leave readers disheartened. Trenchant and meticulous, this is certain to be a conversation starter. (July)

Does right-wing evangelicalism both distort the truth and message of Christianity and threaten American culture? Hendricks (religion, African American and African diaspora studies, Columbia Univ.; The Politics of Jesus) addresses such questions in this most recent book. Hendricks does not attack evangelicals in general, and notes that historically evangelical Christians often challenged social problems, including slavery. His interest is in how a segment of radically conservative believers has developed within evangelicalism since the 1980s Moral Majority movement. Hendricks focuses on believers who have shifted away from stances of inclusivity and toward ones of hostility and intolerance. He particularly criticizes radical evangelicals' fervent support of President Trump and xenophobic Christian nationalism. Spanning religion and political science, several chapters in this wide-ranging book cover subjects (such as immigration and abortion) that have been especially politicized in the 21st century. This book is polemical in nature, yet Hendricks writes as an academic and uses extensive primary sources. VERDICT An examination and call to action that will be of particular interest to readers of White Evangelical Racism, by Anthea Butler, or Jesus and John Wayne, by Kristin Kobes Du Mez.--John Jaeger, Johnson Univ., Knoxville, TN