Thy Kingdom Come - a Review

Randall Balmer. Thy Kingdom Come: An Evangelical's Lament, How the Religious Right Distorts the Faith and Threatens America. New York: Basic Books, 2006. xxx + 242 pp.

What does it mean to be an evangelical today? That is a difficult question to answer, but it is a question with an important political side to it. Where a century ago Fundamentalists and religious conservatives stood on the margins while socially progressive Mainline Protestants took center stage, over the last three decades the conservative religious movement has taken center stage, crowning as president first Ronald Reagan and then George W. Bush. But, has this ascendancy been good for the evangelical movement or the nation as a whole? Randy Balmer, a Columbia University religious history professor and chronicler of the Evangelical movement says absolutely not. His book, Thy Kingdom Come is a pointedly written rejoinder to those who would claim the nation for Jesus through politics.

I must mention that I met Randy many years ago at a Church History annual meeting. I sat behind him in a plenary session that was discussing George Marsden's The Soul of the American University. I remember him strongly disagreeing with Marsden's conclusions that the university in America was disallowing the religious voice from being made known within the academy. At the time I was probably closer to Marsden's position, but in this book he recounts his discomfort with Marsden's ideas, and that disagreement is a major theme in the book. There is a feeling, on Balmer's part, that an evangelicalism that is true to its name will be humble and will try to separate itself from power -- even intellectual power.

This is a book written by one who self-describes as an evangelical, but he is by any measure a liberal one -- and so I identify closely with him as he writes. In part this is a recounting of the merger of interests between the Religious Right, the Republican Party, and evangelicalism. In his account evangelicalism is not political and is not incompatible therefore with a liberal or progressive perspective. His definition of an evangelical is this: An evangelical 1) takes the Bible seriously, 2) believes in the importance of conversion, and 3) "recognizes the imperative to spread the faith , or to evangelize. This is a very broad definition, one which many progressives can affirm. There isn't anything here about eschatology (premillennialism, inerrancy, or political litmus tests) [pp. xviii-xix]. Balmer has a strong evangelical pedigree -- graduate of Trinity College and Trinity Evangelical Divinity School (but remember that Bart Ehrman is a Moody graduate).

The book begins in chapter 1 with an account of how the Religious Right has constructed a political agenda focused on abortion and homosexuality that is rooted in a "selective literalism." In other words, this is a "biblical" theology that is based on narrow proof-texting.

From there he moves on to the politicization of the Baptist tradition, one that has American roots in the separationist views of Roger Williams. Whereas modern Baptists seem intent on imposing a conservative Christian ideology on the nation, in it's origins this was a tradition that sought to keep the church separate so that the church might not be stained by an alliance with the state. Figures like Williams, Isaac Backus, and John Leland were the heroes, but they have been replaced with Jerry Falwell, Rick Scarborough, Judge Roy Moore, and Tom DeLay. Balmer asks plaintively: "Where have all the Baptists gone?" It is a good question and one that should lead us to a close re-examination of the First Amendment.

Moving further into the controversy, Balmer takes up the "War on Public Education," and here he examines school vouchers, homeschooling, and the challenge of this separatism to the democratizing effect of public education. Though Balmer at times romanticizes the historical effect of this movement, he also recognizes the challenges of the current system. Still, he is on the right track in pointing out that in our pluralistic nation, public education can provide an important opportunity to bring people of differing ethnic, political, and religious backgrounds together.

In his chapter on Creationism -- "Creationism by Design" -- Balmer helpfully clarifies the primary goal of this movement -- the ID movement -- and that is intellectual legitimacy. Though a theistic evolutionist, Balmer has no problem with people learning creationism, he just thinks it belongs in Sunday School and not the biology class. The chapter offers a succinct history of the Creationist and Intelligent Design Movements -- demonstrating that it is more philosophy than science. Especially important is the discussion of Phillip Johnson, whom he calls the "intellectual godfather" of this movement. It is in this context that he discusses Marsden's lament -- which he suggests was used by the Religious Right to do something Marsden probably never intended, and that is to delegitimize the academy. Once again, Balmer warns against the merger of religion and institutional life, whether political or academic.

It is in his chapter on evangelicals and the Environment that Balmer demonstrates the insidious and dangerous liaison between the political conservatives and religious conservatives. Using a "dominionist" theology many Religious Right folk, including Charles Colson and Jim Dobson, have given religious support to the brazen use of the earth's resources -- all in the name of human supremacy. The good news here is that a growing number of evangelicals, especially young ones, are discovering that there is another way to look at Genesis 1, a way that calls for stewardship not rapacious utilization of resources.

In his conclusion he offers a speech at Wheaton College he believes he will never get to delivery. It is a fiery rebuttal to the Religious Right, pointedly naming names and sins and calling for repentance. It is also a call to step back from power and embrace humility and tolerance as the American ideal. It is a warning not just to evangelicals, however, for we progressives who have been in the wilderness may be hungering too much for a return to power.

This is an important book written by a historian who has been traveling for years among the Evangelical subculture. He claims the tradition for himself, but in this book, which is full of anecdotes as well as documented quotes from written materials, the dark side emerges with great clarity. It is a relatively quick read, and a book that deserves to be widely read.

Robert Cornwall, Ph.D.
First Christian Church
Lompoc, CA

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