I found Tim Alberta’s recent Book (Dec., 2023) engaging and very well written, and thus easy to read. The full title describes it well: The Kingdom, The Power, and The Glory: American Evangelicals in an Age of Extremism. It IS long, so it takes a while. But there is no irrelevant froth in it, unless one doesn’t appreciate the significant personal aspect which is a strong element in the book. I found that to make the book both more interesting and more credible.

You see, Alberta is a life-long Evangelical (also white, like the big majority, perhaps all, of the Evangelicals he interviewed, attended events by, and researched). One light criticism is that some might wish for him to have included a little more on the distinctions among Evangelicals which are closely tied to skin color or marginalized status. (Marginalized in primarily economic, educational and other ways different than the perceived cultural or political marginalization that often drives white Evangelicals politically or in “culture wars”).

His focus was basically confined to predominantly white Evangelical churches and leaders, which is a legitimate focus. However, especially since “white” is not in the title or subtitle, it might have been helpful to have a little more “compare and contrast” with non-white Evangelicals, especially the often-influential Black churches and denominations theologically similar to the rest of Evangelicalism. Perhaps a justification for his not speaking much about such Christians is his conclusion that, for most Americans, “Evangelicalism” has been redefined from a theological/evangelizing focus to a primarily cultural/political one in the eyes of most Americans. Indeed, Alberta opines that Evangelicals themselves are mostly responsible for this precisely because of their drive for political Power, to force [my term] the Kingdom and its attendant Glory. (For those not familiar, the book title citing kingdom, power and glory, comes directly from the ending of the longer version of “the Lord’s Prayer” from the Gospel of Matthew, considered a universal prayer for Christians worldwide. 

I’m especially impressed with this book because it is a masterful blend of story-telling and research, both substantive and entertaining. Story-telling as to his personal life experiences and how they bear closely on his pre-interview research presented in story fashion. And story-telling as to historical antecedents to the current Evangelical situation and his many in-depth conversations with leaders, enhanced by attendance at gatherings (like church services) and events, large and small.   

Chapters are headed by locations – cities and states (twelve states, plus DC and France). It is also generally chronological, from 2019 to 2023 as to his on-scene research. However, there is some necessary circling back to earlier interviews, as the author returned on subsequent visits. I found it only mildly challenging to keep things straight in this regard. The fact that Alberta spent about 4 years in the research aspect is impressive in itself. Only a well-funded, already accomplished journalist and author could get the backing for this kind of extended work, with the necessary copious amount of travel. 

It may be of some importance that Alberta’s own roots are in a very Evangelical part of Michigan. From reporting there, he ranges to the East Coast, the South and a little into the Sun Belt and West Coast. If any regions were under-represented they might be the deep South, the Mountain West and the West Coast. But he deals extensively with the Southern Baptist Convention and its history of changes, scandal, and turmoil up to the present. The deep South is additionally represented fairly well by his detailed history of, and interviewing at Liberty University in the Mason-Dixon Line state of Virginia, probably the most influential (and largest) single Evangelical University in America.  The Mountain West and West Coast were further for him to travel, and perhaps not quite as heavily into the extremes of Evangelical MAGA and Trump support, as to their lower representation.  There are indeed many, many small to very large churches of Evangelical affiliation, if not always as political perhaps, in this region (where I’ve lived all my life – California and Oregon – attending or occasionally ministering in Evangelical churches until 1995). 

The Kingdom, The Power, and The Glory deals heavily with the lust for and the seduction of power, from the congregant in the pew to the pastor in the pulpit. Then there is the additional, highly influential level of power broker in terms of organizing, promoting and rallying the “troops” (as in culture wars) via large, well-funded organizations. Some of these, plus many smaller players that Alberta recounts, have sold rafts of MAGA and related items at the many rallies he covered. So there is the profit motive at work in some elements of the evolution of Evangelicalism he documents, again, from a close-up angle. 

I would not be surprised if this book becomes a required text of sorts (or “collateral reading”) in college and grad school courses on things like the history of American Christianity, politics and religion, public theology, etc. But what’s nice is that it reads nothing like the typical textbooks most of us are familiar with. If you have an interest in the current political dynamics at work in the 2024 elections, particularly for President but also “down ballot”, this is a must read. If your interest is more broadly about what’s happened to Evangelical churches in America, and many of their members, whether MAGA supporters or not, I think you’ll be enthralled by what Alberta covers… and likely disgusted in learning more than you’d perhaps wanted to know about several widespread scandals. They are not all political in the sense of civil government but they involve internal church politics heavily.

What may be of value particularly to Christian readers is the way Alberta, mostly via the main leaders he reviews but also church members and himself, wrestles with the issues of personal faith, and with the incredible strain and rupture of relationships happening around the polarization and animosity none (even the oldest) of us has seen in our lifetimes.