66 pages • 2 hours read
Tim AlbertaThe Kingdom, the Power, and the Glory: American Evangelicals in an Age of Extremism
Nonfiction | Book | Adult | Published in 2023A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Background
Authorial Context: Tim Alberta
Tim Alberta, an award-winning journalist for The Atlantic magazine and former chief political correspondent for POLITICO, is a well-known voice in American politics and widely regarded as trustworthy in his reporting. After the 2019 publication of his first book, American Carnage, he became more involved in the political sphere and dealt with strong criticism from the more extreme religious right, both on a public and a personal level. He additionally provided political commentary on the 2020 election, co-moderating the final Democratic debate on PBS. His experience of the reaction to his first book from the larger conservative media world as well as the reaction from his hometown’s evangelical community, with whom he previously identified, fueled his efforts in creating The Kingdom, The Power, and The Glory, which was published at the end of 2023.
As the son of a megachurch pastor in Brighton, Michigan, he previously considered himself a staunch apologist for Christianity, both evangelical and otherwise. He describes himself as steeped in the right-wing evangelist subculture before and during the presidential era of Donald Trump. However, after witnessing the support Trump received from the self-described “moral majority,” he researched and published his first book. The backlash he received from his congregation, even during the funeral of his father two weeks after the book’s publication, became a turning point for Alberta’s perspective on his own religion. He is critical of evangelical preachers and pastors profiting off of extremist, reactionary politics, and he believes that they are the main culprits of the growing culture of fear and nationalism. He publicly exhorts the evangelist right to stop worshipping America as an idol and instead focus on the example of Jesus, the life and teachings of whom Alberta believes are more and more estranged from right-wing politics. He provides insight into the mind of the pro-Trump evangelical, who is accustomed to the cultural advantages provided by state support of their worldview and terrified at the thought of losing power. Alberta, through his deep connections with the subculture, is uniquely positioned to explore solutions for this sociopolitical crisis.
Socio-Historical Context: Christianity and the State
Throughout The Kingdom, The Power, and The Glory, the history of Christianity’s relationship with political bodies is explored. In the very beginning of the Christian movement from the first to the fifth centuries CE, Christians were notably unaffiliated with political power structures. They purposefully avoided acquiring political power, choosing instead to spend time with the disenfranchised and practice forgiveness and pacifism towards the people who wanted to harm them or end their movement.
However, in the sixth century, Emperor Constantine chose to integrate Christianity into Roman society by declaring it the official state religion. Christians received the power of an imperial state behind them, which continued in several continents throughout history. Though Christianity experienced a schism in the 1500s, in which Catholics and Protestants endured major conflict, it remained the dominating force of government in all of Europe.
Protestant Christians arrived in America during the 17th century and significantly shaped the country’s moral and political objectives for centuries to come, utilizing their political power to defeat the perceived enemies of Christianity. Due to this, Christian doctrines are still a major influence on American politics, and in many ways the religion, governmental policy, and national identity are difficult to untangle. This has led to a particular brand of American Christian nationalism espoused by the extreme religious right, in which the unspoken support for their denomination of Christianity becomes overt in the national political structure. The pursuit of Christian nationalist policies has led evangelists to make what are commonly referred to as “moral compromises” to prevent the rise in power of those who may oppose or deprioritize the Christian faith, and these compromises have included endorsing Donald Trump, despite his controversial lifestyle and espoused ethics.
Political Context: MAGA, Donald Trump, and Evangelism
In 2016, Donald Trump ran for president and won, overcoming widespread political and public belief that he was a reactionary candidate only campaigning to increase his media presence and gain notoriety. Trump ran on a platform that many viewed as promoting racism, xenophobia, and nationalism, with historians and political scientists noting alarming fascist elements to his rhetoric. Through his memorable personality and his consistent social media presence, Trump accumulated a large group of voters. This following was largely made up of the Christian right, the primary activists behind the movement to end legal abortion in the US, a right granted by the Supreme Court in 1973 and revoked in 2022. Evangelism allied itself with Trumpism because of his promise to appoint pro-life judges who could achieve this goal. Due to this and other mutual interests, such as Trump’s desire to strengthen national borders and reduce immigration, evangelists quickly assimilated into Trump’s base.
Donald Trump and his followers use the slogan “Make America Great Again,” or MAGA. According to some scholars, MAGA is a “loaded phrase” often used by white nationalist hate groups as a dog whistle, which is a term that subtly communicates a political message only understood by certain demographics. Many belonging to the left or liberal side of the American political spectrum rebuked the rise in power of an explicitly nationalist figure and protested Trump’s actions and policies with increasing intensity, leading to further political polarization. Many right wing media outlets exploited that divide by providing heavily biased views of the political opposition and, at times, promoting conspiracy theories. The MAGA movement notably absorbed those theories into its ideology, and acts of violence against minorities and perceived leftists rose accordingly. This remained true after losing the 2020 election when Trump encouraged his followers to storm the Capitol building on January 6, 2021. This was an unprecedented moment of political instability, with legal consequences for both Trump and the rioters. Aforementioned conspiracy theories have persisted since then among his following, some of whom claim that the 2020 election’s results were falsified to fraudulently place the opposing candidate, Joe Biden, in power.
Alberta claims how although Trump and the MAGA movement represent the antithesis of traditional Christian values, the conspiracy-laden worldview of evangelists manipulated by rightwing media led them to believe that “barbarians” were at the gates. Therefore, they needed a barbarian of their own to protect them. In this way, evangelists leaned on the reliable strategy of using the state to defeat perceived threats to their religious worldview.
