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.
Part 2, Chapters 12-14Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Part 2: “The Power”
Part 2, Chapter 12 Summary
Chapter 12 introduces the concept of church-state alliance through the Russian Orthodox Church and its partnership with Putin. Patriarch Kirill, the second-most powerful man in Russia, lent the support of the Orthodox Church to Putin’s proposals to restore traditional values to Russia. This indicated an intention to distinguish Russian identity and bolster patriotism through religion, moving to ban the Pope from Russia and criminalize missionary work from other countries. Later, when Putin exhibited his desire to separate Russia from the more progressive and secular West by passing a law that banned “propaganda of nontraditional sexual relationships” (233), the church also came out in support. In 2014, The Russian Orthodox Church justified the invasion of Crimea by framing it as Moscow’s “divine destiny” to expand. In 2022, when Putin launched his invasion of Ukraine, the Kremlin had saturated Russian culture with a rhetoric of “geopolitical conquest as religious obligation” (233).
Though the invasion struggled in execution, state-run media broadcast a different message to Russian citizens. Putin encouraged media that painted Ukrainians as Satanists and enforced a strict blockade of Western media except for propagandist Tucker Carlson, whose show was “played in a loop on Russian state television” (235).
Putin’s religious persona does not align with his actions for political gain, but weaponizing religion is a reliable way of accumulating power. Biblically, the consolidation of national identity directly contradicts Jesus’s example, as does so much of religious nationalism. Jesus instructed his apostles to take his message to all nations, and later the Apostle Paul wrote that there was no man or woman, no enslaved person or freeman, no Jew or Gentile, but only brothers and sisters in Christ.
Religion, Alberta argues, is meant to exist in tension with politics. Instead, religious imagery is co-opted, both in Russia and America, to assert national identity. Despite the broad differences between American evangelism and Russian orthodoxy, as well as longstanding political tensions between the two nations, there are strong comparisons between the way religion is used in both countries to encourage nationalism. Miroslav Volf, a theologist from former Yugoslavia, stated during a conference that in his studies in America, he came to believe that Christian nationalism was now the “predominant form of evangelical Christianity” (240). He blames the lack of educated, thoughtful leadership in evangelism, since its leaders are now reactionary media figures. Volf stresses a key distinction in religious nationalism: political religion versus civil religion. Political religions are not voluntary, whereas civil religions are. Hitlerism, communism, and Nazism were all political religions. Putinism had begun as a civil religion. Once it gained momentum, it became a political religion.
America has long been considered immune to political religion because of its term limits and checks and balances, as well as its free press. But Trumpism wrought far-reaching changes in the political structure. Herschel Walker, while campaigning for the Senate, displayed an alienation from Christ in his “literal demonizing of the other” (243). He described his Democrat rival as satanic, making it impossible for any evangelical to vote for them. This “us versus them” mentality gathered support for Walker but deepened the divide.
Volf advocates deconstructionism as a solution to expose the shallow nature of Trumpism and other secular religions. “The best antidote to bad religion,” states Volf, “is good religion” (244). Deconstructionism involves breaking down and examining core religious arguments for scriptural validity. For example, after World War II, an interconfessional reckoning for Christians across Europe deconstructed the fascism, antisemitism, and authoritarianism that was bolstered by Christian imagery. However, a similar effort in America would require an admission of a crisis within the movement, which many oppose.
Part 2, Chapter 13 Summary
Chapter 13 introduces Doug Mastriano, the Republican hopeful for governor of Pennsylvania. A military veteran and aspiring “theocrat,” Mastriano portrayed himself as the leader of a spiritual war. With many ties to far-right Christian nationalist groups, Mastriano’s military imagery, including extensive security at his base of operations, implied enemies were out to get him.
One of the speakers at a rally for Mastriano, Jack Posobiec, is a conspiracy theorist who built a network of anti-government extremists, antisemites, and white nationalists. Posobiec coined the term “stop the steal” before the 2020 election even occurred, delegitimizing the results through the idea that the election was fraudulent and Trump’s victory was stolen. Mastriano became a useful ally in trying to overturn the election. Mastriano joined the January 6 protests, even using campaign funds to rent buses to bring his supporters.
Posobiec’s speech at Mastriano’s event used “laughably fabricated” anecdotes to describe Democratic corruption and express that only Mastriano could “save” Pennsylvania. Another speaker from a nearby Baptist church, Jonathan Wagner, said that the only true freedom is through Christ’s forgiveness of individual sins. The crowd reacted less enthusiastically to him than they did to Posobiec.
The Mastriano rally demonstrates that “extremists were now the establishment” (251). Some might’ve used the rhetoric solely to gain support, but others indicated a strong dedication to their espoused belief system. Among these true believers are politicians like Lauren Boebert. Elected to Congress in 2020, Boebert spread racist conspiracies and led the misinformation campaign about Trump’s loss to Biden. She is known for extremist behavior, like praying for Biden’s death and stating that Jesus died because he didn’t have enough AR-15s to stop the Romans. She proudly calls herself a Christian nationalist. Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene expressed similar sentiments, making “Proud Christian Nationalist” into a t-shirt for her supporters. These figures warn evangelicals that to vote against the Republican party was to be “unfaithful” to God.
Biblical teachings encourage a separation between spiritual and political goals and discourage the pursuit of power. Mastriano, a self-described devout Christian, instead called for followers to “seize the power” (256) on January 6. Returning to the comparison between the situations in America and Russia, Alberta asserts that nationalism as a philosophy consistently leads to imperial rhetoric, like Putin’s justification of invasions.
Alberta writes that Wagner, the pastor at Mastriano’s rally, had limited political involvement when he accepted Mastriano’s request to speak. Now, he is wary of the extremist rhetoric but fears losing his congregation if he steps away from Mastriano’s campaign. When asked whether he thought that America is truly in crisis, Wagner rolls his eyes. He states, “They’ve said that during every election for the last two hundred years” (261).
Part 2, Chapter 14 Summary
Alberta attends a far-right rally on November 4, 2022, just before the midterm elections. Called the “ReAwaken America Tour,” it represents the “underworld of right-wing evangelicalism” (263). Alberta is surprised at how ReAwaken manages to surprise him. He finds fraudulent religious and political leaders and “straight-up sociopaths” profiting off of the fear of evangelicals.
ReAwaken is run by Michael Flynn, former Army lieutenant general and Trump’s ex-national security advisor, and Clay Clark, an Oklahoma businessman who is described as “comically impervious” to shame. At the rally Alberta attended, Flynn expresses apocalypse rhetoric, slamming Bill Gates, promising loyalty to the anti-Democratic conspiracy theory of QAnon, and warning of a New World Order. Clark softens the intensity of Flynn’s claims through charismatic “wisecracking.” The entire event, Alberta writes, is a “scam artist’s Super Bowl” (265).
Stephen E. Strang, a Christian author, seems to be an exception to the circus. He appears mortified by his surroundings. The owner of Charisma Media, a large Christian publishing company, Strang became famous to the evangelical community when he wrote God and Donald Trump in 2017. The book argues that God ordained Trump to lead America back to Christianity, since they required “a man from the secular world to defeat the forces of secularism” (267). The book was met with tremendous success among evangelicals, and Strang became the preeminent Trump apologist of the far right. When reminded of Trump’s crude behavior, like his affair with porn star Stormy Daniels, Strang first denies charges, citing the dishonest media, then downplays the severity of the act if it is true.
Strang believes that the current extremism of the far right is necessary to push American culture towards Christianity. He argues, like Jeffress, that “the collective integrity of the Christian witness had no bearing on the individual’s desire for a relationship with Jesus” (274). If people are turned away from the Church by its actions, then they weren’t originally very devout.
Strang continues by attacking his main publishing rival, Christianity Today, currently run by Russell Moore, by calling it “woke.” He uses this as a springboard to criticize Christian denominations he believes have liberalized in response to the demands of the secular world.
However, Strang has clearly done the same thing. Though the “man’s values were antithetical to the example of Christ” (276), he utilizes his powers of persuasion to bend Christianity towards Trump.
Part 2, Chapters 12-14 Analysis
Alberta provides a wider global perspective on his earlier assertions with the exploration of Russia’s version of Christian nationalism. Chapter 12 introduces this concept through the church-state alliance of the Russian Orthodox Church and Putin. The theme of weaponizing religion for political power and even violence is prominent. Alberta underscores the irony of Putin’s religious façade by pointing out that he doesn’t appear to believe in his own religious rhetoric. The manipulation of religious imagery to assert national identity in both Russia and America emphasize how religious narratives are co-opted into an uneasy alliance with politics.
Irony is deployed effectively by Alberta to point out the contradictions between Christian political actions and their own religious teachings. Miroslav Volf asserts that nationalism has become the predominant form of Christian expression in America. Volf advocates deconstructionism to expose the shallow nature of secularized religious narratives. The solution of deconstructionism is practical, but Alberta finds the possibility of evangelicals to admitting to a crisis unlikely.
In Chapter 13, Doug Mastriano, a Republican figure aspiring to be the governor of Pennsylvania, embodies the theme of Evangelism as a Tool of White Nationalism. Alberta introduces the motif of the extremist becoming the establishment, exemplified by Mastriano’s ties to far-right groups and his role in the January 6 protests, as well as his ties with the conspiracist Posobiec. The chapter explores the spiritually hollow alliance of religion and politics, illustrating how figures like Mastriano exploit religious rhetoric to further their political ambitions. Wagner, in contrast, fails to hold the attention of the crowd with the words of Christ. This shows a fundamental disconnect between the symbols of Christianity and its actual practice.
The use of biblical reference is a poignant literary device in these chapters. Mastriano’s call to “seize the power” on January 6 contradicts the teachings of Jesus in scripture to eschew power. Alberta uses this contradiction to highlight the emergence of political figures who embrace imperial, nationalist rhetoric, reflecting Evangelism’s Increasing Disconnect From Scripture.
Chapter 14 focuses on the ReAwaken America Tour, an event that sheds light on the far-right evangelical underbelly. Media manipulation and exploitation of evangelical fears takes center stage, emphasizing the compromises necessary for allying religion with politics. Alberta’s distinctive irony and humor is shown through his description of the absurdity of the claims made during the event, such as promoting specialty diets unsupported by scientific research.
The figure of Stephen E. Strang is introduced, embodying the concept of justifying extreme behavior to effect cultural change. Alberta observes the cognitive dissonance exhibited by Strang as he defends Trump’s behavior and advocates for an extreme far-right approach. This character reveals the internal divisions within evangelical culture, with Strang struggling to reflect on his own philosophies and attacking more moderate denominations as “woke.”
