BELIEVE ME:
The evangelical road to Donald Trump
By John Fea
Eerdmans. 238 pages. £16.04.
ISBN 978 0 802 876 416
I read this book because I wanted to try to understand how American evangelicals could be so solidly behind a man whose behaviour and speech was so ungodly. I also wanted to find ways of explaining to non-Christian friends that being evangel-ical in the UK did not mean I was aligned with those the media highlight as ‘delighted with Trump’.
John Fea is a history professor. He is also an evangelical. This gives him a clear perspective from which to view how evangelicals (who condemned former presidents as unsuitable to govern due to their lack of morality) could progress to declare Trump as ‘God’s guy’. Fea maps out how church leaders progressed from teaching that the kingdom of God is spread by personal witness, to political where one seeks a ‘seat at the table’ in order to obtain influence. He notes the irony that by endorsing particular politicians to gain support for pro-life and Israel, evangelicals have in fact damaged their reputation as lovers of holiness, gentleness and grace.
Court evangelicals
Fea calls out ‘court evangelicals’ as ones who have had to change their stance in order to retain their position of ‘unprecedented access’. He suggests ‘Make American Great Again’ implies a time when it was great, when in fact, for non-whites in particular, there is not much about the past that was great. Calling America ‘a shining city on a hill’ confusingly seems to identify the people of God with nationalism, as if the USA can usher in the millennium.
Although not spelt out in the book, I am left wanting to think more about whether evangelicals really should seek to get laws enacted to force non-Christians to live moral lives, or whether a true moral reformation needs conversions more than statutes.
