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Saving Faith: How American Christianity Can Reclaim Its Prophetic Voice
Survey data and anecdotal evidence agree that Christianity is losing its hold on American life. The Roman Catholic hierarchy struggles to regain its credibility following the pedophilia scandals, mainline Protestantism wrestles with issues of sexual identity and attrition, and white evangelicalism has merged with the far-right precincts of the Republican Party. Moral authority, it seems, is hard to come by, with all three of the major Christian traditions--Roman Catholicism, mainline Protestantism, and white evangelicalism--facing a crisis of credibility. Finger-pointing abounds. Many people of faith blame the rampant secularization of society in recent decades, while critics contend that Christians themselves, or at least their leaders, are blind to their own shortcomings. Some of the proposed remedies--an appeal to nostalgia, an attempt to undermine the separation of church and state, trying to throttle religious diversity, and asserting the supposed "Christian" origins of the nation--are historically misguided and would only deepen the crisis facing Christianity. Saving Faith argues that any attempt to arrest the decline of Christianity in America must first reckon with the past, especially America's "original sin" of racism, with which Christians have been far too complicit. Christians also need to turn to the Bible, from the creation accounts of Genesis and the prophetic calls for justice, to the words of Jesus, the Word of God. We can also profit from the examples of Christians in earlier days, especially those in the nineteenth century who advocated for the abolition of slavery, for prison reform, for public education, for women's equality, and against the ravages of unbridled capitalism. The Social Gospel remains a worthy example, and the Chicago Declaration of Evangelical Social Concern sought to remind evangelicals of their once-robust prophetic voice. Prophetic Christianity, affirming Jesus as the Word of God, renounces temporal power in favor of speaking from the margins.
- GenresPolitics
120 pages, Kindle Edition
Published September 12, 2023
About the author
Randall Balmer
43 books70 followersRandall Herbert Balmer, Ph.D. (Princeton University, 1985), is an ordained Episcopal Priest and historian of American religion, and holds the John Phillips Chair in Religion at Dartmouth College. He also has taught at Barnard College; Columbia, Rutgers, Princeton, Drew, Emory, Yale and Northwestern universities; and at Union Theological Seminary. Balmer was nominated for an Emmy Award for the PBS documentary "Mine Eyes Have Seen the Glory," based on his book of the same title.
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August 2, 2023
Christian nationalism isn't just an American issue. Christian nationalists are rising up in many places, especially in Eastern Europe and yes in the United States. My denomination, the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) voted to affirm a resolution opposing Christian nationalism at our 2023 General Assembly. Since we're a binational denomination, we took note of Christian nationalist movements in both the United States and Canada. A number of books have been written addressing this issue, some of which I've read, others I want to read. It is good that voices are being raised, voices that offer sound, analytical reflections, calling for Christians to take a deep look at our susceptibility to such movements.
Randall Balmer's book "Saving Faith" addresses Christian nationalism, but while it is a very brief book, it offers a call to American Christians, especially evangelicals, to reclaim a prophetic voice. Balmer teaches American religion at Dartmouth, after many years at Columbia University. Balmer writes to a community that he once called home. Like many of us who are now post-evangelical, he has a sense of loss at what he has seen happen to evangelicalism. especially white evangelicalism. In many ways this is a word to the church and Christianity at large, acknowledging the decline in our fortunes and the realities of racism in the church and nation.
Balmer writes this book from the perspective of a professed Christian who grew up in the Evangelical Free Church and graduated from an evangelical college and seminary. He notes that he grew up in the evangelical subculture, the son of an Evangelical Free Church pastor. He writes in his preface, "I'll put up my credentials as an evangelical up against anyone --- including Franklin Graham, by the way, although I concede that his father, Bill Graham, might have been a bit more famous than mine" (p. xiv). While he has the credentials, he has drifted away from that world because he was tired of the "pitched, vicious, internecine battles over such issues as biblical inerrancy that I witnessed in seminary" (p. xiv). While his current evangelical identity might be questioned, he insists that he cares deeply about the Christian faith. Thus, the reason for writing this book.
As you might expect, this book is directed at a community he once called home. He offers seven chapters that begin with an analysis of the current situation (chapter 1 is titled "How Bad Is It?") and finishes by making a case for prophetic Christianity (Chapter 7). That first chapter addresses the decline of Christianity, especially among Mainline Protestant churches, noting some of the reasons for that decline (he is not big on ecumenism). As for evangelicalism, it gained adherents for a number of reasons, including being present in the suburbs. The concern here has to do with the turn from spiritual populism to politics. That turn to politics, interestingly enough, began with Jimmy Carter. Many evangelicals, including many of my friends, embraced Carter because of his confession of faith, though they abandoned him in 1980 when it became clear that his politics were liberal. While some make abortion out to be a big issue, it wasn't in the beginning. Instead, it was racism -- a defense of racial segregation --- that gave rise to white evangelical political involvement. It's something Donald Trump was able to use.
Chapter 2 offers up what Balmer calls "Misguided Remedies." One is a return to the world of Mayberry (he notes that during its entire run, only one Black character appeared in the Andy Griffith Show). He notes the contribution of the opening up in 1965 of immigration from places other than Europe, allowing people whose religions were other than Christian to begin immigrating. For many Christians, this increase in religious diversity was seen as a threat to the Christian hegemony. He takes note of the influence of people like Roger Williams, a Baptist who called for the separation of Church and State, something another Baptist, Judge Roy Moore opposed as he posted the Ten Commandments in his court.
It is in Chapter 3 that Balmer addresses directly the burgeoning Christian Nationalism. He notes that the only way the US can be described as a "Christian Nation" is if we focus on demographics. As for the nation's government being based on Christian principles, the founders, including George Washington, made it clear, especially in the Treaty with Tripoli, that the United States is not a Christian nation. Before beginning to make his case for reclaiming a prophetic faith in chapter 4 he addresses several problematic dimensions of Christian hegemony, including the way Christians treated Native Americans, including the tragedies of the boarding schools. Then there are the tortured defenses of slavery by Christian theologians such as Louis Dabney and Basil Manly.
Being that Balmer is addressing first and foremost evangelicals, he begins building his case for a prophetic Christianity by going "Back to the Bible." In chapter 5, Balmer bemoans the fact that while evangelicals claim to be people of the Bible, defending its authority, they seem to neglect what it has to say about many of the issues of the day. Thus, "if we Christians entertain any hopes of reviving the faith and making Christianity relevant once again, we must find a way to reconnect with the Scriptures" (p. 54). It's a view that resonates we me. If we do this, then perhaps we will hear the words of the Hebrew prophets who call for justice and repentance, along with the message of Jesus who makes similar claims.
Chapter 6 invites us to consider "Worthy Examples," people such as the British parliamentarian William Wilberforce who worked to end the slave trade. He mentions numerous others, people like Elijah Pilcher, who founded Albion College in Michigan, making sure to admit women. He mentions people like Theodore Dwight Weld, the Grimke sisters, and Josiah Grinnell who joined the roster of abolitionists. These are only a few examples that Balmer lifts up, including figures like Beth Moore, who chose to reject the narrowness of an evangelical message that is tinged with racism and anti-women perspectives.
Chapter 7 makes a brief case for prophetic Christianity. He suggests that in seeking political power evangelicals have lost their prophetic voice. He wants to call them to account and point to a better way. He reminds us that prophetic Christianity lives on the margins of society and not in the center. That's not an easy place to be, but if prophetic Christianity is to rise again, it will have to move to the margins. With that in mind, Balmer includes in an appendix the "Chicago Declaration of Evangelical Social Concern," a document created in the 1970s that voice a commitment to Christian social concern, including addressing racism. He believes that this document could serve as a starting point for that reclamation.
This is less than 100 pages. It is a quick read, but it offers an important challenge to evangelicals and the broader Christian world to heed the words of Scripture and reclaim our prophetic voice so that we might throw off the right-wing populism of the moment that has captured part of the church, reject Christian nationalism, and embrace the way of Jesus. That seems to me to be a good idea.
Randall Balmer's book "Saving Faith" addresses Christian nationalism, but while it is a very brief book, it offers a call to American Christians, especially evangelicals, to reclaim a prophetic voice. Balmer teaches American religion at Dartmouth, after many years at Columbia University. Balmer writes to a community that he once called home. Like many of us who are now post-evangelical, he has a sense of loss at what he has seen happen to evangelicalism. especially white evangelicalism. In many ways this is a word to the church and Christianity at large, acknowledging the decline in our fortunes and the realities of racism in the church and nation.
Balmer writes this book from the perspective of a professed Christian who grew up in the Evangelical Free Church and graduated from an evangelical college and seminary. He notes that he grew up in the evangelical subculture, the son of an Evangelical Free Church pastor. He writes in his preface, "I'll put up my credentials as an evangelical up against anyone --- including Franklin Graham, by the way, although I concede that his father, Bill Graham, might have been a bit more famous than mine" (p. xiv). While he has the credentials, he has drifted away from that world because he was tired of the "pitched, vicious, internecine battles over such issues as biblical inerrancy that I witnessed in seminary" (p. xiv). While his current evangelical identity might be questioned, he insists that he cares deeply about the Christian faith. Thus, the reason for writing this book.
As you might expect, this book is directed at a community he once called home. He offers seven chapters that begin with an analysis of the current situation (chapter 1 is titled "How Bad Is It?") and finishes by making a case for prophetic Christianity (Chapter 7). That first chapter addresses the decline of Christianity, especially among Mainline Protestant churches, noting some of the reasons for that decline (he is not big on ecumenism). As for evangelicalism, it gained adherents for a number of reasons, including being present in the suburbs. The concern here has to do with the turn from spiritual populism to politics. That turn to politics, interestingly enough, began with Jimmy Carter. Many evangelicals, including many of my friends, embraced Carter because of his confession of faith, though they abandoned him in 1980 when it became clear that his politics were liberal. While some make abortion out to be a big issue, it wasn't in the beginning. Instead, it was racism -- a defense of racial segregation --- that gave rise to white evangelical political involvement. It's something Donald Trump was able to use.
Chapter 2 offers up what Balmer calls "Misguided Remedies." One is a return to the world of Mayberry (he notes that during its entire run, only one Black character appeared in the Andy Griffith Show). He notes the contribution of the opening up in 1965 of immigration from places other than Europe, allowing people whose religions were other than Christian to begin immigrating. For many Christians, this increase in religious diversity was seen as a threat to the Christian hegemony. He takes note of the influence of people like Roger Williams, a Baptist who called for the separation of Church and State, something another Baptist, Judge Roy Moore opposed as he posted the Ten Commandments in his court.
It is in Chapter 3 that Balmer addresses directly the burgeoning Christian Nationalism. He notes that the only way the US can be described as a "Christian Nation" is if we focus on demographics. As for the nation's government being based on Christian principles, the founders, including George Washington, made it clear, especially in the Treaty with Tripoli, that the United States is not a Christian nation. Before beginning to make his case for reclaiming a prophetic faith in chapter 4 he addresses several problematic dimensions of Christian hegemony, including the way Christians treated Native Americans, including the tragedies of the boarding schools. Then there are the tortured defenses of slavery by Christian theologians such as Louis Dabney and Basil Manly.
Being that Balmer is addressing first and foremost evangelicals, he begins building his case for a prophetic Christianity by going "Back to the Bible." In chapter 5, Balmer bemoans the fact that while evangelicals claim to be people of the Bible, defending its authority, they seem to neglect what it has to say about many of the issues of the day. Thus, "if we Christians entertain any hopes of reviving the faith and making Christianity relevant once again, we must find a way to reconnect with the Scriptures" (p. 54). It's a view that resonates we me. If we do this, then perhaps we will hear the words of the Hebrew prophets who call for justice and repentance, along with the message of Jesus who makes similar claims.
Chapter 6 invites us to consider "Worthy Examples," people such as the British parliamentarian William Wilberforce who worked to end the slave trade. He mentions numerous others, people like Elijah Pilcher, who founded Albion College in Michigan, making sure to admit women. He mentions people like Theodore Dwight Weld, the Grimke sisters, and Josiah Grinnell who joined the roster of abolitionists. These are only a few examples that Balmer lifts up, including figures like Beth Moore, who chose to reject the narrowness of an evangelical message that is tinged with racism and anti-women perspectives.
Chapter 7 makes a brief case for prophetic Christianity. He suggests that in seeking political power evangelicals have lost their prophetic voice. He wants to call them to account and point to a better way. He reminds us that prophetic Christianity lives on the margins of society and not in the center. That's not an easy place to be, but if prophetic Christianity is to rise again, it will have to move to the margins. With that in mind, Balmer includes in an appendix the "Chicago Declaration of Evangelical Social Concern," a document created in the 1970s that voice a commitment to Christian social concern, including addressing racism. He believes that this document could serve as a starting point for that reclamation.
This is less than 100 pages. It is a quick read, but it offers an important challenge to evangelicals and the broader Christian world to heed the words of Scripture and reclaim our prophetic voice so that we might throw off the right-wing populism of the moment that has captured part of the church, reject Christian nationalism, and embrace the way of Jesus. That seems to me to be a good idea.
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March 18, 2023I really enjoyed this short and accessible, but also insightful, look at the current state of American Christianity. I don't think anyone would argue that its influence on American life has waned. Balmer looks at the three largest 'camps' of American Christianity - mainline Protestants, Catholics and Evangelicals - and outlines some recent history and missteps he believes all three groups have taken. He outlines some reasons for, and examples of, trying to reverse the decline and he ends making a compelling case for 'Prophetic Christianity' - one which stays on the margins of society and one where justice is of primary importance. (Coming September 2023)
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