Losing Our Religion: An Altar Call for Evangelical America by Russell Moore

Losing Our Religion: An Altar Call for Evangelical America Reviews

• 
  Manny

  My dear Wormwood,
  
  I cannot express how delighted I was to receive your letter and discover that your new patient is a Southern Baptist minister. You have an important task here. I do not exaggerate when I say that if you and the other members of your team succeed well enough, we may finally achieve the breakthrough we have been working for all these years. The groundwork is laid, we must just be resolute and follow through.
  
  I fully understand that you are a little nervous, given the responsibilities the senior devils have placed on you. Don't be. You have the training, you know what to do. You say your minister is a fundamentally decent type. That may well be so; but your job, and don't forget it for a moment, is to exploit his fallible human understanding and make him turn his good qualities against himself. Play your cards right, and within a year he will be doing our bidding and bringing the whole of his congregation under our control. You have many cards, study them carefully.
  
  Your patient often hears he is living in exceptional times. Keep reminding him of that. Encourage him to think that exceptional times require exceptional solutions, that the usual rules no longer apply. The Enemy will try to give him hope. Do what you can to counter that. Make him feel that the situation is almost hopeless, that only methods he would normally not even consider have a chance of saving him now. Use strong, physical phrases like "fight fire with fire" and "hit below the belt". Make him remember that he is a weak human body and forget that he is an immortal spirit. Make him feel that the people you have taught him to fear are not the Enemy's children at all, but mere vermin who must be exterminated in order to save his flock. You will be surprised how easy it is.
  
  The Enemy has given your patient free will, but do what you can to make him forget that. Tell him he has no choice, there is only one person who can help him. His conscience is no doubt already aware that the person in question is the Antichrist, but encourage his "rational" thoughts, which will be of great assistance to you. Use phrases like "lesser of two evils" to describe monstrous wrongs, and "baby Christian" to describe utter immorality. With a little persuasion, you will find he accepts these arguments as plausible and even self-evident. Luckily for us, the modern Church has long ceased to place much store in logic. Work systematically, and you will soon make your patient trust this person far more than he does the Enemy's disgraceful son.
  
  Dear Wormwood, cast your doubts aside. I know you will succeed. But before I conclude, I must warn you about one detail which did somewhat disquiet me. You mentioned that your patient had yesterday visited a bookstore and seen a recent tract by Russell Moore entitled Losing Our Religion. I do not wish to alarm you, but please keep your patient away from this book. The Reverend Moore seems entirely too well informed about our plans, and we are urgently reviewing our internal security procedures. Luckily, he is only one fallible human. Remind your patient that most of his coreligionists dislike Moore and consider him a dangerous heretic. It is to be regretted that these people are no longer burned at the stake; it was an expeditious solution I always rather liked. But the modern methods are only slightly less reliable. Just be sensible, and this problem will soon resolve itself.
  
  With all my best wishes,
  
  Your affectionate uncle
  
  Screwtape
• 
  Matt Pitts

  This is one of my favorite reads of the year so far. Insightful, challenging, honest, and hopeful. And the last chapter may have been my favorite. It left me with a full heart and a fire in my bones.
  
  Moore has been, for me, one of the voices that has helped me stay sane in the midst of the madness. I’ve read and heard a lot of what he has to say in the last few years, but he saved some of his best for this book.
  
  4.5 stars
• 
  Carmen Imes

  This is a brave book.
  
  Russell Moore is willing to name the elephant in the room, pointing to the ways that so many evangelicals have become entangled in politics in all the wrong ways and lost their souls in the process.
  
  Here he does in book form what he has already done in his editorials for CT and with his very life in the SBC -- he issues a clear call for evangelicals to awaken from moral turpitude and reembrace the gospel we say we believe.
  
  I'm thankful for his voice. I hope it invigorates a new generation of believers to live faithfully.
• 
  Scott Rhee

  Religion, like politics, is one of those conversation topics that most people find uncomfortable, except, of course, for those people who are deeply religious and vocally political.
  
  Full disclosure: I was one of those deeply religious people. I was a “born-again” Christian, which basically came about when I accepted Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior. Born-agains live for church and worship songs and telling more people that they should accept Jesus into their life, and, for a while, I was really into this lifestyle. I went to Bible study weekly, had prayer sessions, and I was supposed to really like “Veggie Tales” and “Seventh Heaven”. I also wasn’t supposed to even think about sex before marriage, and I wasn’t supposed to like Marilyn Manson.
  
  My foray into Evangelical Christianity didn’t last that long. Probably a little over four years. What ended it? Honestly, it was George W. Bush.
  
  Like many liberal Americans, I thought W. was dumb. Like, really really dumb. (Keep in mind: this was before Trump, who came along and said, “America, hold my beer…”) I was supposed to really like W. because he was a Christian, but I thought he was—-besides dumb—-shifty, shady, and full of shit. He reminded me exactly of why I never joined a frat in college.
  
  Bush—I’m not exaggerating here—-ruined Christianity for me. Because politics, for me, became pretty important in my life, moreso than religion. Rather, my religious doctrines that I was supposed to be preaching and believing quickly became at odds with my political views. I was for same-sex marriage and perfectly okay with homosexuals. (Christianity told me that I was supposed to consider gay people “sinners” and that same-sex marriage was an affront to God.) I was pro-choice. (Christianity told me that I’m supposed to believe that abortion is murder, which I don’t believe. I’m not a huge fan of abortion, mind you, but I just believe that it’s a big decision that is ultimately up to the woman who is pregnant to make.) I don’t really like guns and I don’t want guns in my house. (Weirdly, Christianity—-or a huge segment of Christianity anyway—-told me that I’m supposed to love guns and the Second Amendment.) I think things like lying, committing adultery, secretly committing huge crimes and covering them up are wrong. (Christianity told me that these are wrong UNLESS they are committed by a person who is a Christian, and then it’s okay because Jesus forgives them. “Love the sinner, not the sin,” I heard constantly. Unless, of course, the sinner is gay, had an abortion, or believed in gun control.)
  
  I’m being flippant, I know. And kind of an asshole, but you get my point.
  
  You know what the really sucky thing is about losing your religion? A huge part of me still really misses believing in something that strongly.
  
  I am, apparently, part of a hugely growing demographic of people leaving the church (any church, of any and all denominations) and considering myself non-religious. There are many names for us: lapsed, de-churched, Nones (a term that stems from checking off “no religious affiliations” on forms that ask that question).
  
  Russell Moore is not part of that demographic. In fact, Moore is a Baptist minister. When he comes across that question on a form, he probably checks off the “really really religious” box.
  
  But something really weird and awful happened to Moore back in 2016. He had the audacity to say that Donald Trump was not a good man and not qualified in any way to be president of the country. Surprisingly, many of his Baptist friends (including some of his mentors) lambasted him and kicked him out of his job. Rather than see Trump for the awful human being that he was, many Christians were letting Trump’s many past transgressions (and crimes) slide. Apparently, for a lot of ultra-conservative Republicans who happened to be Christian, politics trumped religion. Pun intended.
  
  Moore, a smart guy, spent a lot of time mulling this situation over. The result is his book “Losing Our Religion: An Altar Call for Evangelical America”, a book that I have no idea why I decided to read and a book that I don’t understand why I actually really loved.
  
  Well, that’s not completely true. I loved it for a few very specific reasons.
  
  One reason is that the book is not an anti-liberal diatribe or a vitriolic vengeful hit-piece against all the people that ostracized and hated on him. Indeed, Moore—-who professes to be very conservative—-doesn’t pick on liberals. In fact, he—-more times than any conservative should be comfortable with—-makes statements that are pretty liberal-ish, like this one: “[M]any evangelical Christians don’t recognize authoritarianism because the petri dish for authoritarian experiments has often been evangelical churches.” (P.72) He also often quotes famous liberals (and, Egad! Socialists) like Hannah Arendt, who said, “[T]hose who choose the lesser evil quickly forget that they chose evil.” (p.162)
  
  Another reason is that Moore is talking about Character, which is one of those words that a lot of Trumpian conservatives and Trumpian Christians kind of hate now, because it’s wrapped up in concepts such as Ethics, Morality, and Integrity. You know: everything that is missing from Trump. Moore believes that the ends don’t always justify the means, but the means should always justify the ends. I totally dig that.
  
  Moore also kind of reminds me of why I was attracted to Christianity in the first place: Christ. Let’s face it: Jesus was just an awesome dude who preached a lot of good stuff, like loving one’s neighbor, turning the other cheek, forgiveness. Christians, according to Moore, occasionally get so wrapped up in all the legalistic religiosity bullshit that they forget that it’s all about the “WWJD?” moments in life.
  
  I recommend this book for anyone who, like Moore, recognizes that major changes are happening in Christianity, and that they don’t have to be scary or awful changes. I also recommend it for anyone who, like me, laments the loss of their faith and still holds out some hope of maybe one day getting it back.
• 
  Crosby Cobb

  Listen, I know there’s nothing more on brand for me than a 5/5 review for Russell Moore’s work but I really think this might be my favorite thing he’s ever written! It was contemplative but not dramatic, honest but not harsh, and had applied wisdom but wasn’t overly prescriptive. Moore writes with a delicate balance of sobriety and hope — his voice is just so needed for the church! I’m thankful for the ways he has influenced/inspired me for years (especially those years this book focuses on) and know I will return to this work for years to come!
• 
  Becca

  In Losing Our Religion, Russell Moore gives encouragement to fellow Christians who are discouraged and disillusioned by the current state of evangelicalism in America. We are reminded that although religion, politics, and leadership fail us, Jesus never will. His gospel remains true even if the organizations or denominations that preach it seem to be falling apart.
  To be honest, there were parts of this that made me wonder if it was just another book about taking political sides (I.e. remarks about COVID). It is good to know that going in, but I would encourage readers who may not agree with Moore on every political point to keep reading. His message for American Christians is one of hope and reason, precisely because the gospel is so much bigger than anything that can be described as American.
  I especially liked the chapter on integrity. In it, he acknowledges the widespread hypocrisy of leadership within the evangelical church, which of course is disheartening. But rather than name calling and ending on a note of hopelessness, he reminds all followers of Christ of a better way, namely, that character trumps giftedness, and meekness trumps “telling it like it is” in the kingdom of God.
  I have so appreciated Russell Moore’s voice and leadership during his time as president of the ERLC and in the years since. He is winsome, states his convictions and reasons for them clearly, and leads with integrity. This book is a great example of all of those and will be an encouragement to many.
  Thank you to Netgalley and Sentinel, an imprint of Random House, for the advanced review copy. All opinions are my own.
• 
  Barry

  An important message that American evangelicals need to hear—especially those who are politically conservative. That we Christians should be embracing the gospel rather than fighting for political wins for our tribe. And we should view our country as a “mission field” rather than a “battlefield.”
  
  Here’s an interesting
  TGC article/review.
  
  And here’s
  Manny’s clever Screwtape review.
  
  
  A few quotes:
  
  ‘We see now young evangelicals walking away from evangelicalism not because they do not believe what the church teaches, but because they believe the church itself does not believe what the church teaches. And, more than that, many have concluded that the church itself is a moral problem.’
  [p 41]
  
  ‘A similar phenomenon is found in Christian circles with the so-called "theo-bros," who think they are the opposite of the hyperdeconstructing evangelical firebrands, but who share the very same "aren't we naughty?" ethos. What becomes the source of authority in these cases is not the persuasive appeals or the moral credibility of those speaking but their willingness to brawl and to transgress norms in ways that can seem shocking. Civility, then, is surrender. Empathy is sin. Love of neighbor is "liberal." Justice is "Marxism."’
  [p 73]
  
  ‘Try saying: "You and we see things differently on this. We love you, and we want to see you. Can't we just leave the politics aside and talk about other things?" This isn't that big of an ask. We all do that all the time... Agreeing together on avoiding topics that would only cause discord is not lying about those matters. It's just agreeing that you like being with one another more than you value being proven right about those things.’
  [p 90]
  
  ‘…evangelical Christians in this time of confusion and disorientation must discern what precisely it is that we are seeking to "revive." If that is merely the nostalgic restoration of some previous (and mostly imaginary) golden age of Christian influence and morality, then no revival is possible…The goal is not to "get back" to something but to seek renewal for the future, a renewal that might have continuity with the past but will often look strikingly different from it.’
  [p 221]
• 
  Loraena

  I just appreciate Russell Moore. From the neurological effects of social media to the difference between repentance vs apology for the sake of branding, he is humble, thoughtful, and honest. It’s part confession, part expose, and part sermon (in the best way).
  
  If you find yourself discouraged by the polarization in American “evangelicalism” or are struggling to figure out how real faith integrates from religious tradition, you’ll appreciate this book.
  
  I love the story towards the end of the book where he talks about his friendship with Beth Moore. Few people will publicly eat their words the way he does and it’s a beautiful thing.
• 
  Lisa

  Sobering yet gracious and hopeful, particularly the concluding chapter. I do think with chapter lengths running at 50 pages or so, subheadings would have been helpful.
• 
  Laura NC

  I’ve appreciated the author’s ministry for many years through his work at the ERLC, his podcasts and books. I also identified with his dismay after Trump won the Republican primary in 2016. In the years since, I’ve grown weary of relentless critiques of evangelical Christianity from within. In spite of the many faults of the Church, she’s still the light of the world! More Christians serve on the front lines of mercy ministry, adoption and foster care than their progressive secular counterparts.
  
  The primary concern I had reading this work is I reject the assumption that Christians who care about state of the culture prioritize white nationalism (racism and nativism) as their top agenda. I think that’s a very tiny minority (and repugnant), but this book mainly addresses that issue. Almost every believer I know is extremely concerned about abortion and marriage/gender issues (which get very little attention in this book by comparison). Even since just 2016, the decline into a post Christian society has accelerated to the degree that it is head spinning. Where is the encouragement here for believers who are dismayed? I recently read Abolition of Man, by CS Lewis. This little book of essays, written in 1943, identifies the key issue facing society, which applies to us today in an extremely intense way: Anthropology, what does it mean to be human. We’ve witnessed a collapse of the understanding of what it means to be human, and of a belief in natural law itself. Now anyone can construct their own meaning about human nature, and they can’t be argued against. Does Moore have words of wisdom for Christians facing this current climate? I hope he will share them. Meanwhile, I’ve enjoyed the work of Carl Trueman and Rosaria Butterfield to help our family navigate this troubling time we’re living in.
• 
  Krista Morris

  Initial thoughts after finishing: reading this is like drinking a cup of cold water on a hot day.
  
  It's bracing, pastoral, respectful, clear, intelligent, and points to Christ as all in all.
  
  Not Evangelicalism, not political parties, not denominations, not racism, misogyny, or theological differences, not tribalism, not Christian nationalism, not moral relativism that will excuse anything in order to "win."
  
  He succinctly rebukes the many evils of Evangelicalism as it stands today, and his pastoral heart shines through in every exhortation and opportunity to repent.
  
  I cried. I laughed. I was angry and shocked at times. I felt seen always. Or more like - I felt not crazy. And by the end I felt hopeful. Not for the "rise of Evangelicalism" but for a rebirth and repentance of the Church, wherever that may lead.
• 
  Melody Schwarting

  “I couldn’t help but wonder if the plot twist to the story of American conservative Christianity was that what we thought was the Shire was Mordor all along.” (10-11)
  
  “It was not that she didn’t believe what her church had taught her but that she didn’t believe her church believed what her church had taught her.” (30) [I’m sorry, who gave you permission to lay bare the wastes of MY heart?]
  
  Russell Moore and I disagree on a lot of things, but my soul was nurtured by his book. He is a righteous man whom I have long appreciated, though I left the SBC about 15 years ago. I left and joined a church that actually loved the Scriptures, doctrine, and hymns that the SBC churches of my upbringing only claimed they loved. I hope Moore has similarly found a local church that rests in the everlasting arms, not in the changeable winds of doctrine or the quicksand of power.
  
  Moore and I are not in agreement on many peripherals, but his adherence to the central beliefs of Christianity mean that I can find great resonance with him. Even though we are on ~different sides of the aisle~ we agree on civility and what’s really important in Christian belief. Like, having orthodox views on the Trinity is more important than beliefs about women’s ordination. Honestly. This would not be a problem if American evangelical churches hadn’t largely abandoned the practice of saying the Niceno-Constantinopolitan Creed. But I digress.
  
  I felt in reading this book that I was conversing with someone who felt the same pain I did, and put in words what I could not. Moore offered me hope, not in humanity or systems, but in Jesus. As cheesy as that sounds, it’s what he offers. If we have a cuddly, culturally acceptable Jesus, we have lost the angry young man turning over temple tables, the gentle friend resurrecting the dead. Moore reminds us that we need this strange, uncomfortable, ever-counter-cultural Jesus, not empty ideological promises. (Anyone notice that the so-called “simpler” times of “make _____ great again” are always the speakers’ childhood? Before they had to pay car insurance and get pap smears/screened for prostate cancer? Just me? Okay.)
  
  In my opinion, the long chapters could have benefitted from more substantial breaks within the chapter. I like to read to a stopping point, and headers/spacing would have gone a long way in a book with 40-50 page chapters. Every once in a while there was an italicized “title” at the beginning of a paragraph, but it’s not very noticeable, and the sections are far, far too long for that style to be effective. I know it’s probably the choice of the publishing house, but it’s a poor choice.
  
  Overall, I deeply appreciated this book. I needed it. As I tried to explain it to my husband, “He puts words to the Vibes™!” And I needed that. It will land under the Christmas tree for a few people in my life. I flagged a lot of passages to revisit (see some below) and I know I will return to this book for reassurance of sanity outside the nasty nonsense that passes for public discourse.
  
  -----
  
  “Hezekiah reassured himself about future judgment because of his present tranquility and safety. He was willing to sacrifice his children’s future for his present moment. To sacrifice the future for the sake of the present is a crisis of credibility, a crisis of faith.” (49)
  
  “Increasingly, in this sort of American culture, it is not just that we are divided about what we value about the way things should be, but what we are allowed to say about the way things actually are. Now, notice, what I wrote here is not what we see about the way things are, but what we are allowed to say. This is because we live in a time in which ‘truth’ is seen as a means to tribal belonging, rather than as a reality that exists outside of us. And that’s true even among, sometimes even especially among, those who spent the last twenty years arguing about the dangers of postmodern relativistic ideas of ‘truth’ and the ‘rejection of metanarratives.” (69) [and ‘debunking spent ideas’ IYKYK]
  
  “And yet, which in fact curries favor: Saying to the world that evangelical Christianity is true and beautiful enough that we shouldn’t betray our own stated ideals? Or saying to populist masses (and donors): we will speak loudly on the issues with which you agree with us, and remain silent or dismiss as ‘distractions’ those you don’t? We will attack with force those politicians and cultural movements that virtually none of our evangelical audience supports, while finding ways to justify those they do?” (76)
  
  “What we are bargaining away, in mild or severe cases of these nationalistic movements, is the blood of Christ for blood-and-soil, and that is not an even trade.” (116)
  
  “Christian nationalism is not a politically enthusiastic version of Christianity, nor is it a religiously informed patriotism. Christian nationalism is a prosperity gospel for nation-states, a liberation theology for white people.” (117)
  
  “What happens when the motivations of supposedly born-again people seem to be lined up exactly with their tribal boundaries of their base appetites, in a way that would be the same even if Jesus were still dead?” (120)
  
  “Culture-warring is easier than conversion because, as George Orwell once wrote of ‘transferred nationalism,’ it ‘is a way of attaining salvation without altering one’s conduct.’” (121)
  
  “The sense of vulnerability and threat here must then be amplified with a mythology that explains why white evangelical Christianity represents the real America. This is how a market is created for the easily debunked ideas that the American founders were evangelical Christians. The idea provides for both a secularized Eden and a secularized Fall, for both the entitlement and the outrage, enabling evangelical Christians to feel both like a dominant majority and a beleaguered minority, at the same time.” (125)
  
  “In whatever articulation, a church trained to bear witness to the gospel can be a church called to rethink the meaning and limits of power.” (135)
  
  “The point of ‘exile’ language is exactly the opposite of the idea that Western Christians should lament or resent losing a ‘Christian culture.’ The point is that in every place and every culture, from the first to the second comings of Jesus, every Christian community are [sic] to be strangers and exiles. If we can look backward and find a time when we were not so, it’s because we are accommodated to idolatry--just of a previous Nebuchadnezzar rather than the one in front of us at the moment. And if we can look forward to a time when we can displace the same sense of marginalization and find a cultural ‘home’ in the span of history as we know it, then that too is because we are accommodated to idolatry--just that of a future Nebuchadnezzar. If exile language is used to bemoan a ‘darkening’ or ‘growingly hostile’ culture, rather than to see our situation as fundamentally the same as every other era before us, then we don’t understand what the Bible means by exile. Exile language does away with both a sense of entitlement and with a siege mentality. We don’t look to merge into whatever seems ‘normal’ around us--and we don’t rage when we’re not accommodated there. We see our normal situation not as occupation but pilgrimage.” (149-150)
  
  “Once you own your exile, the threat of exile is meaningless.” (152)
  
  “What worried me also was that I knew that the ‘lesser of two evils’ argument rarely stays that way. Hannah Arendt famously warned that ‘those who choose the lesser evil quickly forget that they choose evil.’ That proved to be true, and increasingly true.” (162)
  
  “Jesus never promised, contra conservatism, a golden age in the past, at least not within human memory. And he never promised, contra progressivism, a golden age in the future, at least within human possibility.” (248)
• 
  Ivan

  Bracing.
• 
  Jonathan

  Not really much new here if you've subscribed to Moore's newsletter or read his articles (particularly his article in Plough on "integrity and the future of the church"), but still a sobering look at the state of evangelical Christianity in the US that avoids becoming a jeremiad through frequent (though not Pollyanna-ish) calls to hope. The (probably spurious) Augustine quote--"The church is a whore, and she is my mother"--would be an apt epigraph for the book.
  
  I think the insight that will stick with people who are disaffected by scandal and hucksterism in the church the most is this:
  
  "The problem is now not that people think the church's way of life is too demanding, too morally rigorous, but that they have come to think the church doesn't believe its own moral teachings. The problem is not that they reject the idea that God could send anyone to hell but that, when they see the church covering up predatory behavior in its institutions, they have evidence that the church believes God would not send 'our kind of people' to hell. If people reject the church because they reject Jesus and the gospel, we should be saddened but not surprised. But what happens when people reject the church because they think *we* reject Jesus and the gospel?... What if people don't leave the church because they disapprove of Jesus, but because they've read the Bible and have come to the conclusion that the church itself would disapprove of Jesus? That's a catastrophe."
  
  For Christians still reeling from events of the last several years and not necessarily encouraged by current trajectories, this book will be a welcome companion. You are neither crazy nor alone.
• 
  Hannah Fletcher

  4.5
  
  I really enjoyed this, particularly in the audio form. The author reads it and I love listening to Russel Moore talk through these topics. I loved his critique of current evangelicalism, particularly Southern Baptists.
  
  I don’t know if this was just a weakness of the audio form, but I wanted footnotes siting the different examples he was giving. For example I found it slightly frustrating hearing him give general names like “a prominent Southern Baptist leader” at some points but then in others he’d name them. Anyone who’s been around the SBC will be able to connect the dots but it was a little annoying to me when it was slightly vague about who he was talking about at points.
  
  Overall his ending that didn’t end in cynicism or naïveté was encouraging to me. I appreciated the full throated critique of white American evangelicalism and it was helpful to hear it from someone more conservative then myself. While I may disagree with him on certain points that wouldn’t let us be in the same church, I’m so thankful for his example of virtue and character.
• 
  Debbie Babbage

  There are times when I listen or read about those who are Christians and wonder what Bible are they reading. Why or how can we be so divisive when it comes to the teachings of Christ. This book reminds me that there is hope and love in the Gospel. The author explanations of the teachings, the issues behind religion (not faith) and politics are interesting without being in your face preachy. He gives hope and understanding to those of us that are struggling to make sense of what’s going on in our churches, schools, communities, and country.
• 
  Alix

  My new go-to recommendation for Jesus-followers to better understand and navigate our place in the American political landscape. Dr. Moore’s words and wisdom are a gift to our generation.
• 
  Jake Preston

  A sobering, but accurate examination of the state of evangelicalism in America. Much of the content is difficult to hear, but Moore's unique perspective as a lifelong evangelical and Southern Baptist leader lend credibility to his indictment of the movement.
  
  And yet, he proves to be an exceedingly gracious guide in helping the reader understand both why we're in this position of decline and what we can do to emerge on the other side as a people united in our commitment to take the message of Jesus's kingdom to the nations.
  
  Additionally, as one who has been extremely discouraged by the mixing of Republican politics with Christianity, this book was somewhat of a balm to me and it provided a thorough explanation of why the conflation is so dangerous. A really important book that I highly recommend.
• 
  Jackson Hicks

  Great book.
  
  8/10 would recommend.
• 
  Janetta Oni

  Fantastic! The wisdom we need for such a time as this!
• 
  Dale

  A Review of the Audiobook
  
  Published in 2023 by Penguin Audio in July of 2023.
  Read by the author, Russell Moore.
  Duration: 6 hours, 46 minutes.
  Unabridged.
  
  Russell Moore is currently a theologian for the magazine Christianity Today, but he is more famous for being one of the leaders of the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) for the last 20 years - both as a professor and at the national level. He's also a prolific author and very media friendly. In many ways, Moore was the perfect media face for the Southern Baptist Convention - smart, likable, pleasant and often funny.
  
  But, he butted heads on a variety of topics with the rest of the leadership. He was against gay conversion therapy and he wanted the SBC to listen to women who accused men in church leadership of sexual abuse. He especially wanted Southern Baptists to talk about racism and its complicity in upholding Jim Crow laws and distance themselves from Confederate symbols like the flag.
  
  The biggest thing they disagreed about and the thing that really pushed him out started in the summer of 2015 - Donald Trump. He could not bring himself to support a man who was so clearly not in sync with the values of Evangelical Christians. Evangelicals could live with all of the other points of disagreement over religious doctrine, but they could not live with disagreement over a political figure.
  
  People who are familiar the 80s/90s band REM know the song "Losing My Religion." The title comes from a Southern phrase that means someone got so exasperated that they forgot their religious training and did the wrong thing. He uses that as a launching point to discussing the difference between religion and faith. This is a discussion that I appreciate as I have come to a new understanding of the relationship between my formal religion and my Christian faith in my own way in the last few years.
  
  The title works in two ways. Moore is discussing how he has dropped his formal ties to the Southern Baptist Convention, but he is also talking to how so many of its Evangelicals (and cultural Evangelicals who very rarely go to church but who are fighting the culture wars in its name every day) have moved away from the principles of their faith as part of a trade for political power.
  
  I thought this was a thoughtful and serious discussion, but there was a bit in the middle that just lost my interest. It got a little too far into the Evangelical weeds for me. It came back and closed in a very strong way, but it means that I am rating it 4 stars out of 5.
  
  The original post contains links that I could not put into this review:
  
  https://dwdsreviews.blogspot.com/2023...
• 
  Adeline

  Thoughts:
  - Coming into this as an external observer (the word 'evangelical' is much more value-neutral in my comfy little bubble in Sydney), this impassioned and sobering reflection on the state of American evangelical culture was helpful in unpacking just what on earth I've been seeing on the news and on social media for the past couple of years.
  - Before reading this, I was only familiar with Russell Moore through his segment on Mike Cosper's/CT's podcast The Rise and Fall of Mars Hill. Here he touches on his experiences in Southern Baptist circles and the fallout that ensued after his criticism of how some churches responded to the Trump campaign and all the associated cultural chaos. I think he did well in being gracious when recounting his experiences, and in calling for repentance and renewal.
  - I found the discussion on 'deconstruction' super helpful. It's a big scary buzzword, but the question isn't about whether someone will deconstruct, but what they will deconstruct. When the scales fall from your eyes and you realise that your idols have failed you, will this lead to cynicism or renewal? The same goes for 'revival'. What are you trying to revive? Some national myth about an idealised cultural past, or a return to gospel-centeredness?
  - Russell Moore doesn't shy away from addressing some truly awful stuff. But the book ends on a hopeful note. Although American cultural Christianity has developed a skewed understanding of religion, credibility, authority, identity, integrity, and stability, the stripping-away of illusion is an opportunity to pause and look to the One who heals, restores, and saves.
  - Note: There were so many hard hitting lines I would have loved to quote here, but I read an uncorrected proof text from NetGalley (there were some minor grammar/punctuation errors). Rest assured that the book is extensively highlighted on my Kindle. Shout-out to my friends who have graciously put up with my live unfiltered reactions and many, many photos of interesting quotes.
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  Lori

  I went back and forth on whether to rate this book a 3 or a 4. While I do not 100% agree theologically with Dr. Moore, I still appreciate his 100% love of Jesus and devotion to the good news of the gospel. Having grown up in a Southern Baptist background, much of what Dr. Moore describes had me shaking my head in agreement. However, after the 2016 election, I find that I no longer would call myself evangelical. Though Moore considers himself evangelical (and still very theologically conservative), he discusses very candidly his disagreements with the SBC especially in recent years. I appreciate his candor describing his journey and trying to reconcile what he believes with the gospel of Christ and the lack of genuine love from many evangelicals.
  
  It was a worthwhile read, though often a bit verbose and difficult to understand his track of thinking. It is one of those books that would be better to own and have the freedom to highlight and make notes in the margin to return to later (at least for a layperson like me). Since it was a library book, I did not have that freedom and probably rushed though some of it too fast to fully comprehend.
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  Abram Martin

  If like me you are feeling burned out, cynical, and struggling with bouts of hopelessness about Christian rhetoric in our current era. This book is for you. It really spoke to me and pointed in a direction for us to walk, not one that promises some nostalgic fictional past of "Christian America ". But one that reminds us what it means to be pilgrims and strangers in a world bent on chasing money and power. A vision the reminds us we serve a kingdom not of this world.
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  Ashley

  I’m not an evangelical Christian and I do not speak a language heavily sprinkled with scripture. However, whenever I hear Dr Moore interviewed, he strikes me as sincere and reasonable. He was kicked out of the Southern Baptist conference for his anti-Trump stance and felt outrage over the church’s cover-ups of sexual abuse. He mourns that Christians are so wrapped up in identity politics that they no longer practice the teachings of Christ.
  
  I wanted to hear his perspective on what he sees as a crisis in his church and appreciated his humble reflections on his own mistakes. Trauma that is not repaired is doomed to repeat. Still, he offers hope for the global faith community, the younger generation and recommends how to personally cope with the ‘crazy’.
  
  I’m not emotionally invested with this topic. (It’s no secret that many Christians act in very un-Christlike ways.) But, from a distance, I found Dr Moore’s viewpoint interesting.
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  Bridget

  I do not believe that I can give a review that would sufficiently describe how I felt after finishing this book. There were times I wanted to weep, and times I was able to smile and laugh. My heart has been so weary these last few years, but this book has given me hope.
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  Billy Babbino

  There’s a lot of crazy in American Christianity, but there is still hope. Moore has experienced the crazy first hand and has written a great book that gives reason for hope.