9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Spectacular read!, October 2, 2008
This review is from: Evangelical Does Not Equal Republican or Democrat (Hardcover)
I highly recommend this book to anyone even slightly interested in the intersection of faith and politics in America today. This very well written piece of non-fiction faithfully examines American Evangelical worldviews through the lenses of race, socio-economic experience, and historical understanding in an honest and accessible way. Harper's analysis of the development of the Religious Right, the gap between black and white evangelical worldviews, and the use of Biblical and prophetic language to illicit varying political reactions is exceedingly relevant in this unique election year in which religion has again come to the forefront of the public debate.
Anyone who seeks to understand how we got here, how things are changing, and where we're going should definitely read this book.
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6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A Must Read for those into politics and religion, October 13, 2008
This review is from: Evangelical Does Not Equal Republican or Democrat (Hardcover)
How and when and should politics and religion cross? This author has blended together her own historic quest for justice with evangelical history and theology. She becomes quite specific with the issue of racial reconcilation and women's issues,which alone are worth the cost of the book. Her words often are harsh...but always grounded in truth, even when some in the church may not be ready to hear it. Almost seventy top leaders of the evangelical church are interviewed. The author's informed and often prophetic voice with the seventy's most current wisdom share hope for where the Church is heading...
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5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A very important book, November 26, 2008
This review is from: Evangelical Does Not Equal Republican or Democrat (Hardcover)
This is an important book. It is required reading for anyone who wants to understand the changing face of evangelicalism in American politics today.
Despite being black, Harper started off in a white evangelical church that took for granted that Christians are Republican. Later, as she became increasingly interested in issues of race and social justice, and became influenced by John Perkins, Ron Sider, Jim Wallis, Tony Campolo, and Tom Skinner, she "crossed the divide" and became a Democrat, while retaining her evangelical identity.
The book could also have been titled "Evangelicalism and Race in America." Harper scathingly indicts the evangelical church's record on racial reconciliation. She quotes Paul Weyrich, an activist for the Religious Right: "What got us going as a political movement was [not Roe v. Wade but] the attempt on the part of the IRS to rescind the tax-exempt status of Bob Jones University because of its racially discriminatory policies." She quotes Bill McCartney, founder of the Promise Keepers movement: "Of the conference participants who had a complaint, nearly 40 percent reacted negatively to the [racial] reconciliation theme. I personally believe it was a major factor in the significant falloff in PK's 1997 attendance---it is simply a hard teaching for many."
Harper is not the first to condemn evangelicals for their blindness on issues of race and social justice, but what makes her book important is that in Harper, a new generation of evangelicals has found its voice. Blogging sites such as GodsPolitics.com and FaithfulDemocrats.com received a massive boost from the Obama campaign. This group of evangelicals is sure to have a profound impact in the years to come.
The book is not without weaknesses. For someone who calls herself "evangelical," she diverges surprisingly far from the basic methodology of evangelical thought, namely the derivation of theology from the grammatico-historical exegesis of the Bible. Instead she relies heavily on catchy concepts like "cultural toolkits" and Perkins's "three R's" (reconciliation, relocation, redistribution). I wonder what Harper would say if you were to accuse her of being blind on the gay rights issue, insisting that she ought to immerse herself in the gay community, in order to add some tools to her cultural toolkit. And what if you went on to press her about gay marriages, insisting that civil unions do not go far enough, just as racial reconciliation does not go far enough if not accompanied by Perkins's two other R's? I suspect that Harper would *not* respond by first turning to the Bible. If so, then evangelicals should certainly be concerned---even those who support gay rights. What kind of "evangelicalism" are we left with, if the instinct of turning to the Bible first is lost? Harper seems dangerously close to falling into the trap of subordinating theological truth to political agenda, the very trap that she claims to be warning us against.
Nevertheless, I repeat that this is an important book. Evangelicals who choose to ignore Harper, instead of engaging her in sustained dialogue on the issues raised in her book, do so at their own peril.
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