374 - Piety and Politics: Evangelicals and Fundamentalists Confront the World

Piety and Politics: Evangelicals and Fundamentalists Confront the World

Edited by Richard John Neuhaus and Michael Cromartie

Washington, Ethics and Public Policy Center, 1987. 424 Pp. $23.95 ($12.95 Pb).

A leading student of American religion declared in 1970 that the United States had entered a post-Puritan, post-Protestant, post-Christian era; but within several years, observers were describing contrary trends. Opinion surveys discovered millions of "born again" Christians, and by the close of the 1970s some of their number were vigorously pressing a conservative-or what they called "pro-moral"-agenda in the political realm. Piety and Politics provides an excellent introduction to this much discussed phenomenon. The editors have assembled sixteen essays in which historians, sociologists, and journalists offer their assessments of the new religious right. Moreover, ten other selections allow fundamentalists and evangelicals to speak for themselves. The diversity of voices is one of the chief merits of this fine anthology.

Piety and Politics dispels the myth that "born again" Christians constitute a monolith. Although such persons share certain beliefs and often have a sense of participation in what George Marsden calls a "transdenominational community," they disagree on important theological issues. Some are charismatics, glorying in the gifts of glossolalia and healing; but others reject that interpretation of the faith. Some adopt a "come-outer" posture and separate from churches tainted with liberalism; others work within theologically inclusive churches. Political variety also characterizes the movement. If Pat Robertson and Jerry Falwell wish to lead the true believers to the right, equally zealous evangelicals, such as Ron Sider and Jim Wallis espouse a distinctly left-leaning philosophy. Even those who do hold conservative political views are not necessarily willing to march in lockstep behind a single candidate, a fact confirmed by the 1988 Republican primaries in which large numbers of conservative Christians voted for George Bush rather than Pat Robertson.

Another misconception killed by the authors is the idea that the

375 - Piety and Politics: Evangelicals and Fundamentalists Confront the World

resurgence of evangelicalism and fundamentalism is, in the words of Neuhaus, "a momentary aberration, a blip on the national screen." Several essayists demonstrate that the movement, while undoubtedly triggered by the sense of cultural upheaval that began in the 1960s, has far deeper roots in our national past. It continues the perennial Protestant quest for what Robert Handy has called "a Christian America." Viewed from that perspective, the current political engagement of evangelicals and fundamentalists is merely the latest episode in a long crusade to reclaim what their forebears believed to be a birthright.

Those who look askance at moral majoritarians will find much to comfort-and disturb-in this volume. The critics will find reassurance in the prediction that the new religious right has little chance of outright victory. Aside from those articles written by persons within the movement, the essays do not envision Pat Robertson or Jerry Falwell sweeping into the halls of power. Martin Marty, for example, argues that short of the collapse of the current cultural system, fundamentalists will be, at best, one of the competing interest groups in the Republic. On the other hand, none of the writers see the movement fading away. All agree that it is here to stay for the foreseeable future. As Neuhaus states the matter, "the country cousins have shown up in force at the family picnic," and it is useless to pretend that they will disappear. By their presence, they challenge secular and religiously liberal critics to face issues the latter would prefer to avoid: Is pluralism self-defeating unless it is undergirded by a common core of ultimate values? Can modern societies safely exclude religion from the public domain? In pondering those vexing questions, one would do well to begin with the splendid volume which Neuhaus and Cromartie have provided.

JAMES H. MOORHEAD

Princeton Theological Seminary
Princeton, New Jersey