The Kingdom, the Power, and the Glory: American Evangelicals in an Age of Extremism

Written by Tim Alberta

Narrated by Tim Alberta

Instant New York Times Bestseller

One of Barack Obama's Favorite Books of the Year

An Economist and Air Mail Best Book of the Year

""Brave and absorbing."" -- New York Times

“Alberta is not just a thorough and responsible reporter but a vibrant writer, capable of rendering a farcical scene in vivid hues.” -- Washington Post

“An astonishingly clear-eyed look at a murky movement.” -- Los Angeles Times

Evangelical Christians are perhaps the most polarizing—and least understood—people living in America today. In his seminal new book, The Kingdom, the Power, and the Glory, journalist Tim Alberta, himself a practicing Christian and the son of an evangelical pastor, paints an expansive and profoundly troubling portrait of the American evangelical movement. Through the eyes of televangelists and small-town preachers, celebrity revivalists and everyday churchgoers, Alberta tells the story of a faith cheapened by ephemeral fear, a promise corrupted by partisan subterfuge, and a reputation stained by perpetual scandal.

For millions of conservative Christians, America is their kingdom—a land set apart, a nation uniquely blessed, a people in special covenant with God. This love of country, however, has given way to right-wing nationalist fervor, a reckless blood-and-soil idolatry that trivializes the kingdom of Jesus Christ. Alberta retraces the arc of the modern evangelical movement, placing political and cultural inflection points in the context of church teachings and traditions, explaining how Donald Trump's presidency and the COVID-19 pandemic only accelerated historical trends that long pointed toward disaster. Reporting from half-empty sanctuaries and standing-room-only convention halls across the country, the author documents a growing fracture inside American Christianity and journeys with readers through this strange new environment in which loving your enemies is ""woke"" and owning the libs is the answer to WWJD.

Accessing the highest echelons of the American evangelical movement, Alberta investigates the ways in which conservative Christians have pursued, exercised, and often abused power in the name of securing this earthly kingdom. He highlights the battles evangelicals are fighting—and the weapons of their warfare—to demonstrate the disconnect from scripture: Contra the dictates of the New Testament, today's believers are struggling mightily against flesh and blood, eyes fixed on the here and now, desperate for a power that is frivolous and fleeting. Lingering at the intersection of real cultural displacement and perceived religious persecution, Alberta portrays a rapidly secularizing America that has come to distrust the evangelical church, and weaves together present-day narratives of individual pastors and their churches as they confront the twin challenges of lost status and diminished standing.

Sifting through the wreckage—pastors broken, congregations battered, believers losing their religion because of sex scandals and political schemes—Alberta asks: If the American evangelical movement has ceased to glorify God, what is its purpose?

• Language: English
• Publisher: HarperAudio
• Release date: Dec 5, 2023
• ISBN: 9780063226913

Tim Alberta

Tim Alberta is a staff writer for The Atlantic, the former chief political correspondent for Politico, and has written for dozens of other publications, including the Wall Street Journal, Sports Illustrated, and Vanity Fair. He is the author of the New York Times bestseller American Carnage: On the Front Lines of the Republican Civil War and the Rise of President Trump. He co-moderated the final Democratic presidential debate of 2019 and frequently appears as a commentator on television programs in the U.S. and around the world. He lives in Michigan with his wife and three sons.

Reviews for The Kingdom, the Power, and the Glory

[Rob Goertz · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Extremely sad but also with hopeful tinges. Alberta captures what it means to be an evangelical in the age of Trump. Equal parts, spiritual biography, religious /political expose, and biblical commentary on current state of American Evangelicalism. A cautionary tale for the rest of the world's Christians when we become enamoured with power over following Jesus.

[jackinthewoods · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Tim Alberta has written a very thorough examination of the myriad problems plaguing the evangelical movement today, going back to the roots of these problems decades earlier. The book includes some of Alberta’s own commentary, but much of it documents his conversations with various leaders and key figures within the evangelical movement. These interviews, and accompanying factual material, bring to light many ugly details of what’s gone wrong with evangelicalism, from hucksters making money off fear, to scandals, to schisms within denominations, and more.

Alberta’s viewpoint is clearly critical. Reading through chapter after chapter of this material can get downright depressing for a Christian believer. It’s not all doom and gloom, though. The author sprinkles throughout interviews with those who are working the counteract the trend. Toward the end of the book, he reports on efforts to build a support network for pastors and others who are doing battle in the trenches for the integrity of the church.

Christian nationalists and others involved in the far right Christian political movement are unlikely to pick up this book. Even so, it’s a great read for those of us who want to be better informed about how evangelicalism got to where it is today, and what we can do to help correct its problems.

[Elizabeth Payne · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Compelling reporting of the conflict within the Evangelical church created by nationalism. Tim Alberta, a practicing Christian, interviews players from Jerry Falwell Jr to pastors struggling with the aftermath of the Trump presidency and COVID19 and FOX News has had on their congregations. The perception is from the outside is to lump all evangelicals as the same. Tim Alberta shows that there are Evangelicals (conservative Christians) who are concerned that politics is being preached from the pulpit and not the message of Jesus. The Nationalist Christian movement has lost sight of what Jesus’s mission on earth was supposed to be.

As an exvangelical, I was despairing for the Christian church in the USA and how the rest of the world perceives it and is turned off because of the Nationalist movement. I am heartened to read that the congregations that reject the extremism are growing.

[harshavardhan naidu · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Absolutely brilliant work. The deepdive into distressing American politics was enlightening.

[Mike green Sr. · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Hitting the truth head on.

It was good to get the back story on so many events in our recent history. Many will deny but, the author is genuinely revealing what is going on in evangelistic circles. Despite revealing the current state of affairs, I’m left with the same question I started with…. Has anything really changed?

Many churches are depending upon a new crop of young people to infiltrate its doors and forget what has happened, but
many do remember and are disappointed and disgusted at the duplicity and hypocrisy that doesn’t get addressed in pulpits today. It is so disappointing. Leaders appear afraid to deal directly with certain issues including racism and morality. Why is there so much fear?

This is a very good read and once I picked it up, I couldn’t put it down until I finished it. Once finished, you will definitely want to share and recommend.

[Mike & Mary Ziegler · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Excellent. It’s like listening to a man of faith explaining a journey of some evangelicals going the wrong direction.

[Christopher Sweet · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I approached this book with a lot of caution. Some of which turned out to be warranted, but the overall message of the book was agreeable, even though I think Tim Alberta and I diverge politically and on some theological/doctrinal premises.

The church needs to focus on the gospel, not on politics. If we preach the gospel and lives are changed, then the politics will be resolved as well. But if we preach politics, the gospel will be lost on the objects of our message.

[Kimberly Martin · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

WOW. As Tim Alberta traveled around the world researching how Christian nationalism has infiltrated evangelical churches, he also showed me parts of my own history. I am saddened with what religion in America has become, which is more of an altar to a godless narcissist and to a country than it is to a gracious God who has created all in His image. This is a book I will highly recommend to those who can handle the truth. (No evangelical I know will read it, because it will be too heretical for them.)

[Angelica Melo · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

A wonderful book. It provides knowledge and healing for Christian belivers who felt deeply impacted from the church political stands/involvement, and the constant double standard.

[Stacy Vrooman · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Read this book! Especially if you are an evangelical Christian. Even if you don't agree with everything the author says it should cause you to take a wider look at the Evangelical movement in America and check to make sure your heart is aligned in the correct posture, towards Jesus.

[Suzanne Noakes · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

One of the most thoughtful, informed, and balanced books on this topic yet.

[Sandra Kaye Hansen · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Very timely book
A wonderful yet horrifying read of American politics and how the "American Evangelicals" have reacted to it. Alberta writes as an insider, appealing to the church to remember to focus on Christ. He puts the eternal truths of Scripture into perspective giving hope, assurance. In addition, he guides us through the homeless feeling many Christians have felt for years.
Highly recommended.

[eaechols · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Excellent writing, compelling reporting, but lacked a conclusion just as compelling. Now, if we take him seriously that might be completely intentional. Jesus's kingdom is not of this world and failing to remember that has led Christ followers down a bad path politically. That's the end of the message because . . . this is not Jesus's kingdom. But he didn't quite say that part out loud and I personally think I would have felt the end more fulfilling if he had. Still and all, very glad I listened to this book. Learned a good amount and had some very important messages reinforced for me.

[Brock · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I enjoyed it overall, but the takeaway was confusing. Clearly, as Christians, we should seek candidates of good moral character who not only claim Christ, but reflect Him in their actions. He makes that clear in his book. And he makes it clear that about 15-20% of evangelicals have lost their minds by supporting and even joining in with some very crazed individuals who use the name “Jesus” solely as a means to manipulate masses of people. But … what’s the call to action for the serious-minded Christian when no candidate fits the Christ-like bill? What do we do then? He doesn’t seem to provide much of an answer for that except focus on winning people to Christ to not vote for Trump or Desantis. The book ends with an odd takeaway that seems to say “voting for an amoral, faux-Christian, pro-life candidate is bad” because that focuses on the “finite” issue of abortion. Instead, we should focus on the “infinite” - winning people to Christ. But wait, I still don’t want to vote for someone who is pro-abortion. So what is the recommendation? There is none offered. So I leave the book a bit more informed about the crazies who seem to be Christian in name only, but I am left in the same position about how to move forward politically. I loved his writing style and the reporting was captivating. Simply couldn’t stop reading - just wish some takeaways were clearer.

[Steve McKinney · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This book is so thoughtful and intentional in in its approach to what is difficult and complicated issue. Tim Alberta is definitely one of best authors to tackle such an issue. His ability to respectfully but persistently dissect the motivations of current figures driving outrage and feeding hatred expertly peels back the veil. I came away from reading this book with changed perspective and a more open heart and mind to engage with other Christians that I have been struggling to understand.

Great book!

[Theresa Grosh · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

After hearing the author interviewed a few times my curiosity was piqued. I wondered where he was coming from and where he stood on his faith journey. I was impressed over and over with the engaging investigation and keen observations. As a fellow believer who is also perplexed at where the evangelical church has ended up, I found a kindred spirit in the author, who continues to point the reader to the example of Jesus Christ in the Scriptures.

[Jo · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Outstanding!! Thank you for letting outsiders in so that we can understand the thinking shaping the 21st-century evangelical movement.

[jasisco · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Important read. A little painful to read but the questions raised are of eternal significance.