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The Myth of a Christian Nation: How the Quest for Political Power Is Destroying the Church Paperback – April 29, 2007
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The church was established to serve the world with Christ-like love, not to rule the world. It is called to look like a corporate Jesus, dying on the cross for those who crucified him, not a religious version of Caesar. It is called to manifest the kingdom of the cross in contrast to the kingdom of the sword. Whenever the church has succeeded in gaining what most American evangelicals are now trying to get – political power – it has been disastrous both for the church and the culture. Whenever the church picks up the sword, it lays down the cross. The present activity of the religious right is destroying the heart and soul of the evangelical church and destroying its unique witness to the world. The church is to have a political voice, but we are to have it the way Jesus had it: by manifesting an alternative to the political, “power over,” way of doing life. We are to transform the world by being willing to suffer for others – exercising “power under,” not by getting our way in society – exercising “power over.”
- Print length224 pages
- LanguageEnglish
- PublisherZondervan
- Publication dateApril 29, 2007
- Dimensions5.5 x 0.58 x 8.5 inches
- ISBN-10027482406X
- ISBN-13978-0310267317
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About the Author
Gregory A. Boyd(PhD, Princeton Theological Seminary) is a pastor at Woodland Hills Church in St. Paul, Minnesota. Previously a professor of theology at Bethel University, several of his many books include Letters from a Skeptic, Repenting of Religion, Myth of a Christian Nation, God at War, and Satan and the Problem of Evil.
Product details
- ASIN : 0310267315
- Publisher : Zondervan (April 29, 2007)
- Language : English
- Paperback : 224 pages
- ISBN-10 : 027482406X
- ISBN-13 : 978-0310267317
- Item Weight : 7.7 ounces
- Dimensions : 5.5 x 0.58 x 8.5 inches
- Best Sellers Rank: #318,720 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #152 in Religious Ethics (Books)
- #301 in Church & State Religious Studies
- #346 in History of Religion & Politics
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About the author
Gregory A. Boyd is the founder and senior pastor of Woodland Hills Church in St. Paul, Minn., and founder and president of ReKnew. He was a professor of theology at Bethel College (St. Paul, Minn.) for sixteen years where he continues to serve as an Adjunct Professor. Greg is a graduate of the University of Minnesota (BA), Yale Divinity School (M.Div), and Princeton Theological Seminary (PhD). Greg is a national and international speaker at churches, colleges, conferences, and retreats, and has appeared on numerous radio and television shows. He has also authored and coauthored eighteen books prior to Present Perfect, including The Myth of a Christian Religion, The Myth of a Christian Nation, The Jesus Legend (with Paul Eddy), Seeing Is Believing, Repenting of Religion, and his international bestseller Letters from a Skeptic.
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One of the main shortcomings of this book, is one that involves lack of a certain understanding about the reality of evil in this world, which at the time of the books' publication in 2005, relatively few of us would have had insight into.
Gregory suggests at one point that there may have been more evil in Jesus' time, than there is now. But of late, specifically in the last 2 years from 2020 to 2022, more and more people are awakening to the reality of a Global Crime Syndicate, which some call the Cabal, which controls the whole world via its criminal banking cartel called the Central Bank and Federal Reserve, which has infiltrated every government in the world, and runs virtually every institution, from banking, to education, to the medical industry, all law enforcement, all the courts, major corporations, the MSM, social media, Big Tech -- everything. This crime syndicate, perhaps centered in the WEF, profits from child sex trafficking, facilitated by thousands of miles of underground tunnels, and by drug smuggling. There are indications (eg, Georgia Guidestones) that they had a goal of perpetrating genocide on 95% of the world population, and making abject slaves of the rest. However, there are forces of good which have fortunately intervened and are working to stop this horror show.
In light of such a horrific and depraved evil having virtually taken over the world, I'd say that this is not the time to encourage folks to turn away from the world towards the Kingdom of God. Ironically, this horror show may assist in making the distinction between the Kingdom of the World and the Kingdom of God become more clear, because as the truth is revealed about what has gone on not just for decades, but for centuries as this evil group has worked to control the world, we'll hopefully gain a clearer understanding about how ostensibly Christian people and groups who lost sight of God's kingdom, were more easily coopted and manipulated by these Satanic elites.
For instance, on pg 109 Gregory quotes President George W Bush stating that America was on a holy "crusade" against (Islamic) evildoers. What Bush said here will look quite different when people discover that Bush was allegedly a leader in the Global Crime Syndicate, and he was allegedly behind the massacre of thousands of Americans on 9/11. So if this proves true, this will be viewed as an instance of Satanic people literally using Christian themes to manipulate "Christians" who don't know any better.
There's another way that Christians can be manipulated by the Satanic Global Crime Syndicate, which apparently Gregory himself has been manipulated into, without realizing this. And this shows up in Gregory's repeated focus on racism and oppression of minorities, eg pg 120 where he references "white dominated power structures" and on pg 121 attributes anti-racism work to Jesus, which was not there. Pg 123 Gregory complains about differences between white and non-white neighborhoods or schools, pg 125 he says "what would happen if the white kingdom people chose to reverse the white dominance of American culture and...placed themselves in service to nonwhites?" And on the same page he references the "ugly racism" of American culture.
First of all, by fixating on this one perceived (actually, imaginary) "political" issue of racism, white dominance, Gregory is doing exactly what his entire book is counseling us against doing, which is asserting that any one political view is more "Christian" than some other view, and advocating for his political view.
But even more importantly, these "racism" themes and themes of "white dominance" are the very talking points of the Global Crime Syndicate. These views issue from the destructive and false ideologies they have intentionally seeded in our universities and culture, in order to propagate the lie that racism is a very serious problem in our nation, when it is not, and thus divide us and pit us against one another, while simultaneously distracting us from THEIR crimes...such as the crimes of the Federal Reserve System, their enormous involvement in child sex trafficking, drug smuggling, the corruption and infiltration of the entire government and all institutions, etc.
Finally, Gregory raises good points about how Christians far too often arrogantly judge people even outside their own faith, pg 158-159 he points out that the Apostle Paul spoke to pagans using pagan references not Christian ones. But as many of us have no doubt seen, too many Christians go about doing things like hitting non-Christian people over the head with the Ten Commandments, people for whom these things are not even a part of their religion. It's extremely rude to try to condemn people for not following something that isn't even part of their religion, as well as arrogant to assume that other religions don't have their own moral codes.
Gregory would do better to develop a deeper understanding of the complexity of human psychology -- for instance, in advocating that we imitate Christ's love, he expresses regret that more Christians wouldn't be welcoming to prostitutes and other sinners as Jesus was. But this reveals an unfortunate naivette. People can be quite loving and welcoming, but love isn't enough. Jesus wasn't only far more loving than we were, he was also far more wise. So, imagine a prostitute or drug addict, or mentally ill person coming to a Christian gathering, and coming in intoxicated, and then starting to behave in a way that was inappropriate and made others uncomfortable. For instance, in using profanities, or engaging in bizarre behavior. No one should be so naive as to think that when people are drawn to Christian community, they suddenly lose all their dysfunctional or misguided behavior. So what will people do when they find this in their midst? "Being loving" is not enough, you have to have good boundaries, you need wisdom, you need skill in working with people.
And this brings me to another theme --- which is that the goal of embodying Christ like love, and following the Great Commandments -- is something that is likely a lot more complex and involved than many may realize. And that in order for this love to be impactful and have effect in this world, we may need to grow and develop in several other ways, which are not mentioned in this book, but pertain to overall human psychological and spiritual growth.
The contents and topics of the book (which are rarely specific to individual political issues) are repeatedly discussed in light of a dynamic Boyd establishes early. That is, the Kingdom of God vs. the Kingdom of the world. He labels the Kingdom of the world as a kingdom that practices “power over” by using the sword to conquer, control, and enforce rules. He describes the Kingdom of God as a kingdom designed to practice “power under” as being fully submitted to God, desiring to live like Jesus, and following chiefly the command to love.
I did not find Boyd to take a radical position of condemning everything related to the world or Earthly politics. However, I felt he approached the entire subject in a much higher, big-picture approach than I expected. He repeatedly drove home the point that the Kingdom of God is not simply an ideal version of the Kingdom of the world. He drew such contrast between what the lives of Christians should look like and what we sometimes settle for by labeling “Christian.” I was convicted by his plea for purity among the kingdom of God, rather than simply thinking that if Christians could just gain all the key political positions in America then the world would be as God desires. I cannot stress how challenged I was to not just view political issues through the lens of the Bible, but to realize the will of God is not found in political issues and the Kingdom is something that is only damaged by associating it with such.
As the title implies, the book also challenges some of the history narrative that is widely accepted in Christian circles regarding the founding of our nation. I struggle with this as I have recently searched for information on the founding of our country and the faith of our founders. It seems that, depending on where I look, I find two drastically different accounts of this. I seem unable to find a history of our nation’s founding that does not have a political or religious agenda in the way it tells the story and so I don’t feel that I can trust either story and am now very skeptical, which I feel is also the attitude of Boyd.
All that praise being given, I felt the author was sometimes being intentionally sensitive, as was the case in chapter 8 – a chapter I would say should be left out completely. In passages such as these he becomes offended for others who I’m not sure are all that offended. His overriding message that attaching God to our politics hurts God’s image and pushes away those who we are called to reach is a valid one and one that should be made. But I think he makes too many applications of that point and in doing so does what he condemns, pushing away some of his intended audience, especially the super-conservatives.
The last chapter of the book then takes what many would consider a very pacifist approach to some issues the author says he is commonly asked about. This is one of the few times where he does get specific on political issues, addressing specific wars and discussing the military. Boyd makes a great point that love is the chief calling of Christians and love is the very opposite of being passive. My fear, though, is his valid points will be overshadowed by his passive-like approach that will serve those who disagree with him as reason to dismiss all the good he has to say. I feel I was able to read this content with an open heart and allow myself to be challenged by the good that is there. I fear many others will simply approach this book in order to agree or disagree with it and leave with the same attitude with which they came.
Despite my few oppositions, I give the book 5 starts simply because I think it would be good for every Christian to read. This book needs to literally not be judged by its cover.
Top reviews from other countries
This book is a must read for people that say they are followers of Jesus or say they believe in Jesus but at the same time put their trust in politics and nationalism.