Spring 2025 · Vol. 54 No. 1 · pp. 145–148
Book Review
Defending Democracy from Its Christian Enemies
Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 2023. xii + 223 pages.
For the past two generations, possibly more, the United States has been understood by many of its citizens as a kind of light to the nations. Sometimes this was arrogant, manipulative, and abusive, or simply vain and unreflective. However at its best it expressed a noble hope that other nations could agree with themselves to become a democracy, that is, a place where all voices could be respected and their civil rights guaranteed by law (especially those in the minority), an agreement whereby political power could be shared and leaders chosen by fair elections, and a context in which those abusing people or power could be held accountable. Our political leaders sometimes spoke in terms of helping other nations toward such a democratic system, p. 146 and then used our overt and covert power in this effort. Granted, this may have been done in our own self-interest and as an exercise in paternalism, notably instructing those without democracy just what their democracies should look like. It could be startling and offensive when we found that some in the Middle East, for example, wanted a form of democracy but one not quite like ours, one with a different vision for the good life that politics could accomplish. Now it appears that some U.S. citizens are questioning the value of its democratic system.
David Gushee, distinguished university professor of Christian ethics at Mercer University (Atlanta, GA), is a U.S. citizen and champion of democracy. An ethicist by academic training (and author or editor of over two dozen books), he here takes a foray into the political science arena and considers the ethical implications of politics. He acknowledges his personal background (his father served the U.S. Congress as an energy and environment policy analyst and was also a combat veteran) and that his concerns for the U.S. political system were aroused following the presidential election of 2020. He wishes to be known primarily as “a committed Christian, called to pastoral and scholarly ministry, whose political ideology leans center-left in the U.S. democratic context—and who has arrived at that ideology . . . through my reading of the biblical prophetic tradition and the teachings of Jesus (5, emph. original).
The book’s introduction clearly states four important things Gushee intends to say in this book (1–2). First, Christians should support democracy because, despite weaknesses, it is the best political system yet developed (he later quotes Winston Churchill who says democracy is the worst political system except for all the others that have been tried, 26). Second, today many Christians in the U.S. and other countries are open to authoritarian models of government. Third, because of this, Christians are among the leading threats to democracy around the world. Fourth, responsible Christians need to recommit to democracy even though they recognize that well-formed human community is not the final end of life. He intends his book to describe the current situation, diagnose why some Christians are tempted away from democracy, and promote a vision of what he believes to be the best form of democratic politics.
His first two chapters give a succinct definition of democracy, a bit of its history, a presentation of threats and vulnerabilities, and some alternatives such as fascism, especially when democracies die. One of the striking realizations for this reviewer was that the U.S. Constitution presents no substantive positive vision of justice or the common good life; rather it is devoted to freedom from certain tyrannies, with primarily an individualistic p. 147 focus. That void requires filling and leads to various understandings and proposals in tension with each other.
Gushee’s third chapter offers a term to represent his primary concern in this book, which he considers a global phenomenon: Authoritarian Reactionary Christianity. He finds this more precise than Christian Nationalism, the term most often used to address some of his concerns. Authoritarian represents a preference for a leader who is largely not accountable to the people governed. In chapter 12, he discusses what he calls the Baptist tradition (connected with historic Anabaptism) that rejected authoritarianism in favor of religious freedom and the voice of the people; this approach to leadership, he says, is not found in most Christian groups who are instead mostly rooted in authoritarian models. Reactionary indicates an attempt to block changes, in this case, political changes embraced by others as steps of progress. In the U.S., Gushee notes discomfort among some Christians with pluralism, diversity, and liberalism. He also mentions immigration and nervousness among white citizens with racial change. The recent efforts in the U.S. to achieve a counterrevolution revealed a willingness to employ whatever means necessary to accomplish that goal. Gushee wonders whether the principle of the U.S. Constitution—a secular government embracing no religious preference—is under threat.
Chapters 5 through 11 explore tendencies among Christian groups in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries toward authoritarianism in France (chap. 5), Germany (chap. 6), Russia (chap. 7), Poland (chap. 8), Hungary (chap. 9), Brazil (chap. 10), and the U.S. (chap. 11). He sees parallel movements in countries such as India, Turkey, and Israel, which are not Christian-majority. As resources, Gushee holds up the Baptist tradition (chap. 12) and the Black Christian democratic tradition in the U.S. (chap. 13), while expressing gratitude for the covenant tradition of Judaism found in the Hebrew Bible/Christian Old Testament in his call for a renewed covenant in the U.S. (chap. 14). Here he lays out additional pro-democratic resources in both testaments of the Christian Bible. In a recent presentation, he offered the term Democratic Covenantal Abolitionism as summing up his call for vigilance to protect what remains of democratic institutions in one’s country. The book includes discussion questions for each chapter.
I believe Anabaptists will find the information in Gushee’s well-researched and very accessible book helpful for their understanding of democracy as a political system. They will also likely resonate with his praise for the “Baptist” tradition, its rejection of authoritarianism, and its appeal to the discernment of and accountability to the community. The understandings embraced by Anabaptism find an ongoing tension between p. 148 the rulership of Jesus over the new community of disciples and the love of our neighbors that can never be totally separated from the institutions of one’s culture and country. I found the following distinctions helpful (41): patriotism (basic loyalty and concern for one’s country), nationalism (seeing one’s own nation as superior to and/or more important than others), and ultranationalism (willingness to violate moral boundaries in support of one’s nation right or wrong)—perhaps we are called to love our neighbor nations as we love our own.
Anabaptist heroes are those who, following Jesus, draw lines over which they will not cross, and more positively, those who show compassion for the basic needs of others, as represented by a variety of service organizations. Anabaptists tend to avoid positions of power, though currently in North America this option in many cases is inseparable from a certain status and privilege. In recent decades more lobbying of those in power concerning causes of harm has been attempted, and groups like Community Peacemaker Teams have employed nonviolent means against injustice. Gushee’s book asks us to consider how loving one’s neighbor involves advocating for healthy political and economic structures and invites us to support some and resist others. We will need to consider how this could constitute a form of peace and justice work by faithful Jesus disciples and where the lines might be that we should avoid crossing.
