What does the white evangelical want? In our moment of crisis and
rage, this question is everywhere. Scholars ask from where its
desires emerged, pundits divine its political future, and the public
asks how we lapsed into social chaos. For their part, white
evangelicals feel misunderstood while failing to see the direction of
their ambitions. We must interrogate its aims not only through its
past or current trends but also through the various fantasies by
which it rejects and enlivens reality.
Against traces five zones of
opposition: future, knowledge, sexuality, reality, and society. If
climate change is the greatest threat civilization has ever faced,
then a faith aiding collapse must face analysis. If it swims in
assured forgiveness, it feels no shame for its sins against humanity.
If it wants a king, it threatens democracy. If it veils xenophobia,
it shall be ever more cruel. In a critical and accessible history of
odd ideas, DeLay chronicles the past and sketches its troubling
future. It might die, but what's certain is that a faith built on
nostalgia and supremacy won't moderate. We live in dangerous times,
so let us consider its justifications, turmoil, appetite, and
catastrophe.
