cover image Dual Citizens: Politics and American Evangelicalism

Dual Citizens: Politics and American Evangelicalism

Edited by Timothy D. Padgett. Lexham, $28.99 (476p) ISBN 978-1-6835-9407-9

This hefty new anthology of Christianity Today articles, thematically and chronologically arranged, offers readers a revealing selection of pieces from across six decades. The five sections focus on U.S. presidents from Eisenhower to Trump; disputes between the religious right and the evangelical left; international politics, including the threat of communism and the “war on terror”; domestic politics, including support for desegregation and arguments against abortion; and questions about the role of Christianity in American politics. Many of the selections are simply signed The Editors, others are by such well-known evangelical writers as Billy Graham, Harold B. Kuhn, Francis Schaeffer, Ron Sider, and Philip Yancey. Following each section’s brief introduction, pieces are arranged chronologically, so that readers may follow each theme across the decades. Over time, “different priorities have been emphasized,” Padgett argues in his introduction to the volume, “but the primary goal has remained the same: to keep readers informed about the pressing concerns of the day in light of the eternal truth of God in the Bible.” This is a valuable collection for students of American evangelicalism as well as an informative informal cultural history for the curious lay reader. (Sept.)