Jack Hibbs, a politically active MAGAchurch pastor in California, recently said someone in Washington, D.C., told him that “there’s more Bible studies taking place right now in this administration, in the Capitol, at the Pentagon, at Department of State [than] they have ever been able to record in American history.” Neither Hibbs nor his alleged source actually knows if that’s true. However, the important issue isn’t how many Bible studies are occurring but what kind of Bible studies.
Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. raised this question in his Letter From a Birmingham Jail. In it, he directed his harshest criticism at moderate, White Christian clergy who refused to support the civil rights movement.
“I have traveled the length and breadth of Alabama, Mississippi, and all the other southern states,” King wrote. “On sweltering summer days and crisp autumn mornings I have looked at the South’s beautiful churches with their lofty spires pointing heavenward. I have beheld the impressive outlines of her massive religious education buildings. Over and over I have found myself asking: ‘What kind of people worship here? Who is their God?’”
What kind of worship did they practice if they refused to see others as equally made in the image of God? What kind of Bible study did they engage in if they ignored the call to love their neighbors as themselves?
Those kinds of questions drove me as I worked on a new book, The Bible According to Christian Nationalists: Exploiting Scripture for Political Power. Officially out Oct. 7 from Chalice Press, it is already available for pre-order from Bookshop, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and pretty much anywhere else.
In The Bible According to Christian Nationalists, I unpack seven types of misuses of Scripture by influential preachers and politicians pushing Christian Nationalism today. In addition to giving examples of such abuses of the sacred texts, I also arm readers with ways to be aware of such tactics so we can avoid being misled by similar claims about what the Bible says. And I do it all with humor and sarcasm so you can laugh while learning about Christian Nationalism and being inspired to dig deeper into the Bible.
Longtime religion journalist Cathy Lynn Grossman highlighted the book already for Publishers Weekly. She wrote, “The Bible According to Christian Nationalists: Exploiting Scripture for Political Power argues that history and the Bible are being distorted by power-seekers. … The book alleges Christian Nationalists are pushing warped policies or even promoting violence. Chalice publisher Brad Lyons says that by ‘seeing through the camouflage of Scripture and religion shrouding Christian Nationalism,’ Kaylor ‘helps all of us spot the threats and respond while there’s still time — and freedom to act.’”
I’m excited for this book to be out in the world this fall. And you can help by pre-ordering it today. Early purchases signal to bookstores and others that they should carry and promote a book. So please order your copy now from Bookshop, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, or wherever you like to buy books. It’s time for us to not just challenge Christian Nationalism’s harmful impacts on our society, but to also push back against the exploitation of Scripture for political power.
As a public witness,
Brian Kaylor
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