Review of: Is the Good Book Good Enough? Evangelical Perspectives on Public Policy
Is the Good Book Good Enough? Evangelical Perspectives on Public Policy. Ed. by David K. Ryden (Lexington Books, 2012)
Review by Joseph Yi (Hanyang University)
After dramatic political and judicial setbacks (e.g., US v Windsor, 2013), one wonders whether evangelical Christians possess sufficient intellectual resources to shape the national conversation on traditional marriage, among other issues. David K. Ryden and colleagues offer a partly promising answer in their edited volume, Is the Good Book Good Enough? Ryden, a professor of political science at Hope College, convenes fifteen scholars (e.g., political science, philosophy, law) to evaluate the current and future state of evangelical participation in key public policy issues. Each chapter surveys a particular issue arena: environmental (climate change), social welfare, criminal justice, immigration, racial reconciliation, economic policy, same-sex marriage, national security, human rights and humanitarian intervention, and foreign policy.
The authors persuasively make the case that (white) Evangelicals in the U.S. have expanded the range of issues on their agenda, beyond the culture war mainstays of abortion and gay rights. In fact, the authors represent something of an emerging Centrist (or Center-Left) strand in evangelical thought, between a historically dominant evangelical Right (e.g., Pat Robertson, James Dobson) and a small, but vocal Left (e.g., Jim Wallis). The authors share the larger evangelical ethos of individualism, personal responsibility, and a skeptical, limited view of government. Still, the centrist-leaning intellectuals argue for the essential and potentially positive contributions of government and politics. In the chapter on social welfare, Stephen Monsma affirms a robust role for the state to protect the vulnerable in partnership with civil society, including faith-based organizations. His nuanced policy proposals goes beyond the libertarian and "big government" debate, and is closer in spirit to the prevailing, New Public Management model of flexible, public-private partnerships (e.g., Osborne and Gaebler’s Reinventing Government, 1993) .
The authors heap equal scorn on both the Evangelical Right and the non-Evangelical Left. Conservative activists and politicians (e.g., Pat Robertson, Sarah Palin, Michele Bachmann) reinforce the stereotypes of Christians as adversarial, populist and anti-intellectual, intent on establishing a theocracy or white heterosexual-dominated patriarchy. These negative stereotypes are parroted by a religious or secular left (e.g., Newsweek religion writer Lisa Miller), which often misinterprets or ignores biblical scripture. In the chapter on sexuality and marriage, David Ryden and Jeffrey Polet critique Lisa Miller’s scriptural defense of same-sex marriage and show how both Old and New Testament unambiguously condemns same-sex relations (e.g., Romans 1:26-27). There may be other justifications for same-sex marriage, but scripture is not one of them.
The authors teach at both evangelical and secular campuses, and reflect the growing desire among evangelical students and recent graduates for "a broader policy framework around which evangelicals might coalesce" (Ryden, p. 5). Their efforts are joined by evangelical public policy and advocacy organizations such as the National Association for Evangelicals, World Vision, Evangelicals for Social Action, the Center for Public Justice, and International Justice Mission; and like-minded foundations and institutions, such as American Enterprise Institute. (In 2013, AEI’s Values & Capitalism program sponsored a forum on the book’s theme with the editor and several authors.)
Edited volumes often have contributions of varying quality. The chapter on economic policy (Timothy J. Barnett) came off as more preachy than as persuasive, shrill than scholarly. To quote, “On the laissez-faire road, the earnings of working-class people worldwide were transferred neatly into the counting houses of elites—people of darkened conscience who hatched plots day and night to pillage the poor” (p. 79). How can the author purport to know the inner conscience of Wall Street bankers?
Finally, for a book discussing the emergence of an evangelical center, I would have liked to hear from other voices that could contribute to such a center. This includes growing numbers of black, Hispanic and Asian evangelicals, who dislike old statist policies (e.g., racial entitlements, welfare dependency) and favor more innovative, effective options (e.g., charter schools, value-added testing). In addition, evangelical-minded students and professors at elite, secular campuses (e.g., Berkeley, Chicago, Harvard) could have discussed the challenges and promises of engagement in such an environment. A demographically and academically diverse, evangelical center can be found, for example, among the staff and members of Intervarsity Christian Fellowships (ICF), the largest campus evangelical organizations, and ICF Press. Racially diverse, elite-educated evangelicals may be at the forefront of negotiating the terms of evangelical engagement at leading American institutions.
Despite these caveats, Is the Good Book Good Enough? remains an excellent primer on the evolution of evangelical thought and its promises and limitations. Highly recommended for all.
