286: Defending Democracy From Its Christian Enemies | David Gushee
Preacher Boys Podcast
Engaging Authoritarian-Minded Christians
Gushee suggests disaggregating grievances, addressing racism and policy issues, and using scripture to challenge reactionary views.
Purchase a copy of Defending Democracy From Its Christian Enemies: https://amzn.to/3OS1Zps
About David Gushee:
Rev. Prof. Dr. David P. Gushee (PhD, Union Theological Seminary, New York) is Distinguished University Professor of Christian Ethics at Mercer University, and Chair of Christian Social Ethics at Vrije Universiteit (“Free University”) Amsterdam, and Senior Research Fellow, International Baptist Theological Study Centre.
Gushee is the elected Past-President of both the American Academy of Religion and the Society of Christian Ethics, signaling his role as one of America's leading Christian ethicists. He is the author, co-author, editor, or co-editor of more than 28 books and over 175 academic book chapters, journal articles, and reviews (see his full academic C.V.). His most recognized works include Kingdom Ethics, and Changing Our Mind. His other most notable works are Introducing Christian Ethics, Still Christian, After Evangelicalism, Righteous Gentiles of the Holocaust, and the recent Defending Democracy from Its Christian Enemies. Altogether his books have sold over 100,000 copies and been translated into a dozen languages.
For the general media, Gushee has written hundreds of opinion pieces and given interviews to scores of major outlets and podcasts.
With his works read around the world, and an active lecturing schedule on several continents, he has global impact in the field of Christian ethics. A leader in the growing post-evangelical movement, he has also put feet to his faith in several activist campaigns.
David and his wife Jeanie live in Atlanta. He is a classic novel reader, world traveler, and tennis player, and awaits a call from his beloved Atlanta Braves to resume the baseball career he abandoned in college.
About Defending Democracy From Its Christian Enemies:
American democracy is in danger. How do we protect it from reactionary authoritarian Christianity?
On January 6, 2021, hundreds of Americans stormed the Capitol to prevent the certification of their political opponent’s election. At the forefront were Christians claiming to act in the name of Jesus Christ and his supposed representative on earth, Donald Trump. How can this have happened?
David P. Gushee tackles the question in this timely work of Christian political ethics. Gushee calls us to preserve democratic norms, including constitutional government, the rule of law, and equal rights for all, even as many Christians take a reactionary and antidemocratic stance. He analyzes where Christians have discarded their commitment to democracy and bought into authoritarianism in the US and several other countries, both historically and today. He urgently argues that to defend against reactionary and authoritarian Christians, we must revive and draw on our hard-won traditions of congregational democracy, dissident Black Christian politics, and covenantal theology.
Defending Democracy from Its Christian Enemies makes a robust case for the defense of democracy from its enemies—including Christians—arguing for a renewed commitment to democracy on the part of Christians, by drawing on our own best traditions, not succumbing to mere secular liberalism. Any concerned Christian will leave this audio with eyes wide open to the dangers of our current form of political engagement. Listeners will gain insight into what democracy is truly meant to be and why Christians once supported it wholeheartedly—and should do so again.
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