Ronald J. Sider - The Spiritual Danger of Donald Trump: 30 Evangelical Christians on Justice, Truth, and Moral Integrity

Evangelical Christians on Justice, Truth, and Moral Integrity

Edited By Ronald J. Sider

The SPIRITUAL DANGER of DONALD TRUMP

Evangelical Christians on Justice, Truth, and Moral Integrity

Copyright 2020 Wipf and Stock Publishers. All rights reserved. Except for brief quotations in critical publications or reviews, no part of this book may be reproduced in any manner without prior written permission from the publisher. Write: Permissions, Wipf and Stock Publishers, W. th Ave., Suite , Eugene, OR 97401 .

Cascade Books

An Imprint of Wipf and Stock Publishers

W. th Ave., Suite

Eugene, OR 97401

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paperback isbn: 978-1-7252-7178-4

hardcover isbn: 978-1-7252-7179-1

ebook isbn: 978-1-7252-7180-7

Cataloguing-in-Publication data:

Names: Sider, Ronald J., editor.

Title: The spiritual danger of Donald Trump : evangelical Christians on justice, truth, and moral integrity / edited by Ronald J. Sider.

Description: Eugene, OR: Cascade Books, 2020 | Includes bibliographical references.

Identifiers: isbn 978-1-7252-7178-4 ( paperback ) | isbn 978-1-7252-7179-1 ( hardcover ) | isbn 978-1-7252-7180-7 ( ebook )

Subjects: LCSH: Trump, Donald, 1946 -Influence. | RhetoricPolitical aspectsHistoryUnited Statesst century. | EvangelicalismUnited StatesHistoryst century.

Classification: E913.3 .S35 2020 ( print ) | E913.3 ( ebook )

Manufactured in the U.S.A. April 22, 2020

The dominant narrative in the public square is that the evangelical Protestant church provides unwavering support for Donald J. Trump. While this may be true, I am thankful for the witness of the editors and contributors of The Spiritual Danger of Donald Trump that this claim is far from universally true of all evangelicals and also for their crucial warning that continued support will lead to the deepening erosion of the churchs witness to the world. My hope and prayer is that all Christians, whatever their present political leanings, will be open to the case made in this book.

Tremper Longman III

Author of The Bible and the Ballot: Using Scripture in Political Decisions

People who care about this country (and the whole world) need to use every medium to urge the public to restore sanity in the highest echelon of our government. Yes, including a full-length book. A sharp contrast to curt, snarky remarks through social media, The Spiritual Danger of Donald Trump is a thoughtful, interdisciplinary multi-voiced, Christ-centered, prophetic expos of dangersocial, political, and spiritualthat every person of faith must read.

Al Tizon

Executive Minister of Serve Globally, Evangelical Covenant Church

The Spiritual Danger of Donald Trump is a compilation of timely essays that document the perilous seismic and public shift from evangelicals endorsing the policies of a presidential candidate to evangelicals ordaining that same candidate. Today may be a great day for evangelicals politically but this day may ultimately lead to believers having less and less real spiritual influence on their neighbors around them. Judged by our own actions, good news will be seen as fake news and Jesus will soon be relegated to the alternative way, the alternative truth, and the alternative life. Thats the spiritual danger of Donald Trump.

Eric Swanson

Director, Leadership Network; co-author of The Externally Focused Church

Ron Sider is one of the most faithful followers of the person and teachings of Jesus Christ that I have ever known. I wholeheartedly believe that in this Trump era or any other, the silence of many white evangelicals to outright evil who seek to occupy the quiet political center is instead an insidious form of complicity that affirms the morally indefensible status quo. I pray that The Spiritual Danger of Donald Trump will help spark conversations across the country that will finally end that silence for good. Its time to move from caution to courage in the most important election of our lifetimes.

Jim Wallis

Founder and President, Sojourners

The support of American evangelicals for the presidency of Donald Trump will likely be recorded as one of the most consequential acts of any religious group in world history. It cannot be overrated. That is why this carefully compiled collection of essays is so timely and important. Whether you agree with their opinions or not, Ron Sider, his fellow editors, and their contributors treat this subject with the seriousness it deserves. If Trump supporters believe it is worth risking the very reputation of the gospel to re-elect their candidate, they should at least explore what these dissenting voices have to say. If Trump detractors believe evangelical support for his presidency is, indeed, dangerous, this book will equip them to defend their positions and persuade others to join them in opposition. Regardless of where one stands on Christians and Donald Trump, this compilation explains significant political differences within evangelicalism and sets out reasons why evangelicals across the theological and social spectrums will continue to play a critically important role in the political life of our nation, for good or for bad. Evangelicals and those who want to understand them better cannot afford to ignore this book!

Rob Schenck

President, The Dietrich Bonhoeffer Institute; author of Costly Grace: An Evangelical Ministers Rediscovery of Faith, Hope and Love

Whether you agree or disagree with these voices, I believe their perspectives and arguments are urgently in need of being heard. Listening should always be the first act of a leader, and even more, for a leader seeking to live as a follower of Jesus. What I so appreciate about this collection of essays is the careful way these authors have tried to listen carefullyto Donald Trump, to his supporters and detractors, and to the national and international climate of our day. Beyond that, however, they are all people trying to listen as deeply and wisely to God in Jesus Christ as they can. This is what I believe leads them to conclude that the United States, including especially the church in this nation, faces in Donald Trump not just a political leader with a political vision that some like and some dont, but a personal and spiritual force-field of a far more dangerous and destructive kind. Whether or not you accept these voices, I hear in their perspectives and arguments many things that are urgently in need of being heard. What is at stake is far too important to do otherwise and risks multi-generational damage. Lord, may it not be so.

Mark Labberton

Evangelical scholar and theologian

Come now, and let us reason together, says the Lord .

Isaiah :