“You couldn’t make a more preposterous claim than that Christianity is compatible with nationalism,” said David Bentley Hart. It’s the kind of thing that ought to go without saying, but needs to be said when white nationalists claim to be followers of Jesus.
In his new book, The False White Gospel: Rejecting Christian Nationalism, Reclaiming True Faith, and Refounding Democracy, Jim Wallis urges his readers to join him in pushing back against the “old heresy” and dismantling it.
Wallis, the founder of Sojourners and the inaugural Archbishop Desmond Tutu Chair in Faith and Justice at Georgetown University, is a a globally respected writer, teacher, preacher, and justice advocate.
In what Publishers Weekly called an “ardent manifesto,” he lifts up the parable of the Samaritan to question those who “deny the neighbor ethic” by vilifying immigrants. He points to the creation story, and specifically the powerful declaration of our being made “in the image of God,” to champion voting rights. And he encourages followers of Jesus to work toward “right relationships” with people they differ from, for “blessed are the peacemakers.”
“I do still call myself an evangelical,” Wallis told a journalist last year, “I won’t concede the term to the right-wing white Christian nationalists.”
To learn more about what motivated him to write what he called his “most timely book,” listen to the excerpt of his conversation with Diana Butler Bass.
The book will come out on April 2, right after Easter, and you are invited to join one of two seven-week Easter book groups at Vine Street.
Tuesday evenings at 5pm, April 9 - May 21
Wednesday mornings at 9am, April 10 - May 22
Please purchase or borrow your own copy and register (to make sure we have your email for follow-up information about location etc.).