Republocrat: Confessions of a Liberal Conservative

Carl Trueman's Republocrat: Confessions of a Liberal Conservative was a brilliant read - incisive (even hilarious) commentary on American Christians and our (lack of critical) engagement in the political process. The Christian establishment, especially on the conservative end, needs to read and interact with this book. Unfortunately, the people who could benefit the most from it are likely to unthinkingly reject it out of hand. The premise is simple: "Conservative Christianity does not require conservative politics or conservative cultural agendas." The underlying idea is that Americans, of which Christians cannot be exempted, have largely fallen prey to uncritical, partisan politics to a ridiculous degree.

Trueman addresses this from various angles: how the Left has shifted from its original concern with economic poverty to identity politics (so the focus on abortion and gay marriage), how the overtly religious political discourse of America masks a secularization that has crept even into conservative Christian culture (so the foci on prosperity, personalities, and patriotism), how Christians uncritically accept their favorite media outlets and commentators (Fox) without questioning problematic associations (i.e. Murdoch's media empire, the Simpsons as a prime time show on the same network) while equally uncritically rejecting others (MSNBC), how we link Capitalism with Christianity in a form of American triumphalism and act as if there is morality to the free market beyond profit, and how aesthetics and story-telling have trumped reasoned argument and critical discourse in a party-based system that encourages oversimplification.

Trueman's summary point is that Christians especially need to be good citizens, participating in the political process in a thoughtful, pragmatic, non-partisan way. We should be able to think critically about particular issues instead of oversimplified party packages. We should be able to disagree in politics yet stand united in faith and worship. But we don't. Still, it is something to aspire to.