American evangelicalism, with a reported 50 million believers, is not as easily categorized as many think. According to Sheler (Is the Bible True?
), contributing religion editor for U.S. News & World Report
, it "has exploded into a torrent of confusing cross currents" and is more complex than the media typically allows. Sheler came to Christianity in a fundamentalist church in the 1960s and spent years in evangelical congregations before moving into mainline Christianity, so his exploration is both personal and professional. He investigates power centers that evangelicals will readily recognize: James Dobson's Focus on the Family, Rick Warren's Saddleback Community Church, and Wheaton College. He attends the Creation Festival (think a Christian Woodstock) and goes on a short-term mission to Guatemala with a church group. Along the way, he sketches a detailed history of the movement (though he ignores the most recent developments like the emerging church movement) and concludes that evangelicalism today is at a crisis point, with theological and political crusaders on one side and those who urge more moderation on the other. He also concludes that evangelicals are "extraordinarily normal." Throughout, he does an excellent job capturing the complex diversity within this conservative faith movement. (Oct. 9)
