Where Goodness Still Grows: Reclaiming Virtue in an Age of Hypocrisy

With incredible insight into evangelicalism’s blind spots, Peterson (Dangerous Territory) challenges Christians to embody classic virtues honestly and holistically. Unafraid to call out names (particularly Donald Trump and his leading evangelical supporters), political parties, and toxic social structures, the author, a lifelong conservative, invites her fellow believers to reclaim genuine virtue that serves others rather than themselves. Examining kindness and hospitality, she chides the church for settling for niceness rather than a sacrifice that, for example, exhibits kindness to refugees or pursues racial reconciliation. The virtue of authenticity, she claims, has been conflated with a “spontaneity” that usually lacks any substance within Christian norms. Offering no concrete measures, Peterson instead calls on the church to reject its current state of complacency and revert to its biblical roots. As an explicit rebuke of contemporary American evangelical Christianity, Peterson’s stark criticisms run the risk of offending her audience. This pointed plea for evangelicals to rediscover the goodness they were meant to embody is sure to start conversations within Christian households and churches. (Jan.)