Religion publishers are launching a wave of titles with a Christian perspective addressing many of the fundamental questions rattling the nation today: Is the United States a land where people heed Jesus’s Sermon on the Mount by choice, by edict, or perhaps not at all? Will Christian nationalists turn the U.S. into a theocracy? Is power expressed not only in politics but also in faith, justice, and even spiritual joy?
Among these books is The Seven Mountains Mandate: Inside the Sweeping Plan to Christianize America and Destroy Democracy by Matthew Boedy, an English professor who has spent years studying the rhetoric of the religious right. The book, coming from Westminster John Knox in September, focuses on how the authors of Project 2025 and key players in current Trump administration are pushing for conservative evangelical Christians to control seven areas of American life—business, education, entertainment, family, media, politics, and religion—and establish an American theocracy. WJK editor Jessica Miller Kelly says Boedy shows readers how “enshrining beliefs of only one sect of Americans has implications for racial equity, women’s rights, and access for the disabled.”
To highlight the current surge of anti-Jewish rhetoric and violence, Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer wrote Antisemitism in America: A Warning (Grand Central, Mar. ). The book puts antisemitism in historic context and argues that today it can travel under the guise of disputes over Zionism and Israeli politics.
Coming in October from Chalice, The Bible According to Christian Nationalists: Exploiting Scripture for Political Power argues that history and the Bible are being distorted by power-seekers. Written by baptist pastor Brian Kaylor, editor of the Word & Way newsletter, the book alleges Christian nationalists are pushing warped policies or even promoting violence. Chalice publisher Brad Lyons says that by “seeing through the camouflage of scripture and religion shrouding Christian Nationalism,” Kaylor “helps all of us spot the threats and respond while there’s still time—and freedom to act.”
Other authors think it’s time to repent. Lutheran pastor Tim Perry doesn’t mince words in When Politics Becomes Heresy: The Idol of Power and the Gospel of Christ (Lexham, Apr.), which, per its publisher, scorches churches that are “consumed by politics,” branding them as heretical. Perry writes, “We are using the gospel for power (Simony), integrating our faith with worldliness (Gnosticism), exchanging our heavenly Savior for a human helper (Arianism), transforming our mission into social action (Pelagianism), and demonizing other believers (Donatism).”
Looking for middle ground
Several authors suggest that political and cultural warriors lay down their weapons—literal or figurative—and consider less dogmatic approaches, guided by the teachings of their faiths.
Journalist William Kole, a former AP reporter and now an editor at Axios, sees no signs of repentance in those who fuse guns and gospel. With In Guns We Trust: The Unholy Trinity of White Evangelicals, Politics, and Firearms, coming from Broadleaf in October, Kole tries to square how white evangelicals carrying pistols zippered inside Bible carriers and rifles embellished with crosses “can still claim to follow the Prince of Peace who calls us to love our enemies,” says acquisitions editor Valerie Weaver-Zercher. Kole pushes for commonsense gun legislation by making “a political case and a religious case.”
Phil Christman, a self-proclaimed Christian socialist, wrote Why Christians Should Be Leftists (Sept.) as a call for “moral discernment in the public square at a time when it’s absolutely pretty amoral,” according to Lisa Cockrel, the editor at Eerdmans who acquired it. Christman draws on politics, theology, pop culture, and ethics to make his case for bringing the beatitudes back to the public square, which is his version of leaning leftist, Cockrel says. “He offers concrete suggestions for how to live out your Christian commitments in a political landscape that is shifting under your feet.”
And James Ernest, Eerdmans executive VP and editor-in-chief, points to historian John D. Wilsey’s Religious Freedom: A Conservative Primer (Eerdmans, Apr.) as a book that makes the case that, even in these polarized times, people can “make it possible to hold liberty and religion together in the same ecosystem, that there’s a kind of middle ground to be found.”
The power of love
Some forthcoming books look beyond politics, advocating for other resources to deal with current power struggles over discrimination, racism, and poverty.
Former Ohio governor and bestselling author John Kasich sees faith itself as an engine for good. His book, Heaven Help Us: How Faith Communities Inspire Hope, Strengthen Neighborhoods, and Build the Future (Zondervan, Apr.), celebrates Christians, Jews, Muslims, Greek Orthodox, and other believers who felt spiritually motivated to work for the common good. “Too many people are divided and angry,” Kasich said in a video shared on Facebook. “But history shows us that faith-driven, bottom-up efforts can bring us back together. Heaven Help Us is my hope for rekindling that unity—making us happier, healthier, and stronger.”
Orbis Books, the publishing arm of the Maryknoll Brothers, a Catholic order devoted to justice efforts, has a full slate of titles addressing spiritual power for human flourishing. Among its forthcoming titles are The Soulwork of Justice: Four Movements for Contemplative Action by Wesley Granberg-Michaelson (Oct.) and Soul Medicine for a Fractured World: Healing, Justice, and the Path of Wholeness by interfaith minister and activist Liza J. Rankow (Dec.). These titles, according to the publisher, show how mystic activists from various faiths and cultures model pathways toward healing and social transformation.
Social work professor Alejandro Olayo-Méndez understands that the power of a generous spirit knows no borders. In Humanitarianism from Below: Faith, Welfare, and the Role of Casas de Migrantes in Mexico (New York Univ., Aug.), he details how faith-based groups, operating with no aid from the government, have established shelters for welfare migrants, refugees, and deportees.
Two InterVarsity Press authors advise calling on the strengths found in love and justice and with allies in the field. Reviving the Golden Rule: How the Ancient Ethic of Neighbor Love Can Heal the World (Oct.) by theologian and ethicist Andre DeCort makes the case for this love as “a powerful force for justice, healing, and human flourishing,” according to the publisher. While Racial Justice for the Long Haul: How White Christian Allies Persevere (and Why) (Jan. 2026) by anthropologist Christine Jeske explores building resilient connections to work toward healing the harms of racism and is based on interviews with white Christians and people of color.
Sociologist Tia Noelle Pratt delves into the history and experiences of Black Catholics in America in Black and Catholic: Racism, Identity, and Religion, due from Notre Dame University Press in September. While she addresses the pains of exclusion, erasure, and prejudice, according to the publisher, Pratt also elucidates “the comfort drawn from the strength of generations of believers, and the celebration from combining the music and traditions of African American religious experiences with the belief and rituals of Roman Catholicism.”
With such books, religion publishers don’t shy from the most challenging issues in the public square today—tackling politics, power, race, rights, autonomy, and identity head-on. The authors’ suggestions and proposals vary, but all look through a common lens—the teachings of their faiths.
Read more from our Religion Books feature.
Religion Publishers Tackle LGBTQ+ Issues
Identity is at issue in new religion books addressing sexuality, gender, abortion, and LGBTQ+ rights.
Birth of the Culture Wars: PW Talks with Paul Elie
The author’s latest book examines the tension between religious and political conservatives and secular popular artists and entertainers in the 1980s.
