Book Reviewed
by Darold Morgan, Richardson, TX.
God Is Back
By John Micklethwaite and Adrian Wooldridge
Penguin, 2009, $28.
What a surprising and welcomed book this is! It is jointly written by the editor of The Economist (one of the world’s preeminent newsmagazines) and their editor of the Washington Bureau. The former is a Catholic, and the latter is an atheist.
One’s attention is immediately guaranteed in the opening chapter as the authors take the reader to Beijing with a fascinating insight into one of the most extraordinary and contemporary developments of the religious growth in history—Protestant Christianity in Communist China. The house church movement there is almost beyond belief! Woven into the entire book is the contention of a global revival of religious faith; an unexpected revival not just in Christianity world-wide, but a renaissance of Islam and Hinduism as well. This is occurring in spite of the oft-sounded death-knell of religion by the centuries-long warfare between the Enlightenment Forces on one side versus the espousers of religion on the other. Modernism, secularism, Book Reviews “Some books are to be tasted, others to be swallowed.” Francis Bacon (d. 1626)wchristian ethics today • winter 2010 • 29 humanism, science, technology, and now post-modernism have also joined in a joint chorus of doom about the “death of God.” But the global revival of faith is surprisingly challenging this array of opponents. Indeed, God is back.
And according to these authors who have traveled the world researching their book with innumerable interviews, this renewal of faith is for real! Combine that conclusion with the implications of what this means politically, morally, spiritually, and somehow the sky becomes the limit of possibilities.
A very helpful phase of this book is the ongoing comparison between religion in Europe and America. One comes away from this reading with a genuine insight as to why religion in Europe is minimal in its influence, as contrasted to the USA where it is vibrant and powerful. The accumulated weight of the errors of a state church, Catholic and Protestant, has contributed to this major problem.
One of the secrets to religious vibrancy in America comes obviously from the power of choice as well as a keenly honed competent marketing process that seems endless. From the beginning of the American experiment the positive values of the separation of church and state has led to this seemingly endless variety of choice as it pertains to religion.
In this book, we are led to the historical perspectives of religion on the American frontier, the strains and pressures of German rationalism, the initiation of the Pentecostal expansions, the unique role of the megachurches across the land, and the slow demise of the historical denominational institutions. All of this takes place with political influences, international terrorism, increased pressures from technical and scientific breakthroughs, and the blatant fundamentalism of religious extremism. Yet, still the premise holds—God is Back! Despite the primary focus on American Christianity, the authors include religious renewal on a global scale as they document the revival of a vibrant Islam as well as a peculiar Hindu fundamentalism in India.
Combined with this is an interesting warning and prediction that military and political set backs in these countries not only lead to some deadly conflicts, but as the authors predict, inevitably these factors will sadly influence religious vibrancy.
This book is to be commended for objectivity in areas when it is quite difficult to keep that pose balanced.
Whether one is religious or not, this should be mandatory reading because the issues involved touch so many aspects of life. The student of religion and ethics will come away from this reading experience with solid encouragement about spiritual priorities. Granted there is an overwhelming expansion of Pentecostalism and mega-church individuality and Islamic influence, but the place and position of religion is here to stay around the globe.
