They know us by our politics. That is the sobering conclusion that evangelical readers will take away from Steven P. Miller’s seminal book, The Age of Evangelicalism: The Born-Again Years (Oxford). I do not know of another book that more effectively tells the story of American evangelicalism’s ascendancy and (perhaps) its political collapse, from Jimmy Carter to Barack Obama. Although some evangelical readers may not appreciate Miller’s critical tone, this is medicine worth taking for any conservative Christian who cares about politics and public policy.
Miller packs dense details on the past five decades of American evangelical development into this slim volume. Anyone with personal background in evangelicalism will find the book a trip down memory lane. The journey runs from some of Christianity’s most formidable thought leaders, such as Mark Noll and Robert George, to some of the kingpins of evangelical kitsch. It features figures from the expected (Jerry Falwell) to the surprising—until Miller I knew virtually nothing, for example, about Marabel Morgan’s wifely advice book The Total Woman, America’s bestselling nonfiction title of 1974.
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