BOOK REVIEW: ‘Letter to the American Church’

OPINION:

Like the German church in the 1930s, the American church in the 2020s is culpable for the pending devastation of human life and the collapse of a great nation. Comparisons could not be more compelling as proffered in “Letter to the American Church” by New York Times bestselling author Eric Metaxas.

“Letter to the American Church” is a culmination of Mr. Metaxas’ in-depth understanding of the decline and fall of Germany under the Third Reich, especially as seen through the life and activity of Dietrich Bonhoeffer. Mr. Metaxas draws on his research from his previous bestselling biographies on Bonhoeffer, William Wilberforce and Martin Luther to present a somber prophecy of where America is headed.

Whereas Bonhoeffer and Wilberforce are examples of Christian courage and faith in action against horrific practices and politics, Luther is identified as a key figure whose teaching was negatively influential to the German church in the 1930s. Most of the German church leaders defaulted to Luther’s hypercaution against political involvement. So, because of loyalty to Lutheran tradition, timidity, or misinterpretation of Scripture — in particular Romans 13: 1-7 on submission to authority — most of the German church found itself siding with fascism, either directly or by default. 

“Letter to the American Church” identifies a “well-established Lutheran theological box” that had trapped the German church in “an amicable relationship between church and state.”

“But four hundred years after Luther, when God looked to His Church to stand against the great evil that had come upon Germany and that would devastate much of the world and murder millions, they balked, using as their chief excuse this outdated application of Paul’s words from two millennia before. They felt religiously justified in doing nothing, and the unprecedentedly evil results of their pious inaction would make the world gasp. Indeed, the world gasps to this day, as it struggles to take in how it is possible that a nation ostensibly Christian could have in any way allowed such things to take place. 

But what about us? Haven’t we in the American church swallowed these same lies, and haven’t we been similarly silenced from speaking and acting boldly against what we see happening in our own time if what we say and do is characterized as “political”? How else can we have allowed things to get to the point where they now are in American society?”

“Letter to the American Church” is determined to help prevent a horrible rerun of history.

But the rejection of Christian certitudes like forgiveness, humility, love for enemies, the unity of all people, the sanctity of marriage between a man and a woman, protection of children including the unborn, and the distinction of two sexes is a red flag that the Church has lost its influence in American society.  The soul of the nation has been just about crushed; yet, the Letter to the American Church aims to leverage the foundation of true, bold faith to lift the country back to liberty and justice for all.

Worth mentioning when relying on Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s pleas to the German church in the 1930s is the influence of Bonhoeffer’s mentor and life-long supporter, Karl Barth.  As Metaxas notes in his 2010 biography of Bonhoeffer, Karl Barth was “almost certainly the most important theologian of the century; many would say of the last five centuries.”

As an aside, the theology of Barth helped to champion the idea that instead of preaching hell and damnation, evangelists should be preaching the authentic good news of reconciliation that the apostle Paul commended in 2 Corinthians 5:14-21.  The good news is that it’s Jesus’s faithfulness, not ours, that is salvation for each individual and the world (John 1:29).  And we must accept God working in us to do His good pleasure as per Philippians 2:13. Getting the gospel message right will go a long way to righting a wayward nation.

Letter to the American Church is a loud and clear wake-up call to the American church.  And a tweak of a familiar aphorism applies:  Christians who don’t learn from history are doomed to repeat it. 

• Anthony J. Sadar is an adjunct associate professor at Geneva College in Beaver Falls, Pennsylvania. 

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Letter to the American Church
Eric Metaxas 
Salem Books, Sept. 20, 2022, 159 pages, $19.99