Announcing: New book by Charles Marsh

On June 24, Oxford University Press published Charles Marsh's new book, Wayward Christian Soldiers: Freeing the Gospel from Political Captivity. Check this website frequently for updates and announcements of book events.

From Publishers Weekly, April 24, 2007: "Marsh (University of Virginia; The Beloved Community) enters the religion-and-politics fray in this provocative, and even prophetic, manifesto. In Marsh's view, American evangelicals have sold their birthright to Republican politics, wholly abandoning the Gospel's call for justice, peace, and mercy by supporting the war in Iraq. Evangelical leaders do not invite people to peace and reconciliation, but rather offer 'base and sinful thoughts disguised as moral values.' Franklin Graham comes in for special attack: his call for the conversion of the Islamic world to Christianity is 'a chilling example of messianic ego unleashed on the world stage.' What is Marsh's solution? First, he calls the church to a season of silence, in which it will learn to be still and listen for Jesus, rather than contributing to the noisy political chatter that pervades our age. Second, noting the overwhelming extent to which evangelicals outside of America have decried the war, Marsh bids his fellow American Christians to become part of a truly global church, where the convictions of Christians in other places may be allowed to check the jingoism and imperialism Marsh finds in American churches. Marsh's lively prose makes a brisk read. His gauntlet-throwing will anger some readers, and inspire others."


Advanced Praise for Wayward Christian Soldiers:

“With ‘Wayward Christian Soldiers’, Charles Marsh again shows that he is one of the most astute observers of evangelicalism today. This is a passionate critique of how evangelical faith in America has been compromised by the political captivity of the gospel. His case study of evangelical support for the war in Iraq in the face of almost universal opposition from the transnational church is one of the best I’ve seen. And his call for the church to refocus on the basics of faith – repentance, prayer, and peacemaking - is a very welcome one. This is a book that will help us move past partisan religious politics to recover the Good News of Jesus.”
-- Jim Wallis, author of “God’s Politics” and president of Sojourners/Call to Renewal

“With the passion of a believer and the reason of a scholar, Charles Marsh has produced a brilliant manifesto for reclaiming Christianity from the Christian right. He is that most effective of critics, an ‘inside agitator,’ relentless in cataloguing the trespasses of his co-religionists against the ‘truth’ they profess.”
-- Diane McWhorter, author of “Carry Me Home: Birmingham, Alabama : The Climactic Battle of the Civil Rights Revolution”

“ ‘Wayward Christian Soldiers’ is a brave, unsettling tract for the times. From the heart of the evangelical world comes a prophet in the tradition of Barth and Bonhoeffer to confront his fellow Christians with the bracing Word of God. Charles Marsh directs his prophetic critique at his fellow evangelical Christians who have compromised their own convictions for the sake of political influence. But his words challenge all Christians to return to the fiery center of their faith in a God who challenges every political agenda and who calls Christians back to their most ancient tasks as people of peace and reconciliation.”
-- The Very Rev. Samuel T. Lloyd III, Dean of Washington National Cathedral

"Provoking and confessing, making fascinating historical and global connections, ‘Wayward Christian Soldiers’ is essential reading for American evangelicals and anyone concerned about faith and politics. Marsh is a public theologian for our time."
-- Mark R. Gornik, author of "To Live in Peace: Biblical Faith and the Changing Inner City" and Dean of City Seminary in New York