Book Review: American
Apocalypse by Matthew A. Sutton
Have you
ever wondered how and why the apocalyptic worldview of Evangelical Christians
has become so prevalent in the United
States? Well wonder no more, because this
book will take you on a tour through the history, politics and social issues
within the movement.
Sutton
guides you down the path of the abovementioned movement, from its beginning to
its position in today’s society and political sphere. He touches upon core
beliefs and values, the issue of race, politics, education, pop culture and key
figures. At times the sheer volume of information can become overwhelming, but
it never makes his narrative boring or impossible to follow. It does mean,
however, that this book is not an easy or quick read. One does need to sit down
and take the time, but I personally think that it is worth it to do so.
(Granted, I am a bit biased, since this topic is an interest of mine).
The book
also contains a handful of black and white pictures, mainly, of key figures in
the movement. Putting a face to the preachers and supporters are most welcome
and it also helps to illustrate two of the major focuses of the book: race and
gender. Sutton describes and explains the division of race in the movement; how
different interpretations arose in the two main groups, African Americans and
Whites, and how some wanted to segregate the faith and how a few did cross
racial lines. When it comes to gender the conflict comes from the biblical
interpretation of women’s role in society and in the faith as well. As the pictures show the evangelical movement
was dominated by whites and lead by men. Other races and women, though having
important roles in hindsight, did not seemingly play any prominent roles in
shaping the movement.
Though diving
down into social issues and political pressure, Sutton also clearly explains
the structure of the apocalyptic worldview. He does focus more on the
premillennial version, but that focus does not take away from the others
portrayed in the book. One of the other versions which get a thorough
description, both in its structure and its cultural meaning, is the
interpretation by the African American apocalyptic movements. As mentioned
above, race is one of the focuses of the book.
But not
only does Sutton look at the movement’s actions and conflicts within the
context of America,
he also looks at it in a more international setting, specifically the World Wars.
Both wars played an important part on the apocalyptic movements, touching upon
the conflict of urging the apocalypse to come sooner while at the same time not
wanting to play into the Devil’s hand by summoning the Antichrist into the
world. But also the issue of American isolationism is touched upon.
Moving
on to the last two themes, at least the last two I will mention here; politics
and education. When looking at politics today it is clear that religion plays a
significant role to many American voters. So Sutton’s explaining how the
Evangelical movement has been heavily involved in politics the last 100 years,
comes as no surprise. But it is not only involvement within the top of church
hierarchies; individual members and supporters also saw it as their
responsibility to move history and national and international events in the
direction of the second coming of Christ. Education was of equal importance and
the rise of Christian private schools and institutions, according to Sutton and
his research, can also be linked to the Evangelical movement. Seeing the
conflict with religion and education in today’s America, it is definitely relevant
to know the roots of said conflict and how it grew and has been growing.
All in
all I highly recommend this book. It is an interesting, though slightly heavy,
read. I have used it along side my research into the religious beliefs of White
Supremacists (Christian Identity) in the United States, and it was very
interesting to see how the two actually fit very well together and how
Christian Identity has clearly taken inspiration from the Evangelical movement.
I tried to lay out the main themes and discussions of the book above, however
since it is so dense in information I feel like I have only scratched the
surface. If you wanna dive into the American Apocalypse yourself it is easily
found on Amazon.
Until
next week!
Xoxo
Christina
