Christian Right Archives

On Fire for God

On Fire for God, Josiah Hesse. Pantheon (ISBN: 9780553387292) 2026.

Summary: A memoir of growing up in a troubled family amidst a toxic mix of conservative Christianity, and escaping it.

Josiah Hesse is an accomplished freelance journalist with several books to his credit as well as regular contributions to The Guardian, Esquire, Newsweek, and other publications. He is also part of the growing body of “exvangelicals.” This book combines memoir with a sociological study of the impact of both religion and economic forces on a working class town in Iowa.

Josiah was born in 1982 in Mason City, Iowa, the town that served as inspiration for The Music Man. His father had converted through a Jesus Movement era ministry that combined lots of bible study and a Late Great Planet Earth expectation of Christ’s imminent return. Henry wanted to be ready, but also to enjoy the pleasures of marriage before that. He met Janet, a quiet and studious woman at a Bible study in her home. They married young. When Josiah came along, the marriage was already in trouble. Henry was abusing alcohol and drugs. Janet was probably suffering clinical depression. But ministers encouraged them to “claim victory in Jesus” by making generous donations and serving actively in the church. They hid the troubles behind fake smiles. But Henry’s business was struggling. The home was a mess. Meanwhile, ministry leaders lived in lavish homes.

Josiah was in the middle of it all. That included imbibing toxic teaching, frequent altar calls that only called into question his salvation, and as he grew older, struggles with doubts that couldn’t be voiced and his sexuality. He was taught to be ashamed of his body and its urges. There was also a shadow life of substance abuse and the exploits most teens engage in at some time or another. By then, his parents are divorced. He struggled in school, finally dropping out.

Finally, he escapes to Denver, discovering a talent for writing that he turns into a career. Through counseling, running, and in his case, cannabis, he comes to a healthy acceptance of himself. While not an atheist, he left Christianity and the troubling ideas of the God he grew up with.

To write the memoir, he returns home to interview family and friends. He also studies the history and current economic conditions of a town in which big agriculture and Walmart replaced family farms and local stores. He learns that religious shysters long preceded his generation. And he understands both the religious and economic sources of adherence to the ideas of the Right.

It was hard to read this book. The Jesus Movement played an important role in my spiritual journey. While experiencing some of the emotionalism described in the book, occasionally manipulative, I was blessed with wise mentors of integrity, including within my family. Raised in a home with a love of learning, I discovered that I could love God as well. And I spent a career helping college students connect those two loves in their own lives.

So it was hard to read this book, though good. I knew how different and good the walk of faith could be and grieved that this was not Josiah’s experience. It was also hard because I know of too many other instances of predatory ministry figures who love sex, money, and power more than Jesus. I know of those who played on the latent fears of congregants, rather than inviting them into the “perfect love which casts out fear” that flows out in love to neighbor and stranger alike.

I grieve for a generation that lost its way. The generation of Josiah’s parents. My generation. So many of us really experienced how Jesus changes everything. We envisioned working this out in loving and serving communities, living out the just love of Jesus in society. But Josiah describes ministry leaders who did not feed the sheep but fleeced them. And sadly, what many of the sheep learned was to pursue, not the kingdom of God, but personal prosperity.

Given all this, and all that Hesse experienced, it is striking that he writes, “Though I cannot, at this time embrace Christianity as part of my identity, I can place humble curiosity about it at the center of my being. And hope that one day I can view spirituality beyond the lens of fear and shame, and perhaps connect with something divine.” He also can acknowledge the great treasures Christianity has given the world. It says something about him that he can forgive and realize his connection to his people and their land. As much as I grieve what he experienced (and many others), I’m encouraged with how far he’s come, and long that in his “humble curiosity” he will one day discover a better story.

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Disclosure of Material Connection: I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher for review.

Blueprint for Theocracy: The Christian Right’s Vision for America by James C. Sanford
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I have to be honest. I was prepared to dislike this book. Calvin, Abraham Kuyper, and Francis Schaeffer are personal heroes to me and they are included in Sanford’s critique of the Christian Right’s vision as intellectual forbears. Furthermore, I have taught “worldview” as a heuristic that is helpful in discerning the underlying premises of everything from a TV ad to a work of philosophy to a college textbook, something I believe important to critical reading skills.

What I found instead was a carefully researched history of the intellectual lineage and practical efforts to bring a Christian Worldview into our national discourse. Particularly significant is his work on the contribution of J.R. Rushdoony’s proposals to institute biblical law in contemporary society and the ways that Francis Schaeffer helped popularize these notions late in his career. He surveys the landscape of political activism that arose in the 1980’s beginning with the Moral Majority, the Christian Coalition, and succeeding movements and how these were influenced by what he calls “Christian Worldview” ideas. He chronicles well the political alliances (which I would call a form of political captivity of the church) formed with conservative Republicans at the state and national levels pursuing everything from introducing Intelligent Design into schools to electing a President.

My fundamental concern as I finished this book was the tone and some of the rhetoric that I believe represents a mirror image response to the kinds of ‘secular conspiracy’ rhetoric he chronicles with regard to the Religious Right. His repeated usage of language like “idealogues” “absolutists” and, most notably “Jihadists” is inflammatory and creates the kind of “be afraid, be very afraid” tone that I think undercuts the good descriptive research he has done. While every movement has extremists, it is unjust to define a movement by its extremists. For example to equate a Nancy Pearcy or the late Charles Colson with isolated incidents of people who murder abortion providers only perpetuates the us/them divide of which he criticizes the Religious Right.

Similarly, instead of a nuanced discussion of the intellectual and activist lineage he traces, he paints the whole thing as absolutist, dogmatic, and intolerant. Too often in our national discourse, these words are easily thrown about to dismiss what we don’t like without doing the careful work of distinguishing between what might be right or commendable in an interlocutor’s ideas and where we think they are wrong and why. For example, the idea that if there is a God, that God may well be sovereign over all physical and human affairs stands to reason and has been affirmed by most orthodox believers through history. To conclude then that we must attempt to forcibly impose our understanding of the sovereign God’s commands on the political order is wrongheaded. God Himself does not do this in the Garden, nor does Christ or any New Testament writer commend this to the church. Similarly, Kuyper’s sphere sovereignty recognizes that the sphere of government is just one of a number and is a good protection against tyranny. Some thoughtful commentators like James Skillen have extended these ideas both to encourage political engagement and define the limits of political engagement in very different ways from the Religious Right. My point is that good critiques look for common ground as well as points of difference rather than pursuing a “scorched earth” approach.

The usage of the term “Christian worldview” as the umbrella under which to gather the intellectual influences and current players in Christian Right is unfortunate. As I noted early, it fails to differentiate between those who use it as rhetoric to underscore a perceived cultural divide, and those including authors like James Sire, who use this primarily as a heuristic to promote understanding and irenic engagement with those holding different premises from our own.

To conclude on a positive note. the author speaks in terms of having an “open” rather than naked or sacred public square. Open, or as Os Guinness has termed them, civil public squares allow for the expression of diverse and disparate ideas. Civility in particular seems to imply refraining from ad hominem attacks and inflammatory rhetoric on all sides while encouraging critical engagement that looks both for common ground and recognizes and respects important differences. The author calls for critique of the views of the Christian Right and their successors and I would agree with the need for this. However, I would like to suggest that “what is good for the goose is good for the gander.” What if each “side” to these discussions were committed to improving the thinking of the other in a common pursuit of the public good? This will only happen if we stop believing the worst of each other and affirm the good wherever we see it. I hope the writer of this book will devote his excellent skills of research and articulation to help foster the understanding and civil engagement so much needed at this time in our history.

I received a complimentary copy of this book for review from the publisher. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

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