Strange Gods

America did not lose its religion. It changed gods.

We still believe. We print it on the money, swear it in the courtroom, sing it at the ballgame. But somewhere along the way we took the trust that belongs to God alone and spread it across things that cannot carry it - the market, the flag, the future, the tribe, the self. We gave them faith's name. They are not faith. They are idols, and they have been collecting our worship for years.

In Strange Gods, Geoffrey Arbuckle names ten of them - and holds every one against the only standard that matters: the actual words of Jesus Christ. Not the conservative consensus. Not the progressive one. The red letters, chapter and verse, where you can check him and put the book down if he cheats.

Four of these idols belong to the whole country. Three the right holds sacred. Three the left holds sacred. Nobody leaves this book comfortable - including the man who wrote it.

And these gods are old. Part Two traces every one of them across three thousand years - Israel demanding a king, Constantine's bargain, the slaveholder's pulpit, and the stubborn line of believers in every century who said no.

Somewhere in these pages is a god you are holding right now. The only question is whether you will put it down.