EMQ » April–June 2021 » Volume 57 Issue 2
By David R. Swartz
Oxford University Press, 2020
305 pages
US$34.95
Reviewed by Brent H. Burdick, Adjunct Professor of Missions, Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, Charlotte, North Carolina, and Director, Lausanne Global Classroom.
Looking back down the road from where you have come clarifies where you are going. In considering the history of evangelical Christianity in America, David Swartz suggests changes for the future that are greatly needed for American evangelicalism, especially considering the global realities of Christianity today. For too long, American evangelicalism, coming from a predominant western culture, has controlled the narratives and perspectives of evangelical Christianity in the world. Though there are positives from this history, negatives are often ignored or unconsidered and the voices of the growing and maturing global church are not being heard. Swartz’s compelling book examines several recent historical figures and trends in American evangelicalism and their impact not only on American evangelical attitudes, but also on the attitudes and responses of the global church. The book helps readers realize that American Christianity must join with global Christianity and not just see the world from a limited western perspective.
Swartz’s book is divided into three major sections. The first examines the roots of Christian Americanism after World War II with the rise of a new evangelicalism. This movement was framed in large part as a reaction against communism that was strengthened with eschatological overtones. America was proclaimed as the model for the rest of the world and Christianity was the driving force behind it. The influence on missionary efforts was significant. Christian Americanism led to the founding of global humanitarian organizations like World Vision after the Korean war. However, Korean views on how World Vision was started – that it was Kyung-chik Han who started it, not Bob Pierce – differed greatly from American perspectives on its founding. The discrepancy is a great example of how American Christians saw themselves from one direction only and were not aware of how the church in other cultures might perceive historical events.
The second and third sections address the beginnings of American evangelicalism’s encounter with the global church’s theology, missiology, and leadership. As the global church matured, American evangelicalism was challenged to release its hold on power and influence over the global church. Swartz attributes this to the complicity of the white American church with racism, to challenges by Latin American leaders to American missiological perspectives, to the rise of global Pentecostalism, and to the growth of the church in Africa, among others. Because of these encounters, American evangelicalism was finally forced to acknowledge that the rest of the world had a right to sit at the table.
Facing West is highly readable and especially appropriate for the present struggles through which American evangelicals are going. Some may find it convicting or discouraging, but changing narratives and perspectives is never easy. If including global evangelical perspectives is what it takes to bring unity, facilitate mission, and empower those who have not had a voice, then Facing West is a great start in making that happen.
For Further Reading
FitzGerald, Frances. The Evangelicals: The Struggle to Shape America. Simon & Schuster, 2017.
Kidd, Thomas S. Who Is an Evangelical? The History of a Movement in Crisis. United Kingdom: Yale University Press, 2019.
