An evangelical minister sees the light

Among the many questions swirling around us in this troubling time, here are two especially puzzling ones: What were the evangelicals thinking when they supported—and continue to support—the current "president"? Why do so many evangelicals seem to be on the wrong side of the gun control issue? A new book by an evangelical minister sheds some much-needed light.

The book is Costly Grace: An Evangelical Minister's Rediscovery of  Faith, Hope, and Love.  The minister is Rob Schenck, who became famous as a ferocious opponent of abortion, but turned his attention in recent years to gun violence and the evangelical community's embrace of the gun culture. The title echoes The Cost of Discipleship by Dietrich Bonhoeffer, the German theologian executed by the Nazis, whose theology powerfully influenced Schenck. In that book, Bonhoeffer wrote about "cheap grace" and "costly grace." In this blog post, Schenck discusses at length how his "bromance" with Bonhoeffer has shaped his own thinking.

His story is becoming more widely known. First, Abigail Disney captured the arc of his life in an award-winning documentary, The Armor of Light. Now the book lets him tell his own story. It earned a starred review in Publishers Weekly, and Schenck is the subject of this interview about his journey in Mother Jones. Read about the book now, then read the book itself. Costly Grace deserves a wide and receptive audience.