Middle Church: Reclaiming the Moral Values of the Faithful Majority from the Religious Right

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Synopsis

For the better part of the last couple of decades, issues like gay marriage, abortion, and stem cell research seem to dominate the political sphere, with the far religious right setting the social agenda. Rev. Bob Edgar, former general secretary of the National Council of Churches and a six-term congressman refutes the flaws in this kind of thinking, as well as the idea that the right wing has a monopoly on matters of faith and values. He posits that the majority of people of faith belong to "Middle Church," a group who feel that extreme right views are far too narrow and who have concerns that issues like poverty, the environment, health care, and war and peace are being largely ignored. Middle Church is a call for Americans of all faiths to join together on the moral issues that matter the most.

Review

Middle Church is a non-fiction book exploring the topic of church and state authored by Bob Edgar, Methodist minister, former U. S. Congressman, and former chief executive of the National Council of Churches. In this book, Dr. Edgar posits that there's a better way forward when it comes to politics and religion by energizing what he refers to as Middle Church (as well as its counterparts Middle Synagogue and Middle Mosque) to become more involved and not cede all political spaces to far-right conservative voices. He begins by discussing how we essentially have two different churches operating in the United States today, one based on love and the other based on fear. With this thesis established, he then continues with explorations of specific issues that should concern Christian voters. First up is climate change and how we, as people of faith, should be caring for God's creation. Next is the issue of war and how many Christians support this type of bloodshed while ignoring Christ's call to be peacemakers, along with the related issues of terrorism and the torture and indefinite detention of prisoners at Guantanamo Bay, both of which could be handled better. This leads into a chapter on pursuing peace in the Middle East between Israel and its neighbors. Then Dr. Edgar talks pretty extensively about supporting the "least of these" by helping the poor, creating a living wage, and investing in our country by investing in our people, which also relates to helping others around the globe through initiatives to reduce world hunger and AIDS and fighting injustice. Finally he wraps up by creating some new Beatitudes that will help Christians focus on specific modern priorities.

Over the past couple of decades as I've deconstructed and reconstructed my faith, I've read a number of books on the intersection of Christianity and politics. Middle Church may have been a book a little ahead of its time, as I seem to recall when it first came out, it was one of the few book I could find with a more balanced take on the topic. It was published in 2006 and has been on my TBR list since at least 2011, so it's an older treatise on the subject. As such, a few of the topics are perhaps a little out of date. For example, it was still relatively early in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and only five years out from 9/11, so priorities were somewhat different, even though that was still part of my lifetime and not all that long ago. But overall, I'd say that most of the book still resonates in our current time (2025). As far as political polarization, little has changed. In fact, it's even worse now, so Dr. Edgar's advice and takes on this issue would still apply even though they may seem a tad naive at this point. I agreed with pretty much everything he discussed in the book and found most of it to still be relevant. However, perhaps because of it being an older book and me having read several more recent releases in the same genre, I don't know that he really covered any new ground for me. Overall, Middle Church was still a good book on the subject, but there are newer books I'd probably be more likely to recommend to anyone interested in a more faithful interpretation of the role of Christianity in the public square.

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Bob Edgar @ Wikipedia