The Christian peacemaker engages the world out of a passionate sense of gratitude for life—and for all who share in the work of redeeming creation. The story of the beloved community may also serve to remind us that authentic faith always finds a way to break free from incarceration in ideological and political gulags. American Christians can blame secularists for many things but surely not of the trivialization of faith in the modern world: Christians in North America have surpassed all competitors in that booming business. Our patriotism has become a cult of self-worship consecrated by court prophets robed in pinstriped suits. Forgetting the difference between discipleship and patriotism, the God most Americans trust is a simulacrum of the holy and transcendent God, a reification of the American way of life.
Charles Marsh
The Beloved Community
