Backslide
Reclaiming a Faith and a Nation After the Christian Turn Against Democracy
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- Pre-Order
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- Expected Sept 8, 2026
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- $21.99
Publisher Description
“Bracing—Jones presents a vision of America as “fallen into... apostasy.” But he remains hopeful, noting that “backsliding is not irreversible,” as “repentance is possible... with confession” and the “acknowledging of difficult truths.” It’s a potent reckoning."—Publishers Weekly
From the New York Times bestselling author of The Hidden Roots of White Supremacy, a clear-eyed reckoning with the moral collapse of white Christianity and a call to protect American democracy.
What happens when the church trades faith for power, and democracy for dominion? In this searing book, Robert P. Jones names our moment for what it is: a great Backslide. White Christianity’s devotion to Donald Trump and Christian nationalism is not only a regression into authoritarian politics but a profound act of apostasy—a betrayal of the best of the Christian tradition.
Through reflections on history, his upbringing in the white evangelical South, and decades of social science research, Jones lays bare the roots of this collapse and the dangers it poses for our future. He takes us inside a faith tradition marked by an impoverished relationship to the Bible, a rejection of a genuine search for truth, and an upside-down world where empathy is considered a vice. Yet amid the wreckage, Jones finds signs of hope in efforts to remake our national holiday rituals and recover a Christianity that remains committed to democracy.
Timely and unflinching, Backslide is essential reading for anyone unwilling to surrender the soul of faith or the promise of democracy. A prophetic summons to moral responsibility, it reminds us that time is short for deciding which Christianity, and which America, will prevail.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Bestselling religious scholar Jones (The Hidden Roots of White Supremacy) examines the connection between the rise of right-wing extremism and evangelical Christianity in his bracing latest. Jones grounds his critique in the dual theological and political roots of the term "backslide," initially used during the Reformation to describe Protestants "reverting to Catholicism" and often deployed in Christian communities as "a call to return to the right path." The term has also "more recently come to have resonance among political theorists," he notes, who use it to describe "democracy slip into authoritarianism." Jones sees this dual sense of backsliding as the core of Trumpism, arguing that "we are now living in a... backslidden nation" that "tells us we must banish some people from the community of grace," that "empathy... is suspect," and that "compassion" is "a threat to obedience." Jones is adamant: "We can no longer pretend we do not know where this path will lead." In a narrative that moves from outlining the current "white Christian nationalist" establishment's calls for "an ethno-religious state," to probing evangelicalism's role in U.S. history, to interrogating the "white evangelicalism" of his own upbringing, Jones presents a vision of America as "fallen into... apostasy." But he remains hopeful, noting that "backsliding is not irreversible," as "repentance is possible... with confession" and the "acknowledging of difficult truths." It's a potent reckoning.
