On Fire for God
Fear, Shame, Poverty, and the Making of the Christian Right - a Personal History
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4.6 • 7 Ratings
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- $14.99
Publisher Description
One part Educated, one part rebuttal to Hillbilly Elegy, On Fire for God explores the ways evangelical Christianity has preyed upon its followers while galvanizing them into the political force known today as the Christian right.
“Of all the books I've read about young people devastated by the fundamentalist religion they've grown up with, this one stands out.”— Frances FitzGerald, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Evangelicals
Exvangelical journalist Josiah Hesse grew up in the stifling working-class town of Mason City, Iowa, raised in the institutions of fundamentalist Christianity: a toxic mixture of schools, ministries, and religious camps that taught creationism, instilled sexual shame, and foretold horrific tales of the rapture. In the churches where he worshipped, pastors siphoned their flocks’ wealth while preaching a doctrine of prosperity. Meanwhile, as economic struggles grew in the community, Hesse's fellow believers lambasted organized labor and shunned the social safety net, becoming an army for God against the evils of progressivism. Only upon escaping Iowa in search of something more would he consider the possibility that the world wasn’t about to end and that he was woefully unprepared for a future he’d never believed would arrive.
Written in vivid prose, On Fire for God is both an unflinching memoir of religious trauma and survival and a stirring examination of the emotional, political, and sociological effects of the Christian right. Returning to his hometown in search of answers about his upbringing and the political forces at work in the region, Hesse calls into question prevailing theories about the disappearing working class that point to opioids, automation, or globalism as the culprits. His story of awakening and escape exposes how conservative Christian con men have, over generations, trapped working-class believers in an isolated bubble of racism, xenophobia, and self-imposed martyrdom, while stripping communities like his of their wealth and self-esteem. In On Fire for God, Hesse plumbs the depths of his own experience to illuminate, with deep feeling and piercing immediacy, what he describes as the socioeconomic tragedy of the American working class.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Journalist Hesse (Runner's High) delivers an eye-opening account of his evangelical upbringing in Mason City, Iowa, that sheds light on a community coping with destitution, drug abuse, and spiritual despair. In evocative prose, Hesse traces the rise of the Christian right in the mid-to-late 20th century, when self-described prophet Lonnie Frisbee, for example, led "thousands of hippies into the Pacific Ocean to be baptized." Along the way, Hesse weaves in searing personal anecdotes about his own religious trauma and draws shrewd parallels to The Music Man (whose fictional setting was inspired by Mason City), comparing silver-tongued con artist Harold Hill to the religious leaders who exploited fear and ignorance in his community as deregulation and the decline of labor unions hollowed out core Iowa industries like farming. Most powerful are Hesse's descriptions of being made to feel borderline irredeemable at Pentecostal church camp, his shame manifesting as a demon named Caldonia whom he wrestled with well into adulthood. In the end comes acceptance, with Hesse expressing gratitude for his time in a struggling corner of the world. Readers who've wrestled with their faith or finding home will find this inspiring.
