The Kingdom, the Power, and the Glory: American Evangelicals in an Age of Extremism

by Tim Alberta

“My academic specialty is the first century to sixth century,” he explained. “You know, Nietzsche accused the Christians of having a slave mentality. He thought that’s what gave them their ethic of humility. But the data is exactly the opposite. The Christians of the first few centuries, especially, were so confident Jesus was Lord that they could be quite rude in mocking the gods and so on. They were confident and cheerful; even when they’re locked up in prison, they’re singing hymns, they’re writing letters encouraging others.” This was not performative in nature; members of the early Church didn’t behave this way to prove a point. Rather, these people who lived in such close proximity to the time of the eyewitnesses—and some were themselves eyewitnesses—acted out of a euphoria rooted in absolute certainty. They had zero doubts that Jesus, the rabbi who’d been publicly executed, was later seen alive, and were so giddy about spreading the news that they couldn’t be bothered to care about their circumstances otherwise.