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

by Tim Alberta

History would agree. The emperor Nero, who infamously scapegoated Christians for the burning of Rome, set the precedent for centuries of imperial persecution. He murdered the followers of Jesus en masse: beheadings, crucifixions, death by lion, and other public displays of savagery. It was during Nero’s reign that Paul traversed the empire, preaching that a carpenter’s son from rural Galilee had established a kingdom that surpassed anything Rome could ever hope to be. Paul paid the price for renouncing his allegiance to the rulers of this world. After years of being beaten, tortured, imprisoned, and placed under house arrest, he was executed by the state of Rome. And he wasn’t the only one. Consider the case of Peter, the right-hand disciple of Jesus. In his first epistle, Peter writes from Rome to the Christians in Asia Minor—modern-day Turkey—who were suffering for their faith. He beseeches them to rejoice in their torment. Peter teaches them that suffering brings us closer to Jesus; that to suffer is to be cleansed by a refining “fire” that rids Christians of the impulses, attitudes, and identities they once possessed.