Students of American evangelicalism must read Lindsay's book. He listens to evangelical elites in a way that no one else writing about them comes close to matching: 360 interviews with A-list evangelicals from political, academic, cultural, and corporate circles. Lindsay, a sociologist, concludes that evangelicals have gained significant influence in these circles through an alternative form of social networking. Unlike power elites who unite around such markers as social class and common background, American evangelicals consolidate and increase their power by connecting with one another through religious identity — and not (as one might expect) through churches, but through parachurch organizations.
That is a reasonable conclusion to draw from Lindsay's data, but the data show one lacuna in his research: not a single interview with a military leader. This is a puzzling omission in a study that expands C. Wright Mills’ classic triumvirate of political, military, and corporate elites. Absent any alternative explanation from Lindsay, the missing military interviews signal a weakness in his otherwise effective “leapfrog” method. Lindsay jumps from interview to interview by asking evangelicals which of their co-believers they most respect at elite levels of American leadership. Because no military leaders make the list, readers may infer that Lindsay's interviewees either do not think military personnel qualify as public leaders, or do not know of any for whom Christian faith is important. Neither explanation satisfies. Top military brass merits the same “inside” attention that Lindsay so effectively gives to other elites.
Lindsay's unparalleled access to leading evangelicals makes each part of this book a valuable addition to the increasingly interdisciplinary literature on American evangelicalism. Part One reveals — in helpful detail — the diversity of views about “faithful” politics among elites from the presidential administrations of Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan, George H. W. Bush, Bill Clinton, and George W. Bush. Lindsay maps successful evangelical alliances without neglecting serious intra-party and racial divides. Part Two is an especially fine report on resurgent evangelical interest in academic power and on the well-funded initiatives that are helping evangelicals enhance their intellectual credentials. In Part Three, readers learn how evangelicals have warmed to television and cinema as venues for their message but now wrangle over how strongly to pursue mainstream audiences. Lindsay then describes a quiet but seemingly widespread eagerness among evangelicals to crib mainstreaming strategies from gay and lesbian advocacy groups in Hollywood. Readers will find unique glimpses into faith-friendly corporations and the “coming out” of evangelical executives in Part Four (Corporate Titans and the Corner Office). Lindsay features business leaders who feel estranged from their local congregations but confident and passionate about their parachurch philanthropy.
The chapters in these four parts of the book contain several beautifully clear, analytical passages, and memorable quotations but also a few stylistic and organizational irritants. Lindsay offers some of his best analysis when he weighs future returns of current evangelical efforts such as close interracial friendships between evangelical public leaders who could lead a politically powerful “alliance between white evangelicals and African American communities” (p. 67) or innovative training for culture-industry evangelicals who will continue a bevy of programs intended to boost their skills and increase their clout (p. 143). At times, the sheer number and length of quotations in each chapter becomes onerous. This burden is lightened by occasional zingers, such as when then-House Majority Leader Richard Armey (himself an evangelical) decries bully tactics from movement leaders: “I am not tough enough to have Christians for friends” (p. 65) or when, in response to a Focus on the Family staffer's remark that his organization provides enough family entertainment to make Hollywood irrelevant, screenwriter Barbara Nicolosi retorts, “What, are you smoking, crack?” (p. 144). Precious anecdotes like these ease the discomfort generated by the collage-like arrangement of chapter sections and corresponding lack of reader-friendly synopses in chapter introductions.
These stylistic and organizational shortcomings may reflect a deeper analytical weakness that emerges in the book's conclusion (Move-the-Dial Christianity). Lindsay's most important sociological claim is that his data challenge the two regnant models of societal power. Because they exist in a highly differentiated society, evangelical elites cannot be subsumed under the “monolithic” model; because they bond through faith, they are far more cohesive than one may expect under the “pluralist” model. But Lindsay overestimates his case when he says that evangelicalism “brings leaders together in a way no other force can” (p. 228). He has not argued this confidence in his chapters, does not justify it in his conclusion, and in any case, does not provide comparative data from which he might support it. It is not self-evident that evangelical elites are the only group that networks in religious rather than professional settings; or that non-religious identities cannot lend an analogous coherence. Readers may actually expect this latter possibility to obtain given the way Lindsay's evangelical interviewees seem to envy the success of gay and lesbian advocacy groups and mimic their language and tactics.
Lindsay's main analysis clears a new path in the field, and there are almost certainly further contributions Lindsay could make from the trove of data he collected. His evidence for the parachurch orientation of American evangelical elites, for example, should enrich conversations in sociological literature about changing trends in American congregations. Faith in the Halls of Power is a very fine book from which a remarkably wide range of academics can learn more about evangelicalism in general and evangelical elites in particular.
