Letter to the American Church

In Letter to the American Church, Eric Metaxas, the author of the acclaimed biography of Dietrich Bonhoeffer, reveals the haunting similarities between today’s American Church and the German Church of the 1930s. Just as most German Christians remained silent as the Nazis rose to power, Metaxas argues that many American Christians today are shrinking from their duty to stand against the evils of our time.

Metaxas makes the case that an attenuated and unbiblical ‘faith’ based on what Bonhoeffer called ‘cheap grace’ has sapped the spiritual vitality of millions of Americans. Paying lip service to an insipid ‘evangelism,’ they shrink from combating the cultural and political threats to religious liberty, the sanctity of life, and other foundational values.

The book refutes the pernicious lie that fighting evil somehow ‘politicizes’ Christianity. As Bonhoeffer and other heroes of the faith insisted, the Church has an irreplaceable role in the culture of a nation. Metaxas calls on the American Church to recognize the peril of silence and to courageously fulfill its prophetic calling, especially on behalf of the weak and vulnerable.