Join us for a discussion with theologian David Congdon about his latest book, Who Is A True Christian?
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Our 2025/2026 Book Club season kicks off on September 4th with a discussion of Who Is A True Christian by theologian David Congdon. From the publisher’s description:
"No true Christian could vote for Donald Trump."
"Real Christians are pro-life."
"You can't be a Christian and support gay marriage."
Assertive statements like these not only reflect growing religious polarization but also express the anxiety over religious identity that pervades modern American Christianity. To address this disquiet, conservative Christians have sought security and stability: whether by retrieving "historic Christian" doctrines, reconceptualizing their faith as a distinct culture, or reinforcing a political vision of what it means to be a follower of God in a corrupt world. The result is a concerted effort to "Make Christianity Great Again": a religious project predating the corresponding political effort to "Make America Great Again."
Part intellectual history, part nuanced argument for change, this timely book explores why the question of what defines Christianity has become, over the last century, so damagingly vexatious—and how believers might conceive of it differently in the future.
MEET THE AUTHOR LIVE ON ZOOM
We are honored to have the author join us live on Zoom for this discussion! David W. Congdon (PhD, Princeton Theological Seminary) is Senior Editor at the University Press of Kansas and a lecture in religious studies at the University of Kansas. He was born and raised in Portland, Oregon and will always call the Pacific Northwest home. His work explores the intersection of critical historical research, systematic theology, cultural studies, and political theory.
In addition to Who Is a True Christian? (2024), David is the author of The Mission of Demythologizing: Rudolf Bultmann's Dialectical Theology (2015), Rudolf Bultmann: A Companion to His Theology (2015), The God Who Saves: A Dogmatic Sketch (2016), and the editor of Varieties of Christian Universalism: Exploring Four Views (2023).