A review of The Faith of Barack Obama by Stephen Mansfield

A few weeks ago, Michael Hyatt, CEO of Thomas Nelson, announced the release of The Faith of Barack Obama by Stephen Mansfield. He offered a copy of the book to bloggers who would read the book and post a review. Here is my review.

The book cover of The Faith of Barack Obama reads in part, "In this fair-minded but inspiring account of Obama's faith, New York Times best selling author Stephen Mansfield takes you inside the theology of Barack Obama, inside the church that has been his spiritual home , and inside the battles of faith that have shaped his politics." If Mansfield had written a book to fulfill that description, it would have been a useful and insightful tool for voters seeking to understand Obama's faith this election season. Yet, Mansfield's surprisingly brief book falls significantly short of this goal. The book is notable for what it lacks nearly as much as for what it contains. Namely, the book lacks any interviews with Barack Obama, his family, his former pastor or his current one. A void that is evident throughout the book.

While I applaud Thomas Nelson for publishing a book about the faith of a Democratic candidate, at times I wondered what the motive was behind publishing this book. The editing is clearly biased. One pullout quote reads, "Barack accompanied Lolo to a nearby mosque on Fridays and prayed at his side for the blessings of Allah." In the text, that sentence actually starts with the word "occasionally." It is an important word, as Mansfield asserts that Barack is not and never has been a Muslim. But a reader scanning the book would be left with a very different impression.

Mansfield spends an inordinate amount of time covering the black theology of the 1960's. If Obama's own faith statement was framed through the vocabulary of black theology than the time spent elaborating on the roots of this belief system would make sense. But since it does not, this section of the book can leave suspicious readers believing that Obama studies James Cone's Black Theology and Black Power instead of the Holy Bible.

In the fifth chapter, Mansfield compares the faiths' of Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, John McCain and George W Bush. The comparisons are written along predictable Republican Party lines (Mansfield is very open about the fact that he's not voting for Obama.) McCain's lack of comments regarding his faith is painted as the stoic and gentlemanly demeanor of a man from a bygone era. There is no mention of the fact that he cheated on his first wife and applied for a license for his second marriage eight days before his divorce was final. McCain has never been baptized into nor joined the North Phoenix Baptist Church where he attends with his wife Cindy. Instead of using this information to take a critical look at McCain's faith, Mansfield instead endearingly calls him a "maverick." In the concluding paragraph of the chapter Mansfield says in referring to Obama,

"His face stands out among them all. It is black. It is under fifty in 2008. It is Christian in a nontraditional sense…. It is progressive and social justice and the most liberal face of all." (pg 127)

Any reader who had gotten through the first four chapters of the book thinking this was an unbiased look at Obama, should have no misconception about that by page 127.

In conclusion, if voters want to understand Barrack Obama's faith, they should go straight to the source. Either one of Obama's very well written books will shed light on who he is and what he believes. His website is also a good source of information. Although this was not a glowing review, I commend Thomas Nelson for even publishing this book. They have received an unbelievable amount of negative reactions from the Christian Right for publishing a book about a democrat. I was shocked to see the level of anger and hatred personally aimed at Michael Hyatt when he announced this book on his blog. It is vital to the democratic process that information is made available through all sorts of venues about the candidates our country is considering. When publishers are corporately and personally attacked for publishing a book about a candidate affiliated with the "wrong" party, our nation is in a very sad state. It is made even sadder yet that the attacks are done in the name of Jesus Christ, The Prince of Peace.

Let’s just talk about things we shouldn’t…

There is a saying that ladies don't speak about politics or religion. Well I talk about the religion all the time, so I am going to throw caution to the wind talk about politics. I have really struggled with the idea of blogging about politics, primarily because I don't want to upset people. But the truth of the matter is that I am very passionate about politics. I grew up in a politically active home, where debate was expected not avoided, or shushed up. I have a minor in political science and if I didn't blog about over the next few months, this blog would no longer reflect who I am.

So why do I think people will get upset if I talk about politics? Because I sit on what is considered the wrong side of the fence for an evangelical Christian. Yes, there it is, I'm a Democrat. (Oh, I feel so many of you cringing). For the past 8 years I have stayed mostly silent about my political views around my Christian friends. I bought into the marketing scheme that Republican's are God's party and Democrat are godless heathens. But now, facing a critical fork in our nation and world's road, I think it is vital to start talking about political choices. So I am going to be blogging about political topics on and off for the next few months. My goal is not upset you or even recruit you; it is to encourage you to have your own conversations with your friends, your bible study, your neighbors, your co-workers. Talk about those topics that can be uncomfortable, but are vital to our national consciousness; military action, social responsibility to the poor, our economic crisis, global warming, abortion rights, the list can go on and on. Let's start talking, and listening to one another, and come November we'll all be better informed to cast the correct vote for ourselves, our families and our nation.