In 1 Chronicles 12, David is seemingly surrounded by Saul in the wilderness. He's hiding, but unable to make any decisive action, and in that moment, warriors from all around come to David's aid, creating for him a grand army with which to protect himself. Among those warriors were a tribe of wise men, the tribe of Issachar. After many verse which extol the might of the other tribes who have brough thousands of soldiers to aid David, verse 32 tells us that
"from Issachar, men who understood the times and knew what Israel should do- 200 chiefs, with all their relatives under their command."
The Lord brought to David men who were prophetic and knowledgeable. Men who could council and guide him. Now, as ever, we need people of knowledge who understand the times we live in.
American Historian Dr. John Fea of Messiah University recently gave multiple lectures in Northwest Ohio. Brought in partnership by Bluffton University and the University of Findlay, on Tuesday, February 4th, Dr. Fea gave a presentation at BU in the morning and UF in the evening called “Roads Not Taken: How Evangelicals Embraced MAGA”.
The title of the presentation may have some people, particularly supporters of Donald Trump’s presidency, on edge for a takedown. But Dr. John Fea is a historian first and foremost and the focus on the presentation is not about whether the MAGA movement is right or wrong. Neither is it a repudiation of Evangelicals who have embraced MAGA. Instead, Dr. Fea traces the history of significant Christian figures and thought leaders in the late 20th century and up to 2006, setting the stage for how and why the Evangelical church rallied around figures like Donald Trump.
The presentation was streamed live on UF’s “UFTV” Youtube Channel and can be viewed for free in the embedded video below.
UF’s description of the presentation reads,
“In 1998, following the impeachment of Bill Clinton, the Christian Right in the United States was at a turning point. The movement was in shambles and some of its leaders were ready to give up politics as the most effective way to advance a Christian society. Some American evangelicals, many of whom had little history with the Christian Right, were calling for new approaches to political witness that did not rely so heavily on fear, power, nostalgia and the culture wars. In this lecture, John Fea, author of Believe Me: The Evangelical Road to Donald Trump and a forthcoming trilogy on evangelicals and politics in the 21st century, explores these ‘roads not taken.’”
Dr. John Fea is a professor of History at Messiah University in Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania, and holds a Ph.D in American History, and a MA in Church History along with a MDiv from Trinity Evangelical Divinity school in Illinois. Furthermore, he is a faithful, practicing Christians who considers himself an Evangelical.
Despite Dr. Fea’s balanced take during the presentation, it’s clear from the title of it, and by hearing him speak more about politics from his other sources that Dr. Fea isn’t a fan of the “political playbook”, and is wistful about other opportunities that evangelicals missed or passed over, the titular “roads not taken”.
More information about Dr. John Fea can be found at the Messiah University website, and a few of his publications are below.
Selected Publications
- The Bible Cause: A History of the American Bible Society (Under contract, Oxford University Press, 2016)
- Why Study History?: Reflecting on the Importance of the Past (Baker Academic, 2013)
- Was America Founded as a Christian Nation: A Historical Introduction (Westminster/ John Knox Press, 2011)
- Confessing History: Explorations in Christian Faith and the Historian’s Vocation, co-edited with Jay Green and Eric Miller (University of Notre Dame Press, 2010)
- The Way of Improvement Leads Home: Philip Vickers Fithian and the Rural Enlightenment in Early America (University of Pennsylvania Press, 2008; paperback edition, 2009)
- “The Way of Improvement Leads Home: Philip Vickers Fithian’s Rural Enlightenment,” The Journal of American History (September 2003, 462-490).
CGGC eNews—Vol. 19, No. 6
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