The authors of America Has No Soul (But You Do) diagnose America’s struggles: a lack of faith in Jesus Christ.

Matthew and Shawn Parker address readers directly from the outset of this slim book: “[H]ave you trusted the Lord Jesus Christ as your personal Saviour and received the free gift of eternal life?” they ask.

Their subsequent look at this question is novel. After making the standard conservative observation that America has lost its way—the nation is “coarser” and “more hostile to Christianity”— they argue that the solution is not to “[e]lect the right candidates, pass the right laws, [or] appoint the right judges..” Rather, they posit that salvation is internal, not political. Doomsayers often say that America has lost its soul, but the Parkers believe nations don’t have souls. People do. Thus, the way forward is through the Bible, not the Constitution.

The Parkers’ view stands out for its rare rejection by Christian authors of conservative politics, which many will welcome. Moreover, they anticipate objections to their thesis by discussing the political power through the ages of the Roman Catholic Church. (Their view: the church corrupted the gospel through exercising that power.) Their conversational approach is also easy to read and inviting.

The Parkers make a few technical errors along the way. For example, contrasting the Kingdom of Heaven and the Kingdom of God, they say that the former is “a physical, visible, political kingdom promised to the nation of Israel…. It has a throne, and on that throne will sit the Lord Jesus Christ Himself when He returns to this earth.” In fact, the concept of a kingdom originated not in Christianity but Judaism, which taught that a powerful ruler called “messiah” would be sent by the Jewish god to rule on earth.

Nonetheless, many readers will be interested in their timeless message: that America needs to check its ego and focus on what matters.

Also available as an ebook.