Karen Swallow Prior, The Evangelical Imagination. How Stories, Images and Metaphors Created a Culture in Crisis (affiliate link). Grand Rapids: Brazos Press, 2023. 289 pages.
Karen Prior is a literary critic, teacher, and cultural commentator. She previously wrote the book On Reading Well: Finding the Good Life through Great Books. I read that book in my family book club and thoroughly enjoyed it. Prior is a master at using classic literature to comment on culture. That book inspired our book club to make our next selection The Count of Monte Cristo (affiliate link). She certainly makes readers want to know the classics better.
Swallow wrote The Evangelical Imagination in an effort to offer a sober look at today’s evangelicalism. Her thesis is that much of evangelicalism was birthed or influenced by the Victorian era. She begins by stating, “. . . you might find yourself wondering whether some of the ideas that characterize today’s evangelical culture are Christian as much as they are Victorian” (2). By the book’s end, she answers her own question: “. . . what evangelicals uncritically assume is ‘biblical’ turns out to be simply Victorian” (185).
Prior identifies as a life-long evangelical. She taught for a time at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary. Yet she is clearly concerned with the uncritical way evangelicals are conducting themselves today. She begins her book by declaring, “The evangelical house is badly in need of repair” (5). She provides a brief overview of evangelicalism. There are various definitions, indicating that there are differing opinions of exactly what constitutes an evangelical. She asserts that evangelicalism is a middle ground between Catholicism and Fundamentalism, a middle ground that embraces heart and mind, accepts Scripture as true, and emphasizes the need for a conversion experience.
Prior introduces the value of imagination. She notes that “Every good story offers a slice of reality. Every true metaphor illuminates certain likenesses. Every beautiful image has a frame” (4). She makes a bold assertion: “The imagination shapes us and our world more than any other human power or ability. Communities, societies, movements, and yes, religions are formed and fueled by the power of the imagination” (7).
Prior underscores that when she uses the term imagination, she is not suggesting that the Bible or religious beliefs are untrue. She comments, “At its most literal level, the word ‘imagination’ refers to the mind’s process of making an image: the art of imagining. Just as our dreams are filled with the things that fill our days, so too is our imagination formed by the things we perceive” (8). She adds, “Imagination engages our whole humanity: physical, emotional, intellectual, and spiritual” (9).
Prior highlights the power of stories and metaphors, underscoring why it is crucial to embrace the ones that best reflect our reality. It can be dangerous to maintain outdated metaphors and stories.
Prior quotes James K. Smith: “We live into the stories we have absorbed: we become characters in the drama that has captivated us. Thus, much of our action is acting out a kind of script that has unconsciously captured our imaginations” (13). Prior is obviously concerned that people allow their culture to color and distort their view of Scripture. She warns, “. . . We are shaped by the culture in which we exist in ways that can be difficult, if not impossible, to recognize” (16).
Prior quotes Lakoff and Johnson: “Metaphoric reasoning is the means by which human beings make sense of our experience” (18). We must find the proper metaphors in order to make sense of our reality. Doing so requires imagination.
Prior notes that evangelicals have their own metaphors and stories that help make sense of their experience. She notes, “. . .to be an evangelical is to inherit social imaginaries that have been developing for as long as evangelicalism has existed as a coherent movement” (922). She suggests that “Evangelicalism, like America, is a product of the modern age, in addition to being a movement of the Spirit” (27). Prior’s goal is to peel back areas of evangelicalism that are rooted in culture rather than Scripture. She states, “Wherever our evangelical imaginations are informed and formed by modernity, Romanticism, or any –ism other than the tenets of our faith, the disease will fester” (30).
Prior uses the remainder of the book to examine what she considers to be the dominant metaphors in evangelicalism: awakening, conversion, testimony, improvement, sentimentality, materiality, domesticity, empire, reformation, and rapture. She levels a stinging rebuke against some of these metaphors. Others she addresses more informationally than correctively.
Prior notes that “To be fully awakened is to desire what we were created to be” (34). She comments on “wokeness,” writing, “As a metaphor, being woke is simply another expression of the universal symbol of awakening that appears across time and culture, and it is one of the originating metaphors that gave rise to the evangelical movement” (47). Prior seems to be somewhat defensive of those who decry present-day “wokeness.” Perhaps she does not distinguish enough between the awakening that occurs as a result of the Holy Spirit opening our eyes and that of accepting a particular political view.
She suggests that “. . . evangelicalism has itself become a highly marketed product” (54). She notes that the nomenclature of “born again” reached its peak in America in 2010 (57). It has been in decline ever since.
Concerning improvement, Prior notes that “. . . the valuation of hard work turned into pursuit of material prosperity” (73). She argues that evangelicals came to focus much more on conversion than on sanctification (75). She asserts that “Metaphors help us make meaning of the world, and human beings are meaning-making creatures” (78).
Prior cautions, “Some would say such naivete is baked into evangelicalism. There’s fact. There’s fiction. Then there’s truth, which transcends both” (80). Humorously, she quotes a colleague who suggested that “No parent prays for their child to have a dramatic testimony” (84). Yet Prior notes that evangelicalism celebrates spectacular testimonies. She points out that the most impactful conversion narrative in history was John Bunyan’s The Pilgrim’s Progress (86). She suggests that “. . . evangelicalism was in many ways the product of a reading culture” (93).
Prior writes that self-improvement became a key aspect of evangelicalism. Success often became evidence of one’s election (111). She suggests that “By the middle of the Victorian Age and beyond, self-improvement, especially economic self-improvement, had come to be regarded not merely as an aspiration but as a social duty” (122). She continues, “. . . It can be difficult to distinguish conversion from self-help, spiritual growth from worldly success, sanctification from self-improvement” (124).
Prior has certainly put her thumb onto something regarding several of these issues. Yet it seems that anything good will be taken to unintended extremes. Metaphors, which may have started out fine, become distorted by sin-prone people. Prior often points out the extremes or unhealthy places to which evangelicals have taken metaphors. But this end result seems to be inevitable regardless of the chosen metaphor. Certainly her point is well taken that we should update our metaphors. But it would also be helpful to provide guidance on how to maintain the purity of a metaphor. Much of what she critiques is not the metaphor itself but the way subsequent generations have corrupted it.
Prior includes an interesting chapter on “sentimentalism.” She begins by asking, “What is it about so much contemporary ‘Christian’ art that makes it so bad so often?” (125). Her answer is that evangelicals often succumb to sentimentalism. She cites Thomas Kinkaid’s artwork and its vast appeal to people’s sentimentality (127). Prior suggests that “Beauty apart from truth and goodness is mere sentimentality” (145).
Prior critiques a saying that I have used before, which is that Christianity is not just a religion but a relationship (147). She uses this catchphrase as an example of sentimentalism. Certainly, this saying can be abused, as can any other. When used to diminish Christ to a mere friend and equal, it falls victim to sentimentalism. But, again, much of what Prior is critiquing are the excesses, not the original intent.
Prior critiques the metaphor of “empire” among evangelicals as well. She notes that evangelicalism arose during the Victorian Age when the British empire was at its zenith. She points out that “In fact, the spread of the gospel during the missionary age is so entwined with the west’s expansion through imperialism that it is almost impossible to imagine an evangelical movement that is not an empire-building enterprise, not a movement rooted in political and cultural domination, and not propagated by the power of money, business, and capitalism rather than the power of the Holy Spirit” (200). She cites the catchphrase, “Do great things for God” as evidence of a “triumphalistic spirit” (201). This is a harsh critique, for sure. She cites some devastating evidence from the literature of the time. Yet it is hard to imagine that every missionary, such as Hudson Taylor or George Muller, was driven more by Victorian imperialism than by a love for the gospel and the lost. It would have been interesting for her to look at how love for the United States has affected American evangelicals today.
Prior critiques the evangelical imagery of pastor-leader. She accuses people such as D.L. Moody and Jerry Falwell of introducing business methods into church leadership (212-217). She argues that Donald Trump is the natural consequence of introducing business into religion (220). Prior is obviously troubled by evangelicals’ close association with right-wing politics. She carefully approaches the issue but prudently doesn’t show all of her hand.
Prior is also concerned with the current state of evangelicalism and how it seems to have lost its way. She bemoans the fact that “There is much of evangelicalism that is of man, not God. I say that as an evangelical” (230). She argues that “The way of Jesus is not in power, celebrity, and corruption that has borne the fruit of abuse, spiritual abuse, and systematic racism and imperialism” (232). Again, I am not sure that the original metaphors led to these problems. The deterioration and abuse of the metaphors did. It might have been better to analyze whether the original metaphors were corrupt from the beginning rather than looking at the subsequent abuses.
Prior also examines the rapture. She challenges the reader to discern between what is literal and what is symbolic (256). She argues that “. . . centuries of immersion in literalism, as opposed to literariness, makes such layered and nuanced readings of the world more elusive” (247). I certainly could see the value in examining the way people treat apocalyptic literature when studying the end times. As a literary scholar, Prior could offer helpful insights on that front. It strikes me as odd how she focuses on the rapture rather than on an evangelical hermeneutic that takes apocalyptic literature literally. It seems like a missed opportunity for a literary scholar.
Karen Prior is a brilliant writer with a vast grasp of literature. At times she argues as an academician, perhaps overshooting the average, untrained reader. Nevertheless, I’d love to be in a seminar with her and engage in the discussions I’m sure she would generate. There is no doubt that evangelicalism needs to evaluate its assumptions.
Prior acknowledges that she is not a Bible scholar, historian, or theologian (5). At times, she comes across as a literary critic who may be on somewhat thin historical ice. Nevertheless, she does what a good literary critic should do and asks questions.
To read this book well, the reader must put aside any defensiveness and simply engage Prior on the field she has chosen. The concept of imagination and metaphor is powerful and certainly a provocative call for Christian leaders to examine the language, stories, and metaphors they use. I think we can all benefit from taking Prior’s concerns seriously. You may not agree with everything she says. I didn’t. But she has obviously put her finger on something important that should be addressed.
Rating: 3
