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On the other hand, Lindsay depended upon the goodwill of each interviewee, who was the gateway to other leaders of similar stature, and in any event, no leader is likely to respond to open-ended questions about personal faith with tales of ambition, greed, or failure. So Lindsay's book is based on self-portraits—not on the kind of long-lasting or hard-hitting journalistic investigation that might paint a less idealistic picture. Some of Lindsay's interviewees were unwitting enablers of the philanthropic pyramid scheme known as the New Era in the early 1990s; also, it is sobering to reflect that had Lindsay conducted his study a few years earlier, Kenneth Lay of Enron and Bernie Ebbers of WorldCom might have been among the figures he interviewed.

Lindsay acknowledges these ironies in a brief paragraph, but based on past form, it's all too likely that at least one evangelical leader profiled here will eventually be known more for a scandalous abuse of power than for the winsome faith they conveyed to Lindsay's sympathetic ear.

Still, even if this book does not fully allow us "to see ourselves as others see us," it can be of great value to an evangelical movement still given to both persecution and messiah complexes—imagining that we are either under mortal threat from secularists, are about to decisively "impact the culture," or both. We are both more and less powerful than we imagine. In any case, in Jesus Christ we find a world-transforming weakness that makes our power look silly and small, and that is good news for evangelical "cosmopolitans" and "populists" alike.

Andy Crouch is editorial director of The Christian Vison Project. Full disclosure: He appears briefly in the book and has collaborated with Lindsay on several projects.

Copyright © 2007 Christianity Today. Click for reprint information.

Faith in the Halls of Power is available from ChristianBook.com and other retailers.

An interview with Michael Lindsay accompanies this article.

Michael Lindsay discusses some of his findings on Authors@Google.

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November 2007, Vol. 51, No. 11