ANOTHER GOSPEL: CHRISTIAN NATIONALISM AND THE CRISIS OF EVANGELICAL IDENTITY. By JoelLooper. Eerdmans, 2024. Pp. ix + 150. Paper, $19.99.

Another Gospel asks a pointed question: Which gospel do American evangelicals now consider soteriological? Looper argues that many have now fallen into a false gospel similar to the one Paul confronted in Galatians 1:6–9, where cultural identity and political vision were elevated to a condition of Christian belonging. Looper contends that American Christian nationalism also trades the community of Jesus's church for the imagined community of the nation, so that the “evangelical” label has drifted toward meaning “Republican” or cultural conservative more than Christian. Although Christian nationalism is not exclusive to the United States—and Looper discusses the phenomenon in Putin's Russia—he finds the American version especially troubling. Writing before the 2024 Presidential election, he warns that the current surge of Christian nationalism is making unprecedented inroads into American churches and is particularly dangerous in light of its alignment with President Donald Trump. Congregations have become increasingly absorbed in culture-war clashes and focused on political power while ignoring how those alignments weaken their witness in the world. Looper stresses that the role of American Christians is not to save the nation or any preferred version of it, but to follow Jesus publicly in ways that point others to him. The author also expresses concern about the tendency of Christian nationalism and culture-war evangelicalism to divide churches. Historically, for example, he notes that Christians fought, tortured, and killed one another during the Middle Ages on behalf of their princes and nation-states. In modern times, he claims Christian nationalism often alienates younger evangelicals who reject its racial and political overtones, creating generational rifts in evangelical churches. Another Gospel combines historical, rhetorical, and comparative methods into a passionate yet incisive analysis of the growing connection between White evangelical identity and Christian nationalist ideology. Looper, who identifies as a theologically traditional Democrat, primarily works as a cultural historian rather than a systematic theologian to demonstrate how biblical motifs function within nationalist discourse and how nationalist tropes circulate in congregational settings through music, prayer, and patriotic liturgies. This book is part of an emerging field that considers Christian nationalism as a sociocultural formation rather than a set of specific doctrines. The text is church-facing and accessible for general readers. While it is historically informed, it lacks some of the critical insights, historical depth, and sociological data found in more extensive scholarly volumes. However, its distinctive framing of Christian nationalism as a rival soteriological system extends the discussion beyond surveys and demographics, offering a unique interpretive perspective for scholars of American religion, politics, and theology.