The Violent Take It by Force: The Christian Movement That Is Threatening Our Democracy, by Matthew D. Taylor. Broadleaf Books, 2024. 292 pages. $32.99. ISBN 978-1506497785

Authors

• Jefferson Calico, University of the CumberlandsFollow

Document Type

Review

Abstract

Jefferson Calico, a scholar of religion, reviews Matthew D. Taylor’s The Violent Take It by Force: The Christian Movement That Is Threatening Our Democracy, an analysis of how the apostolic and prophetic movement within American Protestantism is reshaping religious politics. Charismatic, both theologically and personally, religious entrepreneurs like Paula White, C. Peter Wagner, Cindy Jacobs, Sean Feucht, and Dutch Sheets lead market-driven faith-based efforts to undermine democracy. With their emphasis on spectacular displays of spiritual gifts, they often embarrass other Christian nationalists, while the leadership of women and people of color in the movement scandalizes them—yet they are, in Taylor’s view, highly successful as a new religious movement and, so far, effective in advancing their political goals.

Recommended Citation

Calico, Jefferson (2026) "The Violent Take It by Force: The Christian Movement That Is Threatening Our Democracy, by Matthew D. Taylor. Broadleaf Books, 2024. 292 pages. $32.99. ISBN 978-1506497785," Journal of Hate Studies: Vol. 19: Iss. 1, Article 4.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.64749/2169-7442.1264
Available at: https://repository.gonzaga.edu/jhs/vol19/iss1/4

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.