Indianapolis
Join Jonathan Wilson-Hartgrove in a launch event for this new book, “Revolution of Values.”
In his forthcoming book, “Revolution of Values,” to be released on December 3, 2019, Wilson-Hartgrove remembers arriving on Capitol Hill in the 1990s, a young Christian excited to serve as Thurmond’s page. The first thing Thurmond did was warn him about black people in Washington, D.C.
“I no doubt was racist, and racism had been part of the air that I breathed,” Wilson-Hartgrove said. “But I also realized that, hold on, this sort of blanket description of black people is dangerous.”
As Wilson-Hartgrove sat in meetings, more cracks opened in his belief that he was working in the government to defend biblical values. He began to see contradictions between the Bible and the supposed “biblical values” of his Republican Party.
Years later, Wilson-Hartgrove is grateful for those like Ann Atwater who showed him a different way of reading the Bible, a way of reading that prioritizes the poor and marginalized.
This transformation is the focus of “Revolution of Values.” Wilson-Hartgrove tells the history of how the religious right came to dominate faith in the public sphere and outlines how to read the Bible differently to promote Christian civic engagement that works for the common good.