Just as legions from Beijing to Brasilia are discovering how vital faith in Christ both saves the individual and offers moral ballast to culture, many Westerners have jettisoned and ridiculed that same faith. Perhaps global South believers will help Americans appreciate the value of their own spiritual legacy.

Revival Is Possible

In a move that conventional Christian doom-and-gloomers would not make, Aikman concludes with a hopeful chapter on “Countertrends,” contending that revival and renewal are always possible, even in contemporary America. He reminds readers of the remarkable successes of the evangelical revival in Britain that began with the work of John and Charles Wesley and George Whitefield in the 1730s. This movement not only revitalized Britain’s Christian commitment, but also fed the great antislavery campaign led by William Wilberforce. England was substantially re-Christianized during this century of revival, leading Aikman to believe that no process of religious decline and secularization is irreversible.

Among Aikman’s contemporary countertrends are new awakenings proceeding around the world, not least in China, a country where he has done extensive reporting (see his 2006 book Jesus in Beijing for the fruits of those labors). Aikman reveals that many Chinese intellectuals are becoming convinced that Christianity offers the moral order and spiritual succor lacking in communism. He also finds hopeful signs among college students and young professionals in the United States, including the burgeoning generation of Calvinist-minded believers described by Collin Hansen as the “young, restless, and reformed.”

One Nation Without God? ends with a Chinese economist, Zhao Xiao, reminding Americans that their peculiar national strength lies in their spiritual heritage. Zhao leaves us with an irony: Just as legions from Beijing to Brasilia are discovering how vital faith in Christ both saves the individual and offers moral ballast to culture, many Westerners have jettisoned and ridiculed that same faith. Perhaps global South believers will help Americans appreciate the value of their own spiritual legacy.

Thomas Kidd is senior fellow at the Institute for Studies of Religion at Baylor University, and the author most recently of Patrick Henry: First among Patriots (Basic Books). He is presently working on a biography of George Whitefield, to be published by Yale University Press.

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