Miguel DE LA TORRE, ed., Faith and Resistance in the Age of Trump. Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 2017.  pp. xxxi + 240. $22.00 pb. ISBN 978-1-62698-247-5. Reviewed by John SNIEGOCKI, Xavier University, Cincinnati, OH 45207-4442.

This book, a theological/ethical response to the Trump election, was sent to the printer within a month after the inauguration of Donald Trump as president. It consists mostly of short pieces reflecting upon the dangers of the Trump presidency and needed prophetic responses. The contributors are a diverse group of academics, ordained clergy, and activists. Most contributors are Christian, though there are several Jewish and Muslim contributors as well. Among the Roman Catholic authors are Simone Campbell, Miguel Díaz, Marie Dennis, Jacqueline Hidalgo, and Christiana Zenner.

Given the nature of the book (short pieces by many authors), there is much overlap of themes, emphasizing for example the dangers of the Trump presidency to people of color, immigrants and refugees, women, the LGBTQ community, indigenous peoples, the poor, democracy, and the environment (though the issue of climate change I would contend is not sufficiently emphasized.). Each selection generally devotes primary attention to one or two main concerns. Chapter topics, for example, include feminism, the Black Lives Matter movement, the sanctuary movement, capitalism, justice issues concerning water, the plight of low wage workers, and the perspectives of people with disabilities, among others.

Several of the most provocative essays in the book are those in which authors challenge other members of their own faith or racial/ethnic/gender groupings to come to deeper faithfulness in aligning with God’s concern for the marginalized. For example, Jim Wallis and David Gushee have powerful essays addressed in part to those who would identify as evangelical Christians, highlighting the many ways that Donald Trump contradicts professed evangelical values. “In my view, says Gushee, “the consensus white evangelical vote for Donald Trump has shattered whatever survived of the moral witness of white evangelicals to American culture and to the world.” (101) Similarly, Santiago Slabodsky challenges other members of the Jewish community to understand the ways in which the dominant narrative of the Holocaust has been abused to defend or overlook injustices, e.g. against Palestinians and African-Americans, and Susan Brooks Thistlethwaite challenges other white feminists to more deeply enter into solidarity with people of color.

Other notable essays in the volume include Simone Campbell’s discussion of low wage workers, Christiana Zenner’s discussion of water justice issues, Miguel de la Torre’s chapter of the numerous ways that people of color especially are disenfranchised within the US political system, and Kelly Brown Douglas’ chapter highlighting the vast history of racist backlash in the United States to progress by African-Americans. “Trump’s campaign and even election,” Brown Douglas asserts, “was as American as apple pie. It is not an anomaly.” (16)

In considering the book for classroom usage, several considerations should be noted. Given the overlapping/repetitious nature of many of the essays (there are nearly thirty essays in total), it probably would not be pedagogically wise to assign the whole book. Rather, using a few selected essays would likely be preferable. Also, uncritical use of language such as “abortion rights” in several essays and the lack of inclusion of the voices of prolife feminists (who share the many critiques of Trump but would argue for a more nuanced, consistent ethic of life approach to the issue of abortion) would likely hinder the effectiveness of the book in many Catholic and evangelical contexts especially.

Overall, the book rightly highlights the many profound dangers that the United States and the world face from the Trump presidency. The call put forth by Miguel de la Torre in the book’s conclusion, encouraging resistance “based on love designed to liberate both the abused from death-dealing social structures that deny their humanity, as well as the abuser whose own humanity is lost through complicity with these same structures” (231), is certainly a call that needs to be heeded and responded to.