Daniel J. Mount’s Blog

Thomas Nelson recently released The Faith of Barack Obama by Stephen Mansfield. Mansfield is perhaps best known for his 2004 book The Faith of George W. Bush; his other books have also tended to be biographies of conservative political figures, or focusing on themes amenable to conservative Christians.

With that background, it is somewhat surprising that he would choose the faith of the Democratic presidential nominee—who is no conservative—as his current book topic. But even that is not the most surprising aspect of the project.

In a heated election year, one would expect most biographies of presidential candidates to be at least slightly slanted, either to encourage the reader to vote for the individual or the opposite. Rarely is this blatant; unlike campaign biographers of the mid-1800s, campaign biographers today realize that subtlety is often more effective. A selective presentation of the evidence, favoring points that are either likely to resonate with or repel the intended audience, can often be done so subtly that the average reader does not even realize how the presentation of evidence or choice of wording impacts their reaction to the book.

The Faith of Barack Obama comes across as a genuine attempt to find the truth about his religious experience and beliefs and portray it fairly and accurately, largely in terms that Obama himself would likely find unobjectionable. (I do not mean to say that the purpose of the book was either strictly academic or entirely altruistic; Mansfield undoubtedly realized earlier this year that Obama will be the defining force in this election, and that more people—Republicans and Democrats alike—would purchase a book on Obama’s faith than on John McCain’s.)

For roughly twenty years, Obama attended Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago, Illinois. The church was led until this year by Rev. Jeremiah Wright. This man, who shaped Obama’s religious and political views so profoundly, has been caricatured in the public mind more than any other supporting actor in this year’s political drama. The book paints a picture of a man with a surprising juxtaposition of orthodox and unorthodox doctrines; though he might say incendiary things about only believing the portions of the Bible that relate to his black liberation theology, Wright also presents an orthodox view of salvation.

His portrayal of Obama’s personal faith sticks closely enough to Obama’s own words that it has the ring of authenticity. Obama is a man who will say he believes “in the redemptive death and resurrection of Jesus Christ” and “that faith gives me a path to be cleansed of sin and have eternal life,” but he will also that “I believe there are many paths to the same place and that is a belief that there is a higher power, a belief that we are connected as a people.”

The book seems to drift somewhat in Chapter 5, “Four Faces of Faith.” The chapter contains treatments of the faith of John McCain, Hillary Clinton, and George W. Bush. The section on Bush was adapted from The Faith of George W. Bush, while the sections on McCain and Clinton read like the synopses of the books Mansfield could have written had the election gone differently. There is an effort to tie the threads together at the end of the chapter with a comparison to Obama; this is a decent recovery from a chapter that seemed to be a surprising departure.

The conclusion, on the direction in which Obama’s faith may be changing the attitude of the Democratic party toward Christians, is well-written.

Someone who picked up the book expecting most of its pages to discuss Obama’s personal faith would probably be disappointed. But that is less a failing on Mansfield’s part and more that Obama has not given us much source material to work with.

The book does not succeed in demonstrating that Obama’s religion is a major force in shaping his politics—but in its defense, it doesn’t particularly try. It does succeed in showing how Obama’s faith and politics intersect, with his political views often the predominant force.