This is one fascinating book: Survival and Resistance in Evangelical America: Christian Reconstruction in the Pacific Northwest by Crawford Gribben. It caught my eye for a few reasons. First, I pastored a Reformed church in the Pacific Northwest (Washington state) from 2007-2013. Although I’m no fan of reconstruction or resistance, I am quite familiar with the religious landscape of the PNW. Another reason this book caught my eye is that I’m familiar with one of the reconstructionist groups that has its headquarters in Moscow, Idaho and is led by the controversial pastor, Douglas Wilson. Finally, this book captured my attention because I’ve always been interested in learning more about the history of religious movements, sects, cults, and splinter groups in the United States (e.g. The Democratization of American Christianity by Nathan Hatch, When Time Shall Be No More: Prophecy Belief in Modern American Culture by Paul Boyer, Fundamentalism and the American Culture by George Marsden, and Without God, Without Creed by James Turner – just to name a few helpful resources on the topic).
Gribben’s book is meant to be an objective study of the religious groups that have migrated to the so-called freedom of the modern frontier, the Pacific Northwest. From the Mormons to the followers of Frank Bruce Robinson to followers of James Wesley Rawles and Douglas Wilson, “religious migrants have been moving in and out of Idaho [and the rest of the PNW] for 200 years’ (p. 20). However, the book mainly focuses on the modern, mostly white evangelical migration to the PNW. Gribben doesn’t critique or commend these movements. Nor does he go into all the details, such as the controversies swirling around Wilson’s group in Moscow (e.g. sexual allegations, plagiarism, racism, unorthodox theology, etc.). Gribben does his best to simply report in an objective way. His research is well documented with hundreds of endnotes.
The five main parts of Survival and Resistance in Evangelical America cover these topics: migration, eschatology, government, education, and media. These chapters are quite interesting. I learned a lot about the dots connecting reconstructionists R. J. Rushdoony and Gary North to Moscow. Another thing I learned more about was the Rawles’ survivalist movement, the “American Redoubt.” I’m aware of preppers and survivalists, but I never heard of Rawles before reading Gribben’s book. Of course, Gribben also talks about things like reconstructions and homeschooling. He also notes how reconstructionists use media as a weapon of Christian warfare, so to speak. The book even goes into the eschatology of these groups, including postmillenialism and its theonomic coloring.
Although I was wary of the reconstructionism in Moscow and the rest of the PNW before reading this book, now I’m even warier. This book raises so many red flags concerning these religious reconstructionist movements. Mass migration to follow a religious leader and his controversial ways is not something laudable or commendable! From theological, social, and practical standpoints, Gribben’s book has helped me see more danger in these kinds of American reconstructionist, survivalist, and resistance movements. Even if at some level some of these movements are Reformed-ish or Calvinistic, this book helped me see the dangers in them. If you’re interested in these topics, you’ll want to get the book!
Shane Lems
Hammond, WI, 54015
The Reformed Reader Blog 
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