BOOK REVIEW: James Atwood’s America and its Guns: A Theological Exposé – Cynthia Holder Rich
Read Mark Rich’s Essay, “America and its Violence as Creation and Salvation”
James Atwood, Presbyterian Church (USA) pastor, activist, and participant on the committee that wrote Gun Violence, Gospel Values: Mobilizing in Response to God’s Call, the PCUSA GA policy statement on gun violence, has also written a challenging book that calls those who follow Jesus to think deeply and theologically about the role guns play in our society.
Atwood is unapologetically partison in his approach. He states unequivocally, backed up by substantial research, that where there are more guns, there will be more gun violence which will lead to more gun deaths. In this, he follows and echoes many other scholars and authors.
The theological truth he unpacks which I find most intriguing is his analysis of idolatry in American society, and in much of Christian life in the country, particularly around guns. Guns are idols to us, Atwood states, because they are believed to be able to give life, bring life, and protect life. They are idols because they can do none of these, he argues. In fact, they not only do not give, bring or protect life; they take life from us and from our society and the human community. One of the signs of an idol is the requirement it makes of human sacrifice. God does not call us to sacrifice life in order that we find salvation; Atwood maintains that the idol of the gun does just that.
Atwood explores what he calls “violence lite” – the entertainment value of violence, from contact sports to video games to TV shows and movies. His chapter on the myth of redemptive violence, so powerful in American life and popular understandings of history, includes a significant homage to the work of Walter Wink, who coined the phrase. In that chapter, Atwood maintains that the myth of redemptive violence is foundational for the USA and for understanding the actions of the USA in the world historically and currently. And Atwood does an historical study of the 2nd Amendment and the ways in which he suggests it is used to increase the growth of the gun industry and the use and ownership of guns in our society.
Finally, Atwood sees violence and particularly gun violence as a spiritual issue, not just a political one. He challenges Christians about our belief in the power of the Lamb of God, Jesus of Nazareth, who responded nonviolently in a violent and oppressive society. Do we believe Jesus – the Prince of Peace, the one who advised us to turn the other cheek, he who went to the cross to vanquish sin and death forever – do we believe this Jesus has the power to save? Or, will we/do we put our faith in guns?
I commend this book to you and to congregational boards and committees for study and reflection. Atwood’s challenges are deep and profound – and sure to anger many. It is not an easy conversation to have in congregations of people who profess faith in Jesus. Atwood calls us to have this conversation, noting that we cannot avoid this and faithfully follow the Christ.