This American moment: a feminist Christian realism intervention

This American Moment focuses on the concept of anxiety politics by arguing that America is in crisis. Those who uphold or participate in racist and misogynist politics are threatened by changes to the status quo, such as the economic gains made by women and therefore respond with reactivity and defensiveness. This book examines first, the Black Lives Matter campaign as the latest disruption of the raced structures that define America and the anxious reactions that seek to protect and maintain the race structures; second, the particular economic, bodily, and reproductive health vulnerabilities that women face that have amalgamated into America’s War on Women as anxious reactions to maintain patriarchy; and, finally, the how racism and misogyny unwittingly and rather unexpectedly led to the election of Trump and opened the door to fascism in the United States. The book argues that these are all destructive outcomes of anxiety and responds by envisioning a creative intervention: arguing that an alternative response to anxiety is to think creatively about our relationships, society, and politics. The author poses this as feminist Christian realism, an update of Reinhold Niebuhr’s Christian realism, arguing that religious approaches still have a place in politics and international relations.