The Gospel of J. Edgar Hoover

How the FBI Aided and Abetted the Rise of White Christian Nationalism

By: Lerone A. Martin

Narrated by: Langston Darby

The shocking untold story of how the FBI partnered with white evangelicals to champion a vision of America as a white Christian nation.

Lerone Martin draws on thousands of newly declassified FBI documents and memos to describe how, under J. Edgar Hoover's leadership, FBI agents attended spiritual retreats and worship services, creating an FBI religious culture that fashioned G-men into soldiers and ministers of Christian America. Martin shows how prominent figures such as Billy Graham, Fulton Sheen, and countless other ministers from across the country partnered with the FBI and laundered bureau intel in their sermons while the faithful crowned Hoover the adjudicator of true evangelical faith and allegiance. These partnerships not only solidified the political norms of modern white evangelicalism, they also contributed to the political rise of white Christian nationalism, establishing religion and race as the bedrock of the modern national security state, and setting the terms for today's domestic terrorism debates.

Taking listeners from the pulpits and pews of small-town America to the Oval Office, and from the grassroots to denominational boardrooms, The Gospel of J. Edgar Hoover completely transforms how we understand the FBI, white evangelicalism, and our nation's entangled history of religion and politics.

©2023 Princeton University Press (P)2023 HighBridge, a division of Recorded Books

A must read on the ties of the fbi and Christian nationalism

An informative and fascinating deep dive into J Edgar Hoover’s fbi empire which was founded on white Christian nationalism.

How natural that minority groups don't trust law enforcement.

Captured the historical context and drew a line to the present. Therefore, it rings true.

Unique & informative, narration is really rough

There are so many books dealing with Christian Nationalism these days, and this one is quite unique in my opinion. Lerone Martin is clearly an excellent researcher and brings a lot of information to the surface here. I'd say it's a really important book, and I wouldn't say that about all of the Christian Nationalism-related books I've read.

The narration is pretty rough, as others have mentioned. The narrator often pauses randomly in a sentence in such a way that makes me think I'm hearing the beginning of a quote. It's disorienting enough that it made it harder for me to understand the material.

Overall great though! I highly recommend reading a hard copy.

Alarming Material, Clunky Narration

The narration makes it harder to process than it needs to be. I am still glad I listened. This is on the level of "important reading" and "everyone should read this book."

Interesting and scary

I was very interested in this book after hearing an interview on NPR about how this story was researched. It made me very mad to know how White and “Christian” Hoover kept the FBI during his reign and how much he investigated people who didn’t fit into his Ideals. You will love and hate the information this author reveals