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ADORNING THE GOSPEL OR STRIPPING IT BARE?

CASE STUDIES ILLUSTRATING
THE DANGERS OF CHRISTIAN NATIONALISM

A PAPER PRESENTED

AT THE 2024 ANNUAL MEETING OF 
THE EVANGELICAL THEOLOGICAL SOCIETY

Christian Nationalism (CN), as described by Stephen Wolfe (click for the audio of an ETS panel discussion featuring Wolfe), threatens to diminish the witness of the evangelical Gospel around the world. Wolfe’s political theory will be used as a window through which to vi...

The following excerpt is well worth consideration in light of the issues at stake in the United States:
“Why is authoritarianism not resisted more vigorously in India? …The first reason has to do with the fact that populists-turned authoritarians do nothing illegal at the start, and they adopt an incremental modus operandi. As Levitsky and Ziblatt have shown, ‘This is how democracies now die…Since the end of the Cold War, most democratic breakdowns have been caused not by generals a...

While the Trump campaign is announcing his re-election as the result of “the greatest political movement of all time,” the popular vote tells an unusual story that, if anything, undermines this narrative. I am not here to squeeze sour grapes into wine, rather I am deeply intrigued by how the recent election unfolded. In 2020 Trump lost the election after receiving 74.2 million votes (46.8% of votes cast). This year, he won the election with 77.3 million votes (49.9% of votes cast). In 20...

The presidency of Donald Trump divided my family the way it has many others.[1] The day before the 2020 election, a shouting match led to the termination of all such conversations with my parents to this very day four years later. I never thought that my family relationships could be harmed by anyone from the outside, let alone a political figure. My heart aches for the way things used to be, as anyone that knows me, knows how much I love to sit and talk with loved ones. I love to hear their...

The story is told of Fanny Crosby, that sweet hymnist of our country, of how it was that she wrote the lyrics to My Savior First of All. One summer night at a Christian camp in Western New York near Lake Erie, an aged Fanny was enjoying a summer evening on the porch in a rocking chair, when she was joined by one John Sweney, who was himself also musician and song writer. 

After sharing their love of hymns and Christian music together, Sweney lamented how such a fine Christian had been born...