March 10,2025
You have probably heard the phrase, but what exactly is Christian nationalism, and is it a good or bad thing? One source defines it as follows: “Christian nationalism is a form of religious nationalism that focuses on promoting the Christian views of its followers in order to achieve prominence or dominance in political or social life. It seeks to establish an exclusivist version of Christianity as the dominant moral and cultural order. In countries with a state church, Christian nationalists seek to preserve the status of a Christian state.” The conversation is important given the recent close identification of evangelical Christians with the Republican party, the MAGA movement, and Numbers 45 and 47, President Donald J. Trump. The discussion concerning Christian nationalism is particularly acute because it has divided evangelicals into two distinct camps, “for” and “against.” Two helpful volumes that address the subject in more depth than this article will are Thomas S. Kidd’s Who Is an Evangelical?: The History of a Movement in Crisis (New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 2019) and Evangelicals: Who They Have Been, Are Now, and Could Be, edited by Mark A. Noll, David W. Bebbington, and George M. Marsden (Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 2019).
In the estimation of this writer, Christian nationalism as a movement or ideal raises several red flags, three of which will be discussed here. First is its underlying assumption that America was specifically founded as a Christian nation. This is false. For example, consider the viewpoints of Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826) and Roger Williams (c. 1603-1683), a Baptist and the founder of Rhode Island. These two men, who could not be farther apart in relation to the Person and work of Jesus Christ, both agreed that a wall of separation between church and state was essential. The phrase, “wall of separation,” seems to have actually originated with Roger Williams, who sought to protect “the garden of the church” from the “wilderness of the world” by means of such a wall. Isn’t that interesting? The impetus for a “wall” came from the Christian side of the debate. Conversely, our emerging national government recognized a very basic problem: whose version of it would be so privileged? So, while the influence of the Bible cannot be seriously doubted or debated, that it was “the law of the land” was hardly the case.
Second, evangelicals have historically and helpfully been defined by four features: Biblicism, Crucicentrism, Conversionism, and Activism (David W. Bebbington, Evangelicalism in Modern Britain: A History from the 1730’s to the 1980’s (Boston, Sydney, Wellington: Unwin Hyman, 1989). Each of these characteristics can be traced through the New Testament and together reflect the distinguishing marks of the people of God. What does an evangelical “look like?” Well, an evangelical looks like this. It would prove valuable to evangelicals to reacquaint ourselves with our own historical identity and not be too quick to extend our tent to those outside of what are truly Biblical parameters. Like it or not, there is an “in” and an “out” when it comes to the identity of the body of Christ. Further, the union between Biblical Christianity and political power has never really been part of evangelicalism’s profile. And it has rarely been successful when tried. However, the desire to acquire, keep, and use political power remains strong. Yet this does not reflect the way of the cross (Mark 8:34-38).
Third, Christian nationalism at worst reflects a desire to inaugurate God’s kingdom on the earth through primarily human means. While reflecting God’s values in practice is a goal of what has long been called sanctification, apart from the indwelling presence and work of the Holy Spirit is bound to fail. One has to look no further than Old Testament Israel, the sole covenantal people on earth, and its privileged position, call, and failure. It is an example of kingdom-building without conversion. This is, in my own estimation, a shared weakness with the current evangelical form of the social justice movement. In this writer’s estimation it has conflated justice and evangelism. Christian nationalism in many ways neglects both.
Theology For Sheep 