Toward Evangelical Alternatives
This post is being republished from American Reformer. It was originally published at launch in 2021.
A troubling trend has arisen among America’s evangelical leadership class. Even many who remain theologically orthodox no longer boldly proclaim the truth or confidently stand up for that truth in governing the institutions they lead. They have become particularly averse to any countercultural application of these truths to politics and culture.
Many of these leaders recognize that Christianity offers—in addition to salvation—a different and better way to live, with implications for society. They recognize that Western civilization and American culture, which have been heavily shaped by Christianity, offer traditions and ways of life that have been particularly conducive to human flourishing.
Yet out of guilt over the past failures of this culture, these leaders refuse to defend our historical culture and its virtues or to proclaim the truth to a culture rapidly rejecting it. Some go further, actively deprecating our culture and even the church itself.
Such people wrap their appeals in the language of humility, but actually seek to abdicate the responsibility of cultural and political influence they have inherited as stewards of Christian institutions, and even to abdicate responsibility for these institutions themselves.
They do so knowing full well that any successor regime in America will likely be worse than what we face today—not only for them and those like them, but even for the very groups they claim we have wronged—because such a successor would abandon much of what has contributed to the blessings our government and society have enjoyed.
These Christians entrusted with power and influence lack the will to defend our culture and its virtues—which have provided such blessings to those born here and to generations of immigrants—and would instead surrender this great treasure with which we’ve been entrusted. They seek to atone for the sins of our ancestors and the imperfections of our present regime by handing our cultural and political inheritance to those they recognize would destroy it, rather than stewarding this responsibility and working to glorify God by expanding its blessings.
The causes of this lack of will are probably many. A central factor is guilt, and a failure to appreciate grace, that leads these leaders to obsess over past failures instead of focusing on the good we can do today. This aligns with the broader narrative gaining dominance in our society that blames America for all manner of crimes and evils, while undercutting the basis for any defense of its traditions and institutions. It does so by casting aspersions on America’s political, economic and cultural systems, and especially on the men who helped shape American history. Worse, they develop contempt for ordinary Christians, using less-culturally conformist believers as a scapegoat for their own shame.
Another factor is cowardice. Proclaiming a controversial truth requires courage, and stewarding the institutions they lead requires difficult and often unpopular decisions. An alternative narrative has developed that instead allows them to abdicate their responsibility to lead: by focusing only on past failures they justify concessions to activists and conveniently give themselves a way out of the hard work of courageous leadership. While Christian leaders may still not be popular in secular circles (given the inherent stigma of Christianity), they can at least avoid most conflict. They likewise can often remain in comfortable positions atop Christian institutions, despite undermining their own authority and making concessions that compromise their distinctive mission.
Perhaps related is the process by which these people rise to power or influence. Many have had their rise facilitated, or even driven, by institutions largely hostile to the truth. Such gatekeeping institutions, ranging from Ivy League universities to high-status publications, will invariably favor Christians whose views (even if sincerely held) are unthreatening or even useful for their own objectives—particularly narratives that undermine Christianity’s claim to any special authority in matters of politics and culture. More broadly, many who have climbed to the top of Christian institutions are essentially careerists. Careerism by nature involves an aversion to risk-taking and conflict, much as consumerism—an often-accompanying trait—leads to an aversion to anything that threatens material comfort. Like careerists across all domains of our society, these Christian leaders have gravitated to a narrative that justifies their abdication of the unpopular (and uncomfortable) decision-making that traditionally accompanied such roles.
Whatever the causes, this disastrous narrative—which undermines the claim to authority by which Christians can guide and steward society—has gained traction in the church. Far from challenging it, evangelical leaders are often the ones most actively pushing this narrative. Since evangelical elites, often looking to secular credentialism, choose and elevate their own successors, the solution is unlikely to come from within.
Instead, we need a new forum dedicated to a distinctly Christian approach. Evangelicals are hungry for leaders who will boldly proclaim the truth and confidently lead them in an increasingly hostile world. Americans of all stripes recognize our society has become unmoored, and that the secular consensus that dominated the last century is untenable. Alternatives grounded in Christian understanding and in the American and Western traditions shaped by Christianity can have broad appeal. American Reformer will offer that alternative.
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What we don’t need is to repeat past failures. And those past failures stemmed from not being able to distinguish what we should push onto society through seeking legislative changes from what we preach when evangelizing. The failures that some evangelicals feel guilty about are not just past failures, they are current ones too. And some want to resurrect past failures such as Christendom. But there is nothing in the New Testament that justifies Christendom.
I don’t see the aforementioned evangelicals being shy about promoting countercultural messages. They give them when they evangelize. But they recognize that there were other traditions that play roles in the emergence and continuation of America. And some of those traditions did not serve America well. And one of those traditions that hurt America was Christian hubris over the state and society.
Finally, we should note what the past failures of Christendom include: slavery, Jim Crow, racism, sexism, imperialism, colonialism, ethnic cleansing, inquisitions, religious wars, and 2 world wars. In Germany, they remind their people of the past, they don’t run away from it. They teach their kids about what some of their ancestors did and that it must never be repeated. And despite that, there are still at least a few who lean toward the kind of thinking and approaches that led to those past atrocities. Perhaps we Christians could learn a thing or two from the Germans in how we think about and approach Christendom.
No thanks, that sounds boring and will not end well!
Andrew,
And so learning from past failures is boring and worthless? Do you see how you are portraying yourself?
Amen, Nate. Thank you for your courage to lead on this front.
Jonny Ardavanis:
The Democratic Party is a demonic death cult under the power and influence of Satan.
To vote for a platform that is building their platform upon everything God hates: the mutilation of bodies, the annihilation of babies in the womb, and the sexualization of your children. That is their calling card, that is what they want to do.
PDQ Bach,
And the Republican Party still manages to be worse.
Completely agree.
Except that the approach at American Reformer isn’t Christian. It isn’t truth centered or Bible centered or Christ centered.
It should be. As you said, the world needs it.