For those of you brave souls, crying out in the wilderness, who still want to reclaim white evangelicalism from the “Trumpism” that has now come to largely define it, good luck. Neil J. Young just splashed a lot of cold water on you. In a piece called “Time to Face Facts: White Evangelicalism Has Always Been Right Wing,” he takes on Richard Mouw’s proclamation that, ““Despite Trumpism, I’m not quitting evangelicalism.” Mouw, former president of Fuller Seminary, has been one... Read more
Here’s Molly Worthen, writing about the conflict over biblical authority, and in particular the doctrine of inerrancy, during the intramural skirmishes in the evangelicalism of the 1970s: The problem was this: The doctrine of inerrancy was a comforting gauze that concealed a great deal of ugliness. It disguised the compromise and confusion that are unavoidable when moderns try to live by an ancient and often obscure text. The doctrine of inerrancy had always been, in its essence a means of... Read more
Yes, indeed, pietism (properly understood, not simply in the sense of abstaining from dancing and such externals, no in the sense of witnessing for the truth and suffering for it, together with the sense that suffering in the world belongs to being a Christian, and that a shrewd and secular conformity with this world is unchristian)–yes indeed, pietism is the one and only consequence of Christianity. – S. Kierkegaard I’m looking forward to participating this Tuesday in a upcoming colloquium... Read more
Augustine’s theology of “original sin” has dominated and corrupted western theology for thousands of years. According to Augustine’s reading of Genesis 3, the disobedience of Adam and Eve results in severe consequences: a dramatic change in human nature, which means that all subsequent human beings are sinners, too — from the point of conception. We all inherited a corrupted sin nature, and also the guilt of Adam and Eve’s sin. This inheritance is passed along through the procreative act. This... Read more
This post is a contribution to the Patheos Book Club discussion of Thomas Moore’s The Soul of Christmas. Christmas is a time to look toward the light. This is Thomas Moore’s suggestion, in his beautiful little book, The Soul of Christmas. Moore points out Christmas was strategically placed on December 25, which was the day of the Roman pagan celebration of the “unconquered sun,” the emergence of light from the darkness of winter. He writes, Sol-stice is the time when... Read more
Molly Worthen’s The Apostles of Reason: The Crisis of Authority in American Evangelicalism, is a lively and fresh look into the strategic morphing of early 20th century fundamentalism into the conservative, white Protestant movement known today as evangelicalism, or by its more technical term, “neo-evangelicalism.” “Neo-evangelicalism” was the term adopted by leaders of this movement who wanted to distance themselves from the perceived cultural backwardness of their fundamentalist forebears (ala the fire-breathing version of preachers like Billy Sunday – image... Read more
White evangelicals used to care a lot about whether political candidates’ moral character matched their own values. Now, apparently, they don’t. Or most of them, anyway. Robert P. Jones, in a Time piece from a few days ago, brings attention to exit polls which reveal a stunning switch in (white) evangelicals’ attitudes about the personal morality of their preferred political candidates: He writes, In 2011 and again just ahead of the election, PRRI asked Americans whether a political leader who... Read more
The following is a guest post by Silas Morgan. Silas earned his PhD from the Department of Theology at Loyola University in Chicago, Illinois. He is the managing editor at Syndicate Theology and adjunct faculty at Hamline University in St. Paul, MN. He kindly gave me permission to re-post an abridged version of his “letter to his Christian Ethics students.” A letter to my students Christian ethics after Trump “The greatest danger to Christianity is, I contend, not heresies, not... Read more
Like many of you, I couldn’t believe what I was watching last night on CNN, as one after another, the grey states turned red. I went to bed before it was official, but woke up to the news. We’re now, or soon to be, living in the land of Trump. My 6 year old daughter “voted” in her school’s election yesterday. She voted for the “the girl,” because, well, why wouldn’t she? We hadn’t coached her on policies, political parties,... Read more
What’s up with those evangelicals? Is it the end of the world? Matthew Sutton’s book American Apocalypse: A History of Modern Evangelicalism, is a fascinating, meticulously researched and well-written study of the complicated relationship between fundamentalism, evangelicalism, and the interplay of these movements within modern culture. Sutton argues that the distinguishing feature of modern fundamentalism and its morphing into evangelicalism, that which differentiates those conservative streams of Christianity from the rest of the modern world, is an ardent apocalypticism;... Read more
Unsystematic Theology
Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In