There are at least three types of Christian Nationalists: the highbrow Wolfeans (HW), the folk evangelicals (FE) who have always spoken vaguely of “takin’ this country back,” and the barely Christian, mostly charismatic/megachurch dominionist-NARcrowd (I’ll call them CMDs).
The self-consciously protestant HW crowd is numerically insignificant. They have the potential to make trouble in the NAPARC, the SBC, the vaguely “reformed” smarter evangelicals, and conservative megachurches. They claim the Reformed confessions when convenient. Without the Muscovite Wilsonians they would not exist. They have some connection to principled establishmentarianism and are clearly (but not thoroughly) influenced by theonomy and reconstructionism. What they really need for success is a time machine.
The most disturbing aspect of the HW crowd is their connection to and dependence upon (because the HW followers are few) the creepy Andrew Torba and ethno-nationalist online edgelord crowd. It seems the HW crowd does not know how to quit that element. In fact, their “no enemies to the right” mantra (inherited from Schmitt, a Third Reich thinker) may make quitting the most unsavory elements in their orbit impossible. Their program (to some extent) rests on the idea that there has to be a societal breakdown for them to ascend. This is not an appealing or altogether rational ethos. Read More»
Brad Isbell | “Updated: The Various Kinds of Christian Nationalists” | January 7, 2025
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Dr. Clark,
What do you make of the rise of CN in NAPARC circles, and how can we combat this? I believe that I’ve seen you seemingly dismiss their influence in pulpits (which I hope is true), but my experience with Presbyterians (both OPC and PCA) paints a very different picture. I know pastors that believe in an established church. One in particular likes political influencers like Auron MacIntyre (who has called for a Prostestant Franko and is scheduled to speak at Joel Webbon’s “Trashworld” conference). A good portion of the young men in my church adhere to either theonomy, theocracy, or CN. When I’ve tried to steer them towards a more 2K perspective (such as sharing content from this site or other like minded Christians like VanDrunnen) they’ve responded by accused this camp of rejecting historic Protestant/Reformed political theory. I even know one individual who’s a borderline Neo-Nazi (he believes that Hitler was fighting against Jewish secularism and that the Holocaust is a Jewish conspiracy). I’m personally very concerned about their influence in Reformed circles, and from what I can tell it’s only picking up steam.
Brain,
I don’t think I’ve dismissed it. I’ve written virtually an entire book responding to and refusing the Christian Nationalism Statement, and I’ve made a podcast series out of the same.
What I have said, following the lead of Brad Isbell, is that it is a form of “cosplay.”
These are people who aren’t actually going to do anything except mislead people, confused people, and possibly insight people to do bad things. They are pretenders.
When I say they aren’t going to do “anything.” What I mean is that they are proposing a revolution. That revolution could only be achieved by violence and I don’t believe that they are going to do that. That said, I do believe that their ideology could lead to serious mischief.
This, I certainly take it seriously.
How to oppose it?
By teaching people a proper, amillennial eschatology, and by teaching people how to think about Christ twofold kingdom.
I share your concern about the neo Nazi influence in Christian nationalist circles. I have been highlighting that in this space.
Dr. Clark,
Thanks for your response. I agree with your comment. What I was referring to was it’s influence in NAPARC denominations. It’s definitely there, and it’s growing. Perhaps I’ve overlooked it (that’s very possible), but what do you make of the CNers that are amillennial 2K (I’m thinking of people like Wolfe here). Most of the work I’ve seen you do with CN analyses it from the theonomic manifestation rather than the 2k version (again, maybe I’ve missed it. That’s very possible). While practically I don’t see a lot of difference between them and the Wilson/Rushdooney theonomic/reconstruction types, they are taking a different angle, and it seems like they are being more effective influencing people by claiming that their politics aligns with the reformers (at least in my limited circle). I’m not sure how he aligns with Wolfe, but Sola Media recently interviewed a guy at who seemed to be in this camp. Do you think it’s important to distinguish the two?
Brain,
See https://heidelblog.net/christian-nationalism
Pete Hegseth is a Christian Reconstructionist and attends a Wilsonian church. He will be in command of the world’s most powerful military. That is scary.
Gary,
I share your concerns about the CREC and Wilson. I don’t think anyone can reasonably doubt that but what if Mitt Romney, a devout member of the LDS, was president, with his access to the nuclear briefcase? Would that have scared you too? What about Nixon’s Quakerism or Kennedy’s Roman Catholicism? That’s why he went to Texas, to assure the Baptists that he wasn’t taking orders from the Vatican? What about Biden’s Roman Catholicism? Judging by his border policies, he might actually have been taking orders from Francis.
I’m opposed to the CREC and Wilson (search the archives) but I’m also an adherent to the Constitution of the United States, which says:
There may well be reasons to disqualify a cabinet or political nominee but religion cannot be one of them.
Thank you for this explanation! It is very clear and explains well those very thoughts I’ve had recently.
Unlike most (not all) of the people reading here, I live in an Army town. Hegseth is being widely applauded for his “stop the woke” approach. A lot of servicemembers and veterans who are broadly evangelical, or aren’t particularly interested in religion but have “traditional values,” are cheering him on.
He didn’t have any particularly horrible nightmares in his Senate confirmation hearings, and the one person who truly could have stopped his nomination, Sen. Joni Ernst, seems to have gotten on board with him.
Trump clearly understood he was tapping into a wave of anti-woke sentiment among the enlisted personnel, junior-to-mid-ranking officers, and military families when he nominated Hegseth, who is best known for a “stop the woke” approach.
We can expect that Hegseth will probably become the next Secretary of Defense, barring something utterly disqualifying coming out in the next few weeks.
The good part is that, thanks to Hegseth, I’m going to have a lot of Baptists and fundamentalists and broad evangelicals who will start to say that Calvinism is at least tolerable and that I’m not a heretic because I support infant baptism and TULIP.
The bad part is I’m going to have to spend huge amounts of time saying, “Well, just like you Baptists have differences, we do too, and I don’t agree with this, this, this, and this being taught by the CREC. Recognize that just like there are lots of different Baptist denominations, not everyone with the word ‘Reformed’ in their denominational name believes the same thing.”
I don’t think those of us in the confessional Reformed world are prepared for the impact the Hegseth’s nomination has already had, and that, if he’s successful as SecDef, his cabinet position will have on the reputation of Calvinism in America.
It’ll be interesting to watch for sure. I’m not sure what to expect. It’ll probably help our reputation in some corners and hurt it in others. Hopefully it’s not a net negative for us (I’m not speaking politically here of course. I image he’ll be a good SOD for the reasons you outlined, but I guess we’ll see there as well.)