Most of what is written about Christian nationalism is silly. Critics and analysts sweepingly deride conventional Christian conservatives as Christian nationalists. By some counts, there are, by this definition, tens of millions of Christian nationalists. Sometimes even civil religion, with its homage to a vague deity, is labeled Christian nationalism. If so, all presidents from George Washington to Joe Biden are Christian nationalists.
The United Methodist Church in the Ivory Coast voted on May 28 to exit the denomination. In 2022, this conference reportedly had over 1.2 million members.
I will miss the idea of a great national denomination, as American Christianity becomes post-denominational. But the new, less centralized expressions of Christianity in America will continue and even amplify God’s work.
Such Christian nationalists disdain MacArthur’s 20th-century brand of premillennial dispensationalism that assumes the church’s role is chiefly saving souls before the end times.
Nearly all self-identified Christian Nationalists are Calvinists, typically Presbyterian like Wolfe, but often theologically Reformed Baptists like the subjects of the Politico article.
One Asbury Seminary professor recounted his brief visit to the university auditorium, citing a great sense of serenity. He could have stayed for hours, he said. But like the woman healed by the mere touch of Jesus’s garment, as he described it, he felt whole and left contentedly after 90 minutes.
Catholic thinkers would provide the intellectual leadership for the more numerous evangelical spearcarriers. With evangelicals, Catholics could potentially create a political majority for social conservatism.
