As the political rhetoric in the United States continues its descent into utter, irretrievable ridiculousness, the new label of the Left to describe Republicans is "Christian Nationalists". No one seems to be able to put their finger on exactly what a Christian Nationalist is, but hey, in the modern age you have to shoot first and ask questions later. I got to thinking about this label today in light of some of the theological things I've learned over the past few years and it seems to me that the idea of Christian Nationalism, if it even exists, grows in large part out of Supersessionism, that is, the idea that God has transferred his promises from Israel to the Church. More specifically in this case, it is the idea that somehow the United States of America is at the center of God's plan for the earth.
To make a serious attempt at defining what Christian Nationalism is, I googled it :) Interestingly, the first two results that came up were anti-Christian Nationalism organizations. So I switched to Duck Duck Go. Pew Research was my first stop and a surprising result: "a new Pew Research Center survey finds that more than half of all U.S. adults (54%) have not heard or read anything about Christian nationalism. An additional 16% of Americans have heard at least "a little" about Christian nationalism but say they have neither a favorable nor unfavorable view of it, or that they don't know enough to take a position." That's an interesting statistic since Christianity Today, Time, the New Yorker, and NPR all have articles talking about what a threat this is. Btw, interesting thing about the NPR article...they claim that over half of Republicans support Christian Nationalism...which when compared to the Pew Research piece makes you wonder how both things can be true. I digress. Christianity.com tried to gather a few opinions - here are a couple of the takes from their article on it.
Christian Nationalism is:
"...a cultural framework that idealizes and advocates a fusion of Christianity with American civic life. It contends that America has been and should always be distinctively Christian from top to bottom - in its self-identity, interpretation of its own history, sacred symbols, cherished values, and public policies - and it aims to keep it that way. But, the Christian in Christian Nationalism is more about identity than religion. It carries with it assumptions about nativism, white supremacy, authoritarianism, patriarchy, and militarism." - Andrew Whitehead (author of "Taking Back America for God: Christian Nationalism in the United States")
"...a desire to have a God-centered nation run by godly people - namely, Christians therefore "taking back" the nation for God." - Lisa Loraine Baker
So, polar opposites really - Christian Nationalism either encompasses 'white supremacy, authoritarianism, patriarchy and militarism' or it's an honest movement where believers 'desire to have a God-centered nation'. It seems like there is a lot of room for nuance between these two definitions...and that's where I find it hard to believe this (Christian Nationalism) is a serious movement. In my sphere of the world, I cannot think of a single person who identifies as a Christian who would be in favor of white supremacy, authoritarianism, patriarchy or militarism. Having said that, I do know there are people like that out there, but I have to imagine that is a very small (if vocal) minority. I digress again. Here's Christianity Today's commentary:
"Christian nationalism is the belief that the American nation is defined by Christianity, and that the government should take active steps to keep it that way. Popularly, Christian nationalists assert that America is and must remain a “Christian nation”—not merely as an observation about American history, but as a prescriptive program for what America must continue to be in the future. Scholars like Samuel Huntington have made a similar argument: that America is defined by its “Anglo-Protestant” past and that we will lose our identity and our freedom if we do not preserve our cultural inheritance. Christian nationalists do not reject the First Amendment and do not advocate for theocracy, but they do believe that Christianity should enjoy a privileged position in the public square. The term “Christian nationalism,” is relatively new, and its advocates generally do not use it of themselves, but it accurately describes American nationalists who believe American identity is inextricable from Christianity."
Here is a quote from that same article that I found curious:
"Some have advocated for an amendment to the Constitution to recognize America’s Christian heritage, others to reinstitute prayer in public schools. Some work to enshrine a Christian nationalist interpretation of American history in school curricula, including that America has a special relationship with God or has been “chosen” by him to carry out a special mission on earth. Others advocate for immigration restrictions specifically to prevent a change to American religious and ethnic demographics or a change to American culture. Some want to empower the government to take stronger action to circumscribe immoral behavior."
"America has a special relationship with God or has been "chosen" by him to carry out a special mission on earth"...that was the line that stuck out to me. This is where I want to sit for the rest of this post.
What Does America have to do with Jerusalem?
Tertullian (160-240AD), an ancient philosopher and theologian is famous for saying "what indeed does Athens have to do with Jerusalem"? At the time of this quote, he was arguing back and forth with Clement about the syncretism of Greek philosophy with faith in The Way (in modern parlance, Christian theology). He argued, rightly in my opinion, that Greek philosophy had nothing to do with Hebraic (Christian) theology. Greek philosophy was beginning to superimpose its ideas and worldview over the worldview of the Tanakh (Old Testament) and was creating something that didn't exist before. You can see the fruits of this Frankensteinian approach today. How many people do you encounter in conversation who believe you have a spirit that goes to Heaven when you die? This is a Platonic (Greek) idea and was not found anywhere in the Old Testament. Also, the idea of "this is not my home, I'm just passing through" - again, a Greek concept born out of the idea that there is some perfect place, separate from here, where we end up when we die. This is not a idea that came out of the ancient Hebraic worldview nor would it have been something taught by Jesus or his Apostles. I could go much further in to that, but that's for another time.
Whether Tertullian realized it, he was ultimately fighting against cultural appropriation...namely, Greek influence taking over and ultimately obscuring (or outright poisoning) the theology laid down in the Tanahk. He ended up losing that battle (mainly because of Origen) and now for the past 2000 years, we have theologian upon theologian building on at least some ideas that would have been foreign to an ancient Hebrew, Jesus, Paul, etc. Not only that, but because of that influence, much of the Church outside of Israel believes that either God has transferred his promises from Israel to the Church or they think that there is no longer distinction between Jew and Gentile. They will say things like "Israel is now the Church" or something along those lines. Even if you get someone who has thought about these things for longer than 5 minutes, they may say that they believe that Israel is still important to God, but will fail to see the implications of that for the modern day believer. Let's give people the benefit of the doubt and say that most people are like that person I just described...because this may be the subtlest form of Satan's lies.
There is one of two possibilities: 1) God remains faithful to Israel and to his promises made to Israel. We can debate by what is meant by "Israel" but the definition I'm working off of is one of ethnic/national identity...practicing Jews both inside and outside of the current land of Israel. 2) God has forsaken Israel and transferred his promises to the Church. This second option is impossible. It is impossible because if God can break his covenant with Israel, then He is a liar and unworthy of anyone's trust; Psalm 89:30-37 and Jeremiah 33:19-21 say this explicitly. Let us disregard this option.
If God remains faithful to ethnic/national Israel and to the promises He has made to them, then not only do they still remain important to God, but they remain a focus of His work in the world, and perhaps more importantly, they remain THE focus of the work that is yet to come. Yes, the Gospel is being spread to the entire world, I'm not arguing against that. What I'm arguing for is that God has set things up in a way where there is a first-born and a second-born. Ethnic/National Israel is God's first-born - and along with being the first-born comes special assignment and special responsibility. Paul seems to reiterate this a few times in Romans with the line "to the Jew first and then to the Gentile/Greek" (here is a really helpful commentary on this phrase, if you're interested). The 'God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob' and the 'God of Israel' is still the same God today - and he is the one who identified himself in that way. Israel's special assignment was to "be a light to the nations" (Isaiah 42:6) and a "city on a hill" (Jerusalem is/was literally on a hill, referenced by Jesus in Matthew 5) - God's promise to Abraham in Genesis 12 was that through Israel, all of the rest of the nations would be blessed. The calling of the nation of Israel was to be God's ambassadors, teaching the rest of the World about who He is and what He's about. Their special responsibility was to serve as a priesthood - stewarding what had been given to them in the form of the Law and the sacrificial system. Jesus hints at what this will look like in the end, when he tells his Apostles that they will judge the twelve tribes (Matt 19:28)...another way of saying that is that our Jewish brothers and sisters will be the ones administrating Jesus' kingdom when he returns.
This leads me to another thing worth mentioning - the Tanakh is clear, particularly through God's covenant with David - Jesus' throne will be in Jerusalem and it is Jerusalem that the rest of the nations will go to in order to learn from and hear from Jesus. Over and over and over again in the Old Testament, you see the centrality of Jerusalem. 2 Samuel 7 is where you can find God's covenant with David - I encourage you to read it for yourself, along with Isaiah 2.
What does Christian Nationalism have to do with Following Jesus? (short answer: nothing)
Supercessionism (the idea that the Church has replaced Israel), whether subtle or overt, is what lies at the heart of the idea that the United States is in any way "chosen" by God. As we sit here in the 21st century, the wicked 'fruits' of Supercessionism in the American church are becoming ripe and the cancer has metastasized. Make no mistake, the United States is "the nations" that Scripture refers to, not Israel. Thus, we are not the main characters of the story, nor will we ever be the main characters at any point in the story. We are the blessed nations - blessed because of the faithful remnant of Israel that preserved Scripture and passed it down to us. Blessed because of Jesus' work on the cross which was graciously extended those who would submit to his Lordship, regardless of ethnicity of nationality. Fortunate to be able to share in the rewards, with our believing Jewish brothers and sisters, of eternal life and a place in the Kingdom. Having said that though, we need to know our place. We are not bringing about the Kingdom anymore than Nicodemus was in John 3. Whether the laws of our nation reflect Biblical morals or not is not going to hasten Jesus' return. Rather - we each bear responsibility on our own to spread the message of hope. That doesn't mean that we sit idly by while our country declines morally - but it does mean that when this country inevitably slides into wickedness, we don't lose our minds and take our focus off of what matters, convinced that this is all there is. Jesus has already won. God confirmed Him as the worthy judge. We can trust in his fidelity to the promises he made to Abraham and to David. We can rest in the knowledge that God cares about us Gentiles and always has.
Why Does this Matter?
Some may see this as difference without distinction - in other words, what does it matter if Americans are not the 'chosen' people of God? I think for the American Church though, this does matter because ultimately, what we think about this issue colors how we a) view ourselves in relationship to Scripture and b) how we view present-day outcomes like political elections, legislature results, and the like. I don't mean to sound nihilistic, but the fact that this country is sliding away from God is not a surprise!
Paul could not have been more clear - it is God himself that has hardened the hearts of his people (Israel) - Romans 11:25: "For I do not want you to be ignorant of this mystery, brothers and sister, so that you may not be conceited (self-centered, self-important, egotistical): A partial hardening has happened to Israel until the full number of the Gentiles has come in." Two things to notice in that verse are that God still recognizes a difference between his people (Israel) and the Gentiles and that God's hardening of Israel's hearts is unto his mercy to the Gentiles. It is my humble suggestion that we not become self-centered as Paul warns...thinking that somehow the American Church (or even the Church global) has become the focus of God's redemptive plan on this Earth...the plan has not changed from the way God set it up originally. God's intentional pursuit of 'the nations' has become a temporary focus, but only until 'the fullness of the Gentiles has come in'. At that point, God will move forward with what He has already said he is going to do...namely, put someone (Jesus) on David's throne to rule from Jerusalem and to judge both his own people and the nations.
"In regards to the gospel, they (unbelieving Israel) are enemies for your sake, but in regard to election, they are DEARLY LOVED for the sake of the patriarchs. For the gifts and call of God are irrevocable. Just as you (Gentiles) were formerly disobedient to God, but have now received mercy due to their (unbelieving Israel) disobedience, so they too have now been disobedient in order that, by the mercy shown to you, they too may now receive mercy. For God has consigned all people to disobedience so that he may show mercy to them all." (Romans 11:28-32, emphasis added)
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