What I am most curious about is what particular strains of evangelical belief have led to this. You say you’ve investigated so I’m betting you have a good idea. What do I recognize is that my own tribe within Evangelicalism, Pentecostalism, appears particularly susceptible. The ReAwaken America tour, for instance, was held either exclusively or nearly exclusively in Pentecostal churches.
My own tribe seems also more into the trappings of Christian Nationalism, including weird American flags and false intertwining, such as America being a “Christian” nation. There is a certain strain promoting the founding fathers to nearly God’s level of inerrancy and the Constitution to a holy book.
How did we get here? I have theories but I don’t know. It is dismaying and disheartening and surely a reason young people are walking away from church.
Thank you for writing this. I hope you share more on the topic soon.
You’re right, strains of Pentecostalism, esp. the emphasis on prophecy, overlap with the conspiratorial mode. Another one of my focuses is on the rigid Calvinism of George Whitefield. His adherence to “double predestination” was performed in a way that reinforced the social hierarchy and economic logic of racialized chattel slavery. It was a theology that tended to diffuse white fears of an actual slave revolt conspiracy. As a theological logic, it also corresponds with a lot of the prevailing Enlightenment sentiments which gave rise to modernity. There’s a lot going on there I know ha! But what I mean to point out is that it’s a short jump from understanding God electing some to salvation and others to damnation to a conspiratorial reality of a hidden battle between good and evil, and a “design” to history that is a reflection of some Christian understandings of providence.
Upon thinking about it this morning, I hadn’t thought about it before, but I’m hearing you about what you were calling that short jump from predestination to where we are. OK, back to my own research.
What I am most curious about is what particular strains of evangelical belief have led to this. You say you’ve investigated so I’m betting you have a good idea. What do I recognize is that my own tribe within Evangelicalism, Pentecostalism, appears particularly susceptible. The ReAwaken America tour, for instance, was held either exclusively or nearly exclusively in Pentecostal churches.
My own tribe seems also more into the trappings of Christian Nationalism, including weird American flags and false intertwining, such as America being a “Christian” nation. There is a certain strain promoting the founding fathers to nearly God’s level of inerrancy and the Constitution to a holy book.
How did we get here? I have theories but I don’t know. It is dismaying and disheartening and surely a reason young people are walking away from church.
Thank you for writing this. I hope you share more on the topic soon.
You’re right, strains of Pentecostalism, esp. the emphasis on prophecy, overlap with the conspiratorial mode. Another one of my focuses is on the rigid Calvinism of George Whitefield. His adherence to “double predestination” was performed in a way that reinforced the social hierarchy and economic logic of racialized chattel slavery. It was a theology that tended to diffuse white fears of an actual slave revolt conspiracy. As a theological logic, it also corresponds with a lot of the prevailing Enlightenment sentiments which gave rise to modernity. There’s a lot going on there I know ha! But what I mean to point out is that it’s a short jump from understanding God electing some to salvation and others to damnation to a conspiratorial reality of a hidden battle between good and evil, and a “design” to history that is a reflection of some Christian understandings of providence.
Thank you, I will be staying tuned for more. In the meantime, I’m going to read up on George Whitefield.
Upon thinking about it this morning, I hadn’t thought about it before, but I’m hearing you about what you were calling that short jump from predestination to where we are. OK, back to my own research.