Theological Paranoia

A conversation on the work and how to resist

If you’re overwhelmed at the sheer speed and scale of this moment, a combination of authoritarian seizure, the emergence of war hawks, and erasure of political opposition, remember: it is by design.

By seeking to overwhelm, we can get reactive—given our attention away. But it is a valuable resource. Because the dissonance between this chaos and the fact that many of us still get up for work in the morning is called “hypernormalization.” We going through our daily lives disquieted by the realization that the everyday is not normal. And we are all figuring out what responsibility looks like.

For me, I’m continuing to put the finishing touches on my upcoming book, which I hope will gives us things to name and resist in our moment.

But I also recently joined the Personalist Manifesto(s) podcast to share some of my ongoing work into the dangerous ways conspiracy theory and Christianity converge—and what we can do to resist. Although I need to lead with a warning…

It’s nearly 2 hours long. “YIKES almost two hours?!?” I get it. We’re all pressed for time. And I don’t want to waste yours.

What I appreciate about

Personalist Manifesto(s)

is its long form style. It is so rare, but also so needed in a time of microwaved takes. So here is something you can sit with, can come back to, and engage with.

So break it up into bits, or just start it somewhere in the middle, even. Michael does an incredible job guiding our time into some really pressing questions all throughout:

1. Why is conspiracy theory so common among evangelical Christians?

2. How does the idea of “theological paranoia” help us think differently about conspiracy theory?

3. What’s the history behind conspiracy theory and evangelicalism?

4. And of course: what can we do to resist?

And stay tuned to this space for upcoming news on my book with HarperOne on the crisis of conspiracism in evangelicalism, and how we can face the consequences for the good of our common world.