The Case for Christian Nationalism

De: Stephen Wolfe

Narrado por: Wade Stotts

Evangelical elites and the progressive media complex want you to think that Christian nationalism is hopelessly racist, bigoted, and an idol for right-wing Christians. Is Christian nationalism the golden calf of the religious right—or is it the only way forward?

Few “experts” answering this question actually know what nationalism is—and even fewer know what could make it Christian. In The Case for Christian Nationalism, Stephen Wolfe offers a tour-de-force argument for the good of Christian nationalism, taken from Scripture and Christian thinkers ancient, medieval, and modern. Christian nationalism is not only the necessary alternative to secularism, it is the form of government we must pursue if we want to love our neighbors and our country.

Wolfe shows that the world’s post-war consensus has successfully routed the United States toward a gynocratic Global American Empire (GAE). Rather than the religious right’s golden calf, Christian nationalism is the idea that people in the same place and culture should live together and seek one another’s good. The grace of the gospel does not eliminate our geography, our people, and our neighbors. Instead, it restores us to pursue local needs and local leadership freely and without apology.

If you want to be able to answer the political debate raging today, you must understand the arguments in The Case for Christian Nationalism.

©2022 Canon Press (P)2023 Canon Press

Food For Thinkers

I have no idea why anything in this book is controversial to anyone who professes to be a Christian; except that they're weak or false believers.

Very lucid and thought-provoking, even if you disagree with the conclusions.

Very well-thought out, though quite academic in places.

Great narration by Wade! Definitely check out his channel on YouTube.

Natural truth

I don’t affirm all the means of argumentation that were used to bring about the conclusions in this book, but I affirm the conclusions as true and obvious. This should be included in required reading for all children before leaving the home.

A good introduction to political theory and a nice correction to the recent failings of Western thought.

This was a good introduction to political theory and a nice correction to the recent failings of Western thought. Despite the cover it is not primarily focused on American politics, but an overall view of what a nation is and how one should operate. This was an interesting listen, and I look forward to hearing more from Stephen after the various interviews he's done since writing it.

A refreshing deep dive into a verboten topic!

I really enjoyed Stephen Wolfe’s defense of Christian nationalism, despite my theological disagreements with him as a Baptist. Christians for so long have adopted a “just passing through” attitude towards life on this side of glory, and the results have been catastrophic. I urge you to give this book a chance and think through the argument he presents. If you disagree, then fine! Come up with a better argument. But we cannot continue with the status quo and hope to survive as a country.

Knowledge

Wake1up remember there was a time you knew not what you know now the job of the civilized mind is to teach the uncivilized

To some degree the title of this book is a misnomer.

My summary: The title of this book, and to some degree the entire christian nationalism movement, is a misnomer. Nothing presented in this book reflects the major and compelling principles and teachings of Jesus Christ or from the writings found in the New Testament.

I’ve been honestly trying to understand the shift I have seen within my Christian community, and have been trying to understand why friends and believers I know are embracing beliefs such as what is expressed in this book, particularly when those beliefs do not align with what Jesus and the New Testament authors teach.

From what is expressed by the author, christian nationalism has nothing to do with guiding people to follow Jesus or following His commandments. Because of this, I will be using a lower case “c” here for “christian nationalism”, since what is being referenced in this book is not “Christ centered beliefs”, but rather a different collection of ideas. The principles and world view presented in this book are not representative of what I would expect New Testament believers and followers of Jesus to model, and certainly not anything I personally desire to participate in.

Things the author did well:
1. Defined his terms
2. Stayed consistent with the defined terms
3. The author mostly avoided the emotional rhetoric that is so common in right wing writing, up until the epilogue. (At that point, the author showed his true colors with negativity, fear mongering, hate, and anger that are the staples of right wing conservative communications.)

The author clearly stated in the beginning that his basis for the arguments he was presenting was “The Protestant Tradition” of the past, and admitted that he does not present things using Biblical writings or teachings to a major degree. The author stayed true to this, by cherry-picking a small handful of Bible verses from the Old Testament, and only one verse (as I recall) from the New Testament.

The whole book felt as if the author had a specific world view that he wanted to establish and live under, and then worked to justify this point of view using narrow and/or convoluted logic. This is in contrast to building a world view from the ground up based upon true Christ-centered principles.

The author openly declared that his target audience of the book was white males of European descent, and went on to describe how his target demographic can and should be the central authority and civic power in his desired christian nation.

Most of the book had the tone of someone attempting to justify his position on some theological or philosophical grounds, but it all just fell flat for me and was incredibly non-compelling. The authors logic felt weak and sometimes convoluted, instead of working from sound principles or examples.

It is unusual for me to speak anything out loud while reading a book. In this case, I was listening to the audio book, and there were multiple times when I reacted to the content by blurting out loud things like:
“What the flip?”
“Did he just say that?!”
“Wait what?”
“Hmmm… that’s pretty much the exact opposite thing that Jesus taught.”

I usually take notes when reading/listening to non-fiction books, but this time I did not, mostly because the content here was so off-the-charts for me. Here are some high points that I recall the author expressing.

1. Under christian nationalism, woman will not be permitted to vote on their own. The author expressed this multiple times, and clearly stated that voting would be done on a per household basis. In this context, women would be represented by their husband or father. It was unclear if single adult women would be allowed to vote in this society.

2. There was a clear theme that some people are superior to others, and that it is good for superior people to be in command or control of inferior status. In multiple places in the authors strange logic, he seemed to out and say that this is the way his god ordained things to be, so therefore this kind of thinking is good.

3. The author stated that because his christian nationalism thinking is good for society, christian nationalists should stay in control over the nation, even if they are the minority.

4. The author talked extensively that it is good for people to “be with their own kind”, and that segregation from people unlike themselves is good. While the author did not expressly state this mentioning race or culture, I am pretty certain that is what the intent of these comments are referring to. Diversity was only mentioned as a negative aspect of society.

5. Having legal restrictions that apply to all citizens based upon christian nationalistic traditions are good for all. The author mentioned sabbath laws several times, declaring that these would be good for all, regardless if you believe in the christian nationalistic sabbath or not.

6. The author made the point that violent rebellion could be a good thing, and even approved by the christian nationalist god. But no criteria for determining if/when to rebel was given, but it seemed that the author is encouraging violence whenever it would benefit the christian nationalists position in society.

From what I have read about United States history, I think the beliefs expressed in this book would be consistent with, or at least compatible with, the thinking of leaders and loyalists of the Confederate States, or many white southerners post civil war.

Needless to say, the society implied by what the author expressed here is so highly non-compelling to me, and goes so against what I see are the primary directions for Christians to follow. Nothing presented here seems like good guidance for Christians to follow that will show the love of Jesus to the world. But that’s just me.

I didn't know a publisher would produce a book like this.

The summary says that people think Christian nationalism is racist and bigoted, and then implies that the author will clear that up in the book. He does indeed clear it up, by (presumably unintentionally) demonstrating that Christian nationalism certainly is racist and bigoted.

Granted, the first half of the book was fairly well reasoned, and would provide an interesting foil for discussions of church state relations. However, the last half of the book is the biggest load of garbage I have ever heard. He claims that women and minorities are the cause of everything wrong with western politics, and the solution is the overthrow of the government to install a Christian autocrat. As a Christian I disavow this book.

A mouth full of scripture and a heart full of hate.

If the author of this book were at the crucification he would be handing the nails to the Roman soldiers. His quotes come from fanatics including Cotton Mothers who after one of the men accused of which craft in Salem was believed to be innocent he insisted on the hanging. This word salad covers a soldier who seemed hated and resent his officers. I have no doubt that if he gets the Christian Nationalism that he seeks everything will not be a wonderful world. After all Christianity is replete with so called ministers that live as millionaires. Also he misrepresents history. The founding fathers believed in the church as a social institution at a time when it was the only safety net. They were not Christian’s most were deists. This a book about religious fanaticism.