THE LIVESTREAM - The Idol of Third-Way-ism | Rick Warren, Tim Keller, & Gavin Ortlund

Theology Applied

Right Response Ministries

Religion & Spirituality, Christianity

4.9 • 801 Ratings

🗓️ 3 March 2025

⏱️ 119 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

A picture of Christ on the cross. Two thieves, one on His left, one on His right. A moment of cosmic significance—God Himself atoning for the sins of the world. And yet, according to Rick Warren, this is also…a metaphor for political moderation?

That post, now deleted, tried to argue that Jesus died “in the middle” as a sign that Christians should reject both the Left and the Right in modern politics. But that’s not theology—it’s a desperate attempt to baptize political fence-sitting. And it’s part of a broader trend known as Evangelical Third-Wayism—a concept pushed by figures like Tim Keller and, more recently, Gavin Ortlund. The idea is simple: Christians should neither align with the Right nor the Left, but instead carve out a “distinctly biblical” third way. It sounds noble, even wise. But in practice, it functions as a convenient excuse for coddling progressives while selectively condemning the Right.

Stephen Wolfe has called this out as nothing more than “sharpshooting”—strategically engaging with culture to present a morally palatable image to coastal elites while never actually challenging the underlying liberalism that dominates our institutions. He’s right. If politics is war by other means, then Third-Wayism is an attempt to negotiate a ceasefire while one side keeps advancing.

This episode is brought to you by our premier sponsors, Armored Republic and Reece Fund, as well as our Patreon members and donors. You can join our Patreon at patreon.com/rightresponseministries or you can donate at rightresponseministries.com/donate.

At the end of the day, Third-Wayism is not simply a bad take. It is bad strategy, and it is unchristian. Tune in now as we explain.

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Transcript

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0:17.2	that this ministry is willing to talk about things that most ministries aren't.
0:21.5	We need this content for the glory of God to reach more people's ears.
0:29.0	A picture of Christ on the cross. Two thieves. One on his left. And the other on his right.
0:41.8	A moment of cosmic significance, God incarnate,
0:48.9	atoning for the sins of the world. And yet, according to Rick Warren, this is also a metaphor for political moderation. Now, that post, which was recent in February now deleted, tried to argue
0:57.5	that Jesus died in the middle as a sign that Christians should reject both the political
1:03.2	left and the right in modern politics. But that's not theology. That's a desperate attempt to baptize political fence city. And it's part of a
1:16.6	broader trend known as evangelical third wayism, a concept that was pushed by figures like
1:23.5	Timothy Keller and more recently Gavin Ortland. The idea is simple. Christians should
1:29.8	neither align themselves with the political right or the left, but instead carve out a distinctly
1:36.2	biblical third way. Now, it may sound noble, perhaps even wise, but in practice it functions as a
1:44.1	convenient excuse for cowardice and simply
1:48.0	coddling political progressives while selectively condemning the right. Figures such as Stephen
1:55.2	Wolfe have called this out as nothing more than sharpshooting. That is strategically engaging
2:00.3	with culture to present a morally
2:02.5	palatable image to coastal elites while never actually challenging the underlying
2:08.3	liberalism that dominates our current institutions. He's right. If politics is war by other means, then third wayism is merely an attempt to negotiate a ceasefire while one side keeps advancing. Which side? Always the left. This episode is brought to you by our premier sponsors, Armored Republic and Reese Fund, as well as our
2:36.9	Patreon members and our faithful donors. You can join our Patreon by going to patreon.com forward
2:44.8	slash right response ministries, or you can donate by going to writeresponse ministries.com forward slash donate.
	...

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