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The Machete of Disobducation Wednesday, July 20th, 2022

Introduction. One of the things that everybody needs to be braced for is a spate of articles,

books, think pieces, documentaries, and the like, on the rising threat of Christian nationalism.

That being the case, you are likely to hear a lot about it from me as well. I intend over the coming months

to sharpen my machete of disobducation and, together in fellowship with you to clear out some of these thickets.

Let us begin with the definition, just so we keep things perfectly clear. A Christian nationalist is anyone to the right of Susan Collins.

Just kidding, mostly. A recent article at Mir Orthodoxy recognized this problem at any rate.

The author, Miles Smith, was not objecting to the uselessness of Christian nationalism, but rather to the uselessness of the term Christian nationalism.

In his article, Smith makes a number of shrewd observations with which I am in hearty agreement.

And I like his intellectual honesty when it comes to historical theology.

He does recognize that the magisterial reformers had an attitude toward the civil magistrate that was not, um, secular.

So there's some good stuff here, and I agree with him that a term of abuse that is currently being used to marginalize any and all conservative believers is not necessarily the term we would have picked to describe our position.

Had we gone out shopping for a term? Which we didn't.

At the same time, three cheers for Christian nationalism, and I hardly ever use exclamation marks.

The reason I say this is because also at the same time, I think Smith is overlooking a couple of important points.

What are they you ask? I'm glad you brought it up, I reply.

The populism issue. In order to get a grasp of the biblical background on this particular issue, I would refer you all back to an important piece I wrote back in January of 2021.

What are we to make of all the Jesus mobs and the New Testament? And why does it matter?

Mobs are mobs and angry mobs are angry mobs. Smith is exactly right about Luther's dim view of the peasants revolt.

At the same time, do we not sometimes wonder if the peasants, humanly speaking, might not have been severely provoked?

Is it possible that they had been goaded right up to the point of human endurance? Yes, this is possible.

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