Is Christian Nationalism Compatible With Christian Theology?
Is Christian Nationalism Compatible With Christian Theology?
Whether Christian nationalism is compatible with Christian theology has become a major debate within contemporary Christianity. The disagreement is complicated by the fact that "Christian nationalism" does not have one universally accepted definition. The term can refer to substantially different ideas, ranging from the belief that Christianity has an important historical and moral role in national life to more explicit proposals for Christian political authority, religious establishment, biblical law, or governmental preference for Christianity.
The theological debate therefore depends partly on what is meant by Christianity, nationalism, nationhood, political authority, religious liberty, and the proper relationship between church and state. Christians who reject Christian nationalism often argue that it confuses the church with the nation, gives political identity a religious significance it should not possess, and conflicts with the universal character of the Christian church. Christians who defend or qualify forms of Christian nationalism argue that nations may legitimately acknowledge Christianity and that Christian political thought has historically permitted more substantial relationships between religion and government than modern secular liberalism assumes.
The result is not one single theological dispute but a collection of related arguments involving Scripture, ecclesiology, eschatology, political theology, religious liberty, Christian ethics, national identity, and the history of church-state relations.
Defining Christian Nationalism
One of the central difficulties in evaluating Christian nationalism is defining the term precisely.
Some scholars and Christian organizations describe Christian nationalism as an ideology that merges Christian identity with national identity and seeks political recognition or privilege for Christianity. Under this definition, Christian nationalism differs from ordinary Christian participation in politics because it assigns Christianity a special role in defining national belonging or political authority.
Other writers argue that the term is frequently applied too broadly. They distinguish among several ideas that can easily be confused:
- Christians participating in democratic politics.
- Christians advocating laws informed by Christian moral beliefs.
- Patriotism or affection for one's country.
- The belief that Christianity historically influenced a nation's institutions.
- Support for public expressions of Christianity.
- Civil religion.
- Religious establishment.
- Christian nationalism.
- Ethnic or racial nationalism.
- Christian Reconstructionism or theonomy.
- Dominion theology.
- Charismatic or New Apostolic forms of political theology.
- Catholic integralism.
These positions overlap in some contexts but are not identical.
Academic research has likewise identified multiple varieties of Christian nationalism rather than a single coherent ideology. Proposed categories include charismatic dominionism, Calvinist or Reformed nationalism, Catholic integralism, and broader forms of Christian cultural nationalism.
Because these traditions differ substantially in theology and political objectives, claims that Christian nationalism either is or is not compatible with Christianity often depend upon which version is under consideration.
The Kingdom of God and the Nation
One of the most important theological arguments concerns the Christian doctrine of the kingdom of God.
Critics of Christian nationalism frequently appeal to Jesus' statement that his kingdom is "not of this world" and to New Testament descriptions of the church as a community composed of people from many nations. From this perspective, no modern political nation can occupy the theological position belonging to the church or the kingdom of God.
This argument is particularly directed against attempts to treat the United States or another modern country as a continuation or analogue of biblical Israel.
Critics contend that the biblical covenant with ancient Israel cannot simply be transferred to a modern nation-state. Passages originally addressed to Israel, including texts concerning national blessing, covenant faithfulness, or restoration, are therefore disputed when applied directly to contemporary countries.
Supporters of stronger forms of Christian political identity respond that the universal character of Christianity does not necessarily eliminate the legitimacy of Christian nations. They argue that Christianity can recognize both universal membership in the church and particular political communities.
The disagreement therefore concerns whether national political identity can receive explicitly Christian form without confusing the nation with the kingdom of God.
Church, Nation, and Christian Identity
Ecclesiology—the Christian doctrine of the church—is another major area of disagreement.
Critics argue that the church is inherently transnational. Christian identity unites believers across national, ethnic, racial, linguistic, and political boundaries. When national identity becomes a defining component of Christian belonging, critics argue that the catholic or universal character of the church can be weakened.
This concern appears across Baptist, Presbyterian, Lutheran, Anabaptist, Reformed, Methodist, Catholic, and other Christian discussions.
Critics also warn against allowing the state to determine who qualifies as Christian. Christianity traditionally understands baptism, confession, doctrine, worship, and ecclesial membership as matters belonging principally to churches rather than governments. A political system that grants the state authority to define authentic Christianity therefore raises significant ecclesiological questions.
Some defenders of Christian nationalism reject the assumption that national and ecclesial identities must compete. They argue that Christians can belong simultaneously to a universal church and to particular peoples, cultures, and nations.
The dispute centers on how these allegiances should be ordered and what happens when national interests conflict with Christian obligations.
Biblical Arguments Against Christian Nationalism
A substantial portion of Christian criticism of nationalism rests directly on biblical interpretation.
Common arguments emphasize:
- Jesus' teaching concerning the kingdom of God.
- The distinction between the church and political government.
- The Great Commission's command to make disciples among all nations.
- Pentecost and the multinational character of the church.
- Christian teachings concerning love of neighbor.
- Hospitality toward strangers and outsiders.
- Concern for the poor and marginalized.
- Enemy-love and peacemaking.
- Warnings against idolatry.
- The New Testament's refusal to identify the church with a particular earthly empire or nation.
- Revelation's critique of political power when it demands ultimate allegiance.
From this perspective, nationalism becomes theologically problematic when loyalty to country approaches the allegiance Christianity reserves for God.
Several Christian critics therefore describe certain forms of nationalism as political idolatry, arguing that Christian symbols, language, or Scripture can be used to sacralize national power.
Biblical and Theological Arguments Supporting Christian Nationalism
Other Christian thinkers contend that some forms of Christian nationalism can be defended within historic Christian political theology.
These arguments commonly begin with the claim that political communities cannot remain religiously or morally neutral. Every political order, they argue, reflects assumptions about morality, human nature, justice, authority, and the common good.
From this perspective, a society influenced publicly by Christianity is not necessarily establishing a theocracy.
Supporters or qualified defenders have argued that Christianity may legitimately shape:
- Public morality.
- National institutions.
- Education.
- Law.
- Cultural traditions.
- Public ceremonies.
- Understandings of family and community.
- Conceptions of justice and the common good.
Some defenders distinguish Christian nationalism from ethnic nationalism and argue for a civic or cultural Christian nation rather than a racial one.
Others appeal to older Protestant concepts of Christian magistracy, Reformation political theology, natural law, or historic Christian civilization.
Certain Catholic arguments draw instead upon integralist traditions concerning the relationship between temporal and spiritual authority.
Even among advocates, however, there is considerable disagreement regarding religious establishment, toleration, ethnicity, biblical law, federalism, church authority, and the limits of government.
Religious Liberty and Freedom of Conscience
Religious liberty is one of the strongest recurring points of disagreement.
Baptist critics frequently emphasize freedom of conscience and voluntary faith. Because genuine Christian belief cannot be produced by government coercion, they argue that state preference for Christianity risks undermining the nature of faith itself.
Similar concerns arise in other traditions regarding:
- Government establishment of religion.
- Political tests for religious identity.
- Restrictions on minority religions.
- Government definitions of orthodox Christianity.
- State involvement in church affairs.
- Unequal citizenship based upon religion.
Christian-nationalist writers respond in different ways. Some explicitly support stronger public recognition of Christianity while maintaining legal toleration for other religions. Others argue that contemporary secular governments already promote particular moral philosophies and therefore cannot plausibly claim complete neutrality.
The underlying theological issue concerns whether government should merely protect religious freedom or may properly recognize, promote, or privilege a particular religious tradition.
Baptist Theology
Baptists occupy a particularly important position in this debate because religious liberty and freedom of conscience have historically been prominent themes within Baptist thought.
Critics argue that Baptist doctrines concerning conversion, believer's baptism, congregationalism, the New Covenant, and liberty of conscience make Christian nationalism difficult to reconcile with Baptist ecclesiology.
They maintain that citizenship in the church comes through voluntary faith rather than birth, nationality, or government policy.
Other Baptist writers dispute the claim that Baptist history produces a simple prohibition against every form of Christian nationalism. They point to historical Baptists who supported public Christianity or forms of Christian political order.
The resulting debate illustrates a broader problem: Christian traditions often contain internal disagreements about their own political histories.
Reformed Theology
Reformed Christianity also contains substantial disagreement.
Some Reformed theologians emphasize the distinction between Christ's kingdom and political government, arguing that national political projects should never be identified with the redemptive work of the church.
Others appeal to historic Reformed political theology to defend stronger Christian influence over national institutions.
Debates frequently involve:
- John Calvin and the Reformation.
- Abraham Kuyper and sphere sovereignty.
- Herman Bavinck.
- Covenant theology.
- Natural law.
- The doctrine of election.
- The two kingdoms.
- Christian magistracy.
- Postmillennialism.
- Theonomy.
Contemporary Reformed discussions therefore include both significant theological criticism of Christian nationalism and attempts to formulate explicitly Christian theories of nationhood.
Lutheran Perspectives
Lutheran discussion often turns to the doctrine of the two kingdoms.
This tradition distinguishes God's governance through the church and gospel from political government and civil authority. Some Lutheran theologians use this distinction to criticize attempts to merge Christian mission with national political power.
Lutheran discussions also address racism, antisemitism, Christian citizenship, political vocation, civil religion, and the historical experience of churches confronting authoritarian nationalism.
The debate demonstrates that the relationship between Christianity and political authority cannot be reduced simply to whether Christians should participate in public life. The more difficult question concerns what type of authority properly belongs to churches and what belongs to governments.
Anabaptist Perspectives
Anabaptist and Mennonite critiques are among the most consistently skeptical Christian responses to nationalism.
These traditions emphasize:
- Discipleship.
- Nonviolence.
- Enemy-love.
- Peace.
- Voluntary church membership.
- Separation between church and coercive political power.
- Allegiance to Jesus above national allegiance.
From this perspective, Christian nationalism can conflict with Christianity when political domination, military power, or national self-interest overrides the teachings and example of Jesus.
Anabaptist writers frequently contrast the political power of the state with the cruciform or self-giving character expected of Christian discipleship.
Catholicism and Integralism
Catholic debates introduce another set of theological categories.
Some Catholic leaders and writers reject Christian nationalism as a distortion of Catholic teaching, particularly when nationalism becomes exclusionary or elevates national identity above the universal church.
At the same time, Catholic integralism represents a distinct political-theological tradition that questions modern liberal assumptions about strict institutional separation between religion and political authority.
Integralist arguments generally do not arise from evangelical Christian nationalism and should not automatically be treated as identical to it.
Catholic debate therefore illustrates again why the term "Christian nationalism" can obscure substantial theological differences among movements that favor a larger public role for Christianity.
Dominionism, Reconstructionism, and the New Apostolic Reformation
Some discussions of Christian nationalism overlap with Christian Reconstructionism, Dominion theology, the New Apostolic Reformation, and Seven Mountains theology.
These movements differ significantly from one another.
Christian Reconstructionism commonly emphasizes biblical law and Reformed or theonomic political theology.
Certain forms of Dominion theology emphasize Christian influence or authority over social institutions.
The New Apostolic Reformation is associated with charismatic Christianity, contemporary apostles and prophets, spiritual warfare, and in some contexts Seven Mountains teachings concerning influence over major cultural institutions.
Because these traditions have different histories and doctrines, treating them as interchangeable can obscure rather than clarify the theological debate.
Nevertheless, scholars and church bodies frequently examine them because each provides examples of attempts to understand Christian faith in relation to political or cultural authority.
Christian Nationalism and Political Idolatry
One recurring theological criticism is that nationalism can become idolatrous.
Christian theology traditionally reserves ultimate allegiance for God. Critics argue that a political nation becomes an idol when its history, institutions, leaders, military power, or destiny are treated as sacred or incorporated into God's redemptive purposes.
This critique does not necessarily reject patriotism.
Many writers distinguish patriotism—the love of one's country and neighbors—from nationalism understood as the elevation of the nation into a supreme political or moral good.
Under this distinction, Christians may love their country while recognizing that their religious obligations extend beyond national borders.
Defenders of Christian nationalism sometimes accept the danger of national idolatry while arguing that the abuse of national loyalty does not invalidate legitimate national identity. Christian doctrines such as original sin, providence, church authority, family, and allegiance to God are presented by some writers as possible restraints upon excessive nationalism.
Race, Ethnicity, and National Belonging
The relationship between Christian nationalism and race is another major field of research.
Some scholarship emphasizes the historical connections among American Christianity, racial hierarchy, slavery, segregation, and ideas of national belonging.
Other research argues that Christian nationalism cannot always be reduced to racial identity and may operate more broadly as a form of religious in-group protection.
Theologically, the question involves Christian teachings concerning human equality, creation in the image of God, reconciliation, neighbor-love, and the inclusion of people from different nations and ethnic groups within the church.
Debates over "white Christian nationalism" therefore overlap with, but are not identical to, debates about Christian nationalism in general.
Denominational Responses
A growing number of Christian denominations and institutions have formally studied Christian nationalism.
Presbyterian, Reformed, Lutheran, Baptist, Mennonite, Methodist, and other Christian organizations have produced reports, resolutions, educational materials, sermons, study committees, and theological statements.
Some denominational bodies have explicitly described certain forms of Christian nationalism as contrary to Christian teaching or as theological error.
Others have commissioned further study rather than adopting comprehensive definitions.
Internal disagreement remains common. Christians within the same denomination may disagree about whether Christian nationalism is a coherent category, how broadly the term should be used, and which political ideas properly fall within it.
These denominational debates demonstrate that the controversy is occurring within Christianity rather than simply between religious and secular political groups.
Christian Nationalism and the Great Commission
The Great Commission provides another important theological framework.
Critics argue that Christianity's missionary calling is universal rather than national. The church is commanded to make disciples among all nations rather than identify the gospel with one particular nation.
From this perspective, linking Christianity too closely with national identity can undermine evangelism by making conversion appear to require cultural or political assimilation.
Critics also argue that government privilege may weaken the voluntary nature of Christian discipleship.
Supporters of public Christianity reply that Christian mission and Christian influence on society need not be mutually exclusive. Christians, they argue, may seek both individual conversion and institutions shaped by Christian moral convictions.
The disagreement concerns whether political power assists Christian witness or risks transforming the gospel into an instrument of national identity.
Christian Nationalism and Civil Religion
Christian nationalism also overlaps with the older concept of American civil religion.
Civil religion uses religious symbols, language, ceremonies, and ideas to provide sacred meaning to national identity. References to God in speeches, national prayers, religious language surrounding war or national tragedy, and claims of providential national purpose may all function as forms of civil religion.
Not all civil religion constitutes Christian nationalism.
Researchers therefore distinguish between general religious symbolism in public life and stronger claims that Christianity should define political membership or receive governmental privilege.
This distinction helps explain why disagreement persists over what evidence demonstrates Christian nationalism.
Historical Christian Political Theology
The contemporary controversy exists within a much older Christian debate concerning political authority.
For much of Christian history, churches and governments were not separated according to contemporary American constitutional assumptions. Christian emperors, established churches, confessional states, and religious tests were common in various periods.
The Protestant Reformation produced several different approaches to Christian government, while Baptists, Anabaptists, Quakers, and other dissenting groups developed stronger arguments for liberty of conscience and separation from state churches.
Modern advocates of Christian political order sometimes appeal to these older traditions.
Critics respond that historical precedent does not by itself determine Christian theological legitimacy and that the development of religious liberty can itself be understood as arising from Christian convictions concerning conscience and voluntary faith.
Christian nationalism therefore reopens longstanding questions that Christianity has never answered in only one way.
Lessons from European National Christianity
Historical theological critiques also draw upon European experiences in which Christianity became associated with nationalism.
Karl Barth's opposition to nationalist distortions of German Christianity is frequently invoked as a theological warning about placing national identity within Christian revelation.
Søren Kierkegaard's criticism of Danish Christendom likewise challenged the assumption that national membership and Christian identity could be treated as equivalent.
Other theological discussions examine nationalism through the work of theologians such as Jürgen Moltmann, Dorothee Sölle, Henri de Lubac, Abraham Kuyper, Herman Bavinck, and Augustine.
These historical examples do not resolve the contemporary American debate, but they demonstrate that tensions between Christianity and nationalism substantially predate current political controversies.
A Global Phenomenon
Christian nationalism is not exclusively American.
Research examines related movements and political theologies in Africa, Europe, Canada, Latin America, and other regions.
Studies of Zambia, Ghana, Brazil, Finland, Alberta, England, and other contexts show that relationships among Christianity, nationhood, establishment, political identity, and government vary considerably according to history and religious institutions.
Comparative research therefore cautions against assuming that American definitions automatically describe religious nationalism elsewhere.
The global perspective also demonstrates that the underlying theological question—whether a political nation can possess a religious identity—extends beyond any single country's political conflicts.
Christianity, Patriotism, and Nationalism
Much of the theological literature attempts to distinguish patriotism from nationalism.
Patriotism can be understood as affection for one's homeland, community, institutions, and fellow citizens.
Christian writers across different theological positions commonly recognize some legitimate form of attachment to place and community.
The disagreement concerns when such attachment becomes nationalism and when nationalism becomes incompatible with Christian allegiance.
Possible theological boundaries include whether:
- The nation is treated as possessing a unique divine mission.
- National interests override Christian ethical obligations.
- Christianity becomes a requirement for full national belonging.
- Political leaders acquire religious significance.
- Scripture is used to sacralize government policy.
- Religious outsiders receive unequal treatment.
- National identity becomes more important than membership in the universal church.
- Christianity becomes primarily an instrument for preserving political or cultural power.
These questions frequently provide more theological clarity than simply asking whether Christians should be patriotic.
Why Christians Disagree
The Christian nationalism debate persists partly because Christians disagree at several different levels simultaneously.
They disagree about definitions.
They disagree about biblical interpretation.
They disagree about the proper relationship between the Old and New Testaments.
They disagree about whether biblical Israel provides a political model for contemporary nations.
They disagree about natural law and biblical law.
They disagree about religious establishment.
They disagree about whether government can ever be religiously neutral.
They disagree about the meaning of religious liberty.
They disagree about how Christianity should influence democratic politics.
They disagree about whether nationalism is inherently problematic or only dangerous in particular forms.
They also draw upon different Christian traditions whose historical approaches to political authority have never been identical.
Consequently, apparently simple questions about Christian nationalism often conceal much older disagreements about the nature of Christianity and political society.
Conclusion
The available theological literature does not produce a single Christian answer to whether Christian nationalism is compatible with Christian theology.
A substantial body of Christian scholarship, denominational teaching, and pastoral commentary argues that Christian nationalism becomes incompatible with Christianity when it merges church and nation, transfers biblical promises concerning Israel to a modern state, subordinates Christian identity to political identity, restricts freedom of conscience, elevates one nation within God's redemptive purposes, or treats political power as an instrument for defining authentic Christianity.
Other Christian thinkers argue that these criticisms depend upon overly broad definitions of nationalism. They contend that a nation may publicly acknowledge Christianity, preserve a Christian cultural inheritance, or order parts of its political life according to Christian moral principles without necessarily confusing the nation with the church or treating the nation as divine.
Between these positions are numerous qualified approaches that distinguish patriotism from nationalism, Christian political participation from Christian establishment, and cultural Christianity from more explicit programs of Christian political rule.
The debate is therefore best understood not as a simple disagreement over whether Christianity should influence politics, but as a deeper theological dispute concerning the church, the kingdom of God, nationhood, conscience, Scripture, political authority, religious liberty, and the limits of earthly allegiance.
Across these competing traditions, the central theological question remains the ordering of loyalties: what authority properly belongs to God, the church, the state, the nation, and the individual conscience, and what happens when those claims come into conflict?
Is Christian Nationalism Compatible With Christian Theology?
Contemporary Debate and Commentary
1. | Baptist Joint Committee for Religious Liberty | BJC | Ongoing
Provides Baptist resources defining Christian nationalism and distinguishing government privilege for Christianity from religious liberty and voluntary Christian faith.
2. | Matthew J. Tuininga | The Banner | September 14, 2026
Examines nationalism through Reformed theology, arguing that Christian allegiance to the kingdom of God transcends national identity while distinguishing nationalism from a legitimate, limited patriotism.
3. | Russell Moore | Christianity Today | September 9, 2026
Uses Wendell Berry's writings to distinguish Christian love of place and community from nationalism that turns country into an object of ultimate allegiance.
4. | Barton Gingerich | Providence | September 1, 2026
Reassesses several years of Christian-nationalism debate and distinguishes nations, nation-states, patriotism, and nationalism while considering whether nationalist political theory can be reconciled with Christian realism.
5. | Russell Moore | Christianity Today | August 17, 2026
Argues that allowing the state to determine who qualifies as Christian gives government authority over theological identity that properly belongs to the church rather than political rulers.
6. | Edwin Woodruff Tait | Patheos | August 13, 2026
Distinguishes explicit Christian establishment from ordinary Christian moral influence and evaluates when Christian civilization becomes Christian nationalism.
7. | Danielle Tumminio Hansen | The Christian Century | August 13, 2026
Examines the theology of Christian nationalist pastor Douglas Wilson, particularly his doctrines of authority, hierarchy, gender, and social order, offering material for evaluating whether such ideas comport with Christian theological anthropology and ethics.
8. | Megan Fowler | Christianity Today | July 30, 2026
Reports how several Protestant denominations are formally examining Christian nationalism as a theological issue, including questions about conflating ecclesial identity with national identity.
9. | Benjamin J. Dueholm | The Christian Century | July 3, 2026
Argues that American Christianity is too diverse, fragmented, transnational, and theologically unruly to be legitimately incorporated into a single nationalist political project.
10. | Russell Moore | Russell Moore / Christianity Today | June 15, 2026
Discusses how churches can respond to Christian nationalism while maintaining Christian unity and keeping allegiance to Christ from becoming subordinate to political identity.
11. | Jack Panyard | Christianity Today | May 14, 2026
Examines growing awareness of Christian nationalism and the ongoing difficulty of distinguishing historic Christian political participation from government privileging of Christianity.
12. | Ken Chitwood | Patheos | May 8, 2026
Questions whether public discussion sometimes treats Christian nationalism too broadly and encourages greater precision when distinguishing theological nationalism from other forms of Christian political engagement.
13. | James Spencer | Christianity.com | April 9, 2026
Provides a systematic theological guide to nationalism, liberalism, civil religion, Christian witness, and political power.
14. | George Yancey | Christianity Today | January 22, 2026
Challenges academic explanations that interpret conservative Christian politics chiefly through Christian nationalism and argues that conservative identity politics may explain some behavior more accurately.
15. | Rich Lusk | Theopolis Institute | August 4, 2025
Presents a sympathetic map of Christian-nationalist theology while distinguishing establishment, sphere sovereignty, ethnicity, nationhood, biblical law, and different Protestant approaches.
16. | Dennis McIntyre | Patheos | May 14, 2025
Examines whether Christian faith can coexist with nationalism and attempts to distinguish nationalism from legitimate Christian patriotism.
17. | Caleb Campbell | Christianity Today | May 2025
Uses a conversion narrative to contrast nationalist racial ideology with Christian repentance, hospitality, reconciliation, and discipleship.
18. | Shawn Paul Wood | Patheos | May 2025
Argues that Christian nationalism turns Scripture into a political instrument and contrasts national political power with Jesus' transnational kingdom and servant leadership.
19. | Clarissa Moll | Christianity Today | April 17, 2025
Reflects on Christian fellowship across political-theological disagreement and asks how baptism, confession, repentance, and the cross should shape encounters with Christian nationalism.
20. | John Jillions | Public Orthodoxy | October 29, 2024
Examines Christian nationalism from an Orthodox Christian perspective, particularly its implications for freedom of conscience and the theological limits of state authority.
21. | Steve Holt | Steve Holt Online | May 22, 2024
Contrasts Christian nationalism with Jesus' proclamation of the kingdom of God and argues that Christian mission should center on God's kingdom rather than national restoration.
22. | Peter J. Leithart | First Things | April 12, 2024
Explores whether nations can meaningfully be called Christian and argues that the theological debate must distinguish Christian nationhood from modern ideological nationalism.
23. | Jack Jenkins | National Catholic Reporter | April 5, 2024
Explains theological differences between Catholic integralism, nationalism, liberal democracy, and traditional Catholic teaching about political authority.
24. | Jack Jenkins | Religion News Service | April 3, 2024
Surveys Catholic integralism and other Catholic nationalist tendencies and examines their theological understanding of temporal and spiritual authority.
25. | Ross Douthat | The New York Times / RealClearReligion | March 4, 2024
Distinguishes several possible meanings of Christian nationalism and demonstrates why theological judgments depend heavily on which version is being discussed.
26. | David French | The New York Times / WRAL | February 26, 2024
Distinguishes ordinary Christian political participation from Christian nationalism, defining the latter around Christian primacy and political dominance rather than merely faith-informed citizenship.
27. | Drew Strait | Political Theology Network | October 16, 2023
Interprets Matthew 22 and argues that Christian nationalism becomes theological superstition when national privilege is attributed to a culturally constructed image of God.
28. | Paul D. Miller | Christianity Today | September 13, 2023
Argues that critics should distinguish moderate from extremist Christian nationalism while maintaining that both can contain problematic theological assumptions about church, nation, and state.
29. | Joe Carter | The Gospel Coalition | June 24, 2023
Argues that Baptist doctrines of conscience, covenant, baptism, and church-state separation conflict with theonomy and establishment-oriented forms of Christian nationalism.
30. | Bob Smietana | Religion News Service | May 17, 2023
Surveys scholars who emphasize that Christian nationalists do not share one theology, comparing Reconstructionist and charismatic expressions and the movement's emphasis on political power.
31. | Patrick Schreiner | The Gospel Coalition | April 27, 2023
Distinguishes Christian political influence, church-state fusion, and authoritarian nationalism, arguing that each must be evaluated separately rather than lumped together.
32. | Russell Moore | Russell Moore | November 9, 2022
Distinguishes Christian nationalism from patriotism and discusses how Christian political participation can be subordinated to discipleship rather than national identity.
33. | Daniel Silliman | Christianity Today | October 31, 2022
Surveys evangelical disagreements over Christian nationalism and highlights competing understandings of power, witness, coercion, church, and state.
34. | Philip Gorski | Political Theology Network | October 13, 2022
Examines Christian nationalism as a developing political theology and distinguishes its religious symbolism, nationalism, and program for political power.
35. | Russell Moore | Christianity Today | September 29, 2022
Argues that Christian nationalism reverses the Great Commission by using Christianity to disciple nations into national self-worship rather than gathering people from every nation into Christ.
36. | Brian Kaylor & Beau Underwood | Word&Way | September 15, 2022
Defines Christian nationalism and surveys empirical and theological objections, while distinguishing the ideology from ordinary Christian involvement in public life.
37. | Christianity Today | Christianity Today | June 2022
Reviews Paul Miller's theological and political argument that Christian nationalism can become secularized Christianity in which preservation of national culture replaces sanctification and allegiance to God.
38. | Russell Moore | Plough | 2022
Describes Christian nationalism as a malignant development of civil religion in which Christian symbols are recruited to support ethnic or national identity rather than faith in Christ.
39. | Russell Moore | Christianity Today | October 2021
Argues that exchanging the scandal and saving work of Christ for political identity turns nationalism into an idol and damages the church's witness.
40. | Michelle Boorstein and David French | The Washington Post | February 5, 2021
Discusses whether Christian nationalism is primarily a formal theology or an emotional religious attachment to American exceptionalism and national providence.
41. | Paul D. Miller | Christianity Today | February 3, 2021
Foundational evangelical explainer distinguishing Christianity, patriotism, nationalism, and Christian nationalism and arguing that the church rather than the nation is the transnational people of God.
42. | Russell Moore | Christianity Today | September/October 2024
Contrasts nationalist aspirations for political control with evangelical doctrines of conversion, regeneration, the cross, and the transformation of individual hearts.
Biblical and Theological Critiques
43. | Nima Motallebzadeh | The Gospel Coalition Norden | September 26, 2026
Argues from John 18:36, Baptist religious-liberty traditions, the Great Commission, and the distinction between Christ's kingdom and earthly government that Christian nationalism is incompatible with the mission Christ entrusted to the church.
44. | J. D. Greear | The Gospel Coalition | September 18, 2026
Greear explains why he rejects Christian nationalism from an evangelical Baptist perspective, emphasizing freedom of conscience, limits on state religious authority, the Great Commission, and the danger of allowing government to define authentic Christianity.
45. | Dennis Knapp | Patheos | August 11, 2026
Argues that rejection of political idolatry need not entail rejection of a civilization publicly influenced by Christianity, illustrating an internal Catholic debate over the term.
46. | Russell Moore | Christianity Today | June 15, 2026
Considers pastoral responses when nationalist ideas enter congregational life and asks how Christians can oppose political idolatry without treating political disagreements as the gospel itself.
47. | Russell Moore | Russell Moore | May 25, 2026
Critiques attempts to apply Israel's covenant promises directly to the United States and argues that the gospel cannot be reduced to national renewal.
48. | Russell Moore | Christianity Today | May 25, 2026
Develops a theological critique of national covenant language and argues that Christian repentance and renewal cannot be reduced to American political restoration.
49. | James Spencer | Christianity.com | May 19, 2026
Offers an extended theological critique arguing that Christian nationalism disorders Christian allegiance, confuses church and state, and recruits Scripture into a national political narrative.
50. | Mac Loftin | The Christian Century | December 2025
Argues that nationalist Christianity subordinates the catholicity and transnational unity of the church to national and ethnic distinctions.
51. | America Magazine | America | April 17, 2025
Examines Christian nationalism as political idolatry while asking how Christian faith can legitimately contribute to public life without becoming fused with national identity.
52. | Drew J. Strait | Drew Strait / various academic conferences | 2024–2025
Collects lectures on Scripture, political idolatry, human security, nonviolence, and theological resistance to Christian nationalism.
53. | Heidi Schlumpf | National Catholic Reporter | October 25, 2024
Reports Bishop John Stowe's Catholic theological critique that Christian nationalism distorts Christianity and must be answered through Christian love rather than domination.
54. | Kate Scanlon | National Catholic Reporter / OSV News | April 18, 2024
Reports Bishop Michael Burbidge's argument that Christian nationalism is incompatible with Catholic teaching while patriotism remains a legitimate Christian virtue.
55. | Brad East | Christianity Today | March 13, 2024
Argues that "Christian nationalism" is sometimes applied too broadly while maintaining that genuine nationalist distortions can amount to a rival gospel that subordinates Christ to political identity.
56. | The Pelican's Eye | The Pelican's Eye | March 9, 2024
Frames Christian nationalism as a theological heresy in which national political action is treated as a transactional means of securing divine favor.
57. | John Stonestreet & Timothy D. Padgett | Breakpoint / Christianity.com | May 19, 2023
Critiques both secular dismissal of Christian political influence and innovations promoted by some Christian nationalists, seeking a distinction between historic Christian political theology and contemporary nationalism.
58. | David Remnick and Russell Moore | The New Yorker | November 7, 2022
Moore argues that Christianity becomes distorted when Jesus is used instrumentally to achieve national or partisan political goals.
59. | Amanda Tyler interview | Center for American Progress | April 13, 2022
Presents a Baptist religious-liberty critique arguing that privileging Christianity through state power undermines freedom of conscience.
Affirmative or Qualified Defenses
60. | Mark Silk | Religion News Service | September 11, 2026
Discusses Albert Mohler's movement toward an affirmative understanding of Christian nationalism and the resulting debate within a Baptist tradition historically associated with religious liberty and church-state separation.
61. | Matthew Kaemingk, Shadi Hamid and William Wolfe | Comment | August 31, 2026
Provides an extended conversation with a self-described Christian nationalist explaining affirmative arguments about Christianity, political power, religious pluralism, and American national identity.
62. | Various Authors | First Things | May 2026
Includes debate over R. R. Reno's defense of Christian nationalism, particularly whether Christian moral renewal necessarily entails nationalism and whether the term conceals competing political-theological claims.
63. | R. R. Reno | First Things | March 5, 2026
Presents an affirmative theological case for Christian nationalism, arguing that Christian doctrine can restrain nationalism's excesses through original sin, providence, ecclesial authority, family, and transcendent allegiance to God.
64. | Eric Patterson | Providence | December 12, 2024
Critiques both sweeping accusations of Christian nationalism and affirmative academic versions of it, arguing from Christian realism and religious liberty.
65. | Josh Hawley | First Things | September 4, 2024
Offers an affirmative conception of Christian nationalism based on Augustine, common loves, family, work, God, conscience, and a non-ethnic account of American nationhood.
66. | Douglas Wilson | Blog & Mablog | April 22, 2024
Provides Wilson's definitions of Christianity, nationhood, religious establishment, and Christian nationalism from an explicitly affirmative perspective.
67. | Josh Daws | American Reformer | October 4, 2023
Maps several positions within conservative Protestant debates about Christian nationalism and explains why self-described Christian nationalists disagree substantially among themselves.
68. | Jacob Huneycutt | American Reformer | May 31, 2023
Argues from Baptist history that some forms of Christian nationalism may be reconcilable with Baptist theology and challenges contemporary Baptist anti-nationalist narratives.
69. | Anthony Fava | Evangelical Dark Web | April 24, 2023
Presents an affirmative response to arguments that Baptist theology necessarily excludes Christian nationalism, making it useful as a contrasting theological position.
70. | Kevin DeYoung | Themelios / The Gospel Coalition | 2023
Extended theological critique of Stephen Wolfe's case for Christian nationalism focusing on ethnicity, ecclesiology, Protestant political theology, Scripture, and Christian virtue.
71. | Stephen Wolfe | Chronicles | December 2022 / January 2023
Wolfe gives an affirmative Protestant defense of Christian nationalism, including arguments for Christian public institutions, Protestant cultural primacy, and toleration.
72. | Paul D. Miller | Christianity Today | December 20, 2022
Directly compares Stephen Wolfe's affirmative Christian nationalism with Miller's rejection of it, presenting sharply opposed interpretations of Scripture, nationhood, ethnicity, and political authority.
73. | Will Knowland | Chronicles | December 2022
Presents Catholic integralism as an alternative to political liberalism and argues that Catholic Christianity should have an integrated role in the political order.
74. | Douglas Wilson | Blog & Mablog | October 3, 2022
Examines nationhood, ethnicity, covenant, the Great Commission, and political authority from an affirmative Christian-nationalist theological perspective.
75. | Douglas Wilson | Blog & Mablog | September 12, 2022
Offers a self-consciously Christian-nationalist argument that cultural and political societies require a transcendent religious foundation.
76. | James Wood | Providence | February 2021
Offers a qualified defense of a form of Christian nationalism while rejecting theologically inflated ideas that treat the United States as uniquely central to God's redemptive plan.
77. | Douglas Wilson and David Schrock | Southern Baptist Journal of Theology | Summer 2024
Extended interview presenting Douglas Wilson's affirmative understanding of Christian nationalism, postmillennialism, theonomy, church-state relations, and Christian political order.
Denominational and Church Responses
78. | Mike Ferguson / Heath Carter | Presbyterian News Service | September 3, 2026
Explores how Christian pastors can preach about Christian nationalism and distinguish historical Christianity from ideological efforts to fuse Christian and national identity.
79. | Tom J. Nettles | Baptist Courier | July 8, 2026
Challenges common descriptions of Christian nationalism and evaluates the issue from conservative Baptist doctrines of conversion, Christology, conscience, and Christian discipleship.
80. | John A. Bolt | The Presbyterian Outlook | July 1, 2026
Reports the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) decision describing white Christian nationalism as a theological error incompatible with the teachings and example of Jesus Christ.
81. | Presbyterian Church in Canada | Presbyterian Church in Canada | July 2026
Presents denominational resources arguing that Christian nationalism conflicts with the gospel when Christianity is used to establish political or cultural domination over religious outsiders.
82. | Presbyterian News Service | Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) | June 30, 2026
Reports General Assembly theological debates over Christian nationalism, religious identity, national history, and the proper relationship between church and nation.
83. | Mary Mabry | Presbyterian Outlook | June 30, 2026
Reports internal Presbyterian disagreement over whether "white Christian nationalism" is a useful theological category and how the church should describe it.
84. | Layton Williams Berkes | Presbyterian News Service | June 28, 2026
Discusses Christian nationalism with Presbyterian leaders and examines its relationship to Christian identity, American history, and the church's public witness.
85. | Presbyterian News Service | Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) | June 24, 2026
Describes Presbyterian theological deliberations over whether ideologies privileging Christianity or conflating religious identity with national supremacy are compatible with Reformed Christian teaching.
86. | Ethan Meyers | The Banner | June 15, 2026
Reports the Christian Reformed Church's decision to study Christian nationalism, including concern about theological frameworks that merge national identity with ecclesial identity.
87. | Reformed Church in America | Reformed Church in America | June 12, 2026
Includes the Reformed Church in America's General Synod declaration that Christian nationalism is opposed to the gospel of Jesus Christ and explains its church-state theological reasoning.
88. | Cindy Corell | Presbyterian News Service | June 11, 2026
Describes Presbyterian proposals addressing Christian nationalism as a theological issue involving national supremacy, ecclesiology, migration, and Reformed identity.
89. | Presbyterian News Service / Miranda Zapor Cruz | Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) | May 7, 2026
Examines cultural-Christian, Reconstructionist, and biblical-law versions of Christian nationalism and assesses them in relation to the church's mission and the kingdom of God.
90. | Mike Ferguson | Presbyterian News Service | March 26, 2026
Examines definitions of Christian nationalism and Presbyterian concerns that Christian faith can become subordinated to national identity.
91. | Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod Convention Guide | LCMS | 2026
Presents a proposal for theological study of Christian nationalism in relation to the Lutheran doctrine of the two kingdoms, racism, antisemitism, citizenship, and Christian vocation.
92. | Anabaptist Mennonite Biblical Seminary / Drew Strait | AMBS | 2024–2026
Defines Christian nationalism as theological imagination co-opted by state power and contrasts it with Anabaptist teachings on peace, discipleship, nonviolence, and allegiance to Jesus.
93. | Drew Strait | Anabaptist Mennonite Biblical Seminary | 2026
Approaches Christian nationalism through biblical studies, peace theology, political idolatry, authoritarianism, and nonviolent Christian resistance.
94. | Mike Ferguson | Presbyterian News Service | April 4, 2025
Presents Amanda Tyler's Christian critique of Christian nationalism as a fusion of religious and national identities and discusses its implications for Christian witness and religious liberty.
95. | Christian Reformed Church | CRCNA | 2025
Surveys alternatives in Christian political theology, including withdrawal, liberal neutrality, and Christian nationalism, while warning about turning Christianity into a political faction seeking control of the state.
96. | Baptist World Alliance | Baptist World Alliance | July 2024
International Baptist resolution describing Christian nationalism as a reduction of the gospel to earthly political power and rejecting dominion theology and nationalist idolatry.
97. | J. Robert Charles | Anabaptist World | August 25, 2023
Distinguishes civic nationalism from ethnic-religious nationalism and proposes an Anabaptist theological critique rooted in inclusion and the common good.
98. | Mike Ferguson / Jimmie Hawkins | Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) | August 23, 2023
Presents a Presbyterian critique of attempts to merge patriotism with Christian theology and discusses Christian nationalism in light of Reformed identity.
99. | Harrison Wiebe Faber | Anabaptist World | August 22, 2023
Uses early Anabaptist history to explore why separation of cross and political sword became central to Anabaptist theology and why that tradition creates tension with Christian nationalism.
100. | Andrew Whitehead | Anabaptist World / Religion News Service | August 2023
Argues that the behavioral and ethical fruits associated with Christian nationalism conflict with Christian teachings on love, neighbor, humility, and service.
101. | Matthew Y. Emerson | 9Marks | April 28, 2023
Argues that Christian nationalism is incompatible with historic Baptist covenant theology, congregationalism, religious liberty, and the missionary nature of the New Covenant church.
102. | Drew Strait | Mennonite Church USA | September 2022
Examines Christian nationalism through Anabaptist theology and argues that militarized nationalism conflicts with the enemy-love and peace ethic associated with Jesus.
103. | Drew Strait | Mennonite Church USA | June 30, 2021
Evaluates Christian nationalism using biblical teachings about Jesus, empire, peacemaking, hospitality, justice, neighbor-love, and the political temptation to use Scripture as an instrument of state power.
104. | Ryan Dunn | United Methodist Church | 2020s
Explains Christian nationalism from a Methodist perspective and contrasts identification of God's purposes with one nation against biblical teachings concerning Jesus, political power, and universal Christian mission.
105. | Jennifer Hockenbery | Journal of Lutheran Ethics | June/July 2024
Introduces Lutheran theological responses to Christian nationalism and highlights biblical, historical, and two-kingdom arguments raised against nationalist theology.
106. | Jennifer Hockenbery | Journal of Lutheran Ethics | June/July 2024
Provides theological questions for congregations examining Christian nationalism through creation, neighbor-love, political fear, faith, and Christian ethical responsibility.
Academic Research and Political Theology
Examines Christian nationalism in relation to Christian understandings of the kingdom of God, charity, and justice, offering empirical evidence about how nationalist commitments interact with theological and ethical priorities.
108. | Jesse Smith & Jonathan Tran | Religious Studies Review | September 5, 2026
Challenges much contemporary anti-Christian-nationalist scholarship and argues that debates over Christian nationalism cannot be resolved without taking seriously the long and complicated Christian theological debate over church and state.
109. | Noah Dodd | Currents in Theology and Mission | June 17, 2026
Examines Christian nationalism's use of the doctrine of election and proposes a Trinitarian alternative to nationalist interpretations of divine election.
110. | Craig L. Nessan | Currents in Theology and Mission | June 17, 2026
Provides a theological primer describing Christian nationalism as an American heresy and examining civil religion, Reconstructionism, Dominionism, the New Apostolic Reformation, and Seven Mountains theology.
111. | Eric L. McDaniel | Currents in Theology and Mission | June 17, 2026
Argues in "Poisoned Fruit from a Toxic Tree" that contemporary white Christian nationalism inherits theological patterns developed within slaveholding Christianity.
112. | Starlette Thomas | Currents in Theology and Mission | June 17, 2026
Examines what Thomas describes as the heretical fusion of whiteness, Christianity, and nationalism and contrasts political supremacy with Christian belonging.
113. | Angela Denker | Currents in Theology and Mission | June 17, 2026
Investigates how nationalism, masculinity, racial hierarchy, and political radicalization can operate within Christian congregational cultures.
114. | Marvin E. Wickware Jr. | Currents in Theology and Mission | June 17, 2026
Argues that Christian responses to nationalism require both authentic gospel proclamation and attention to the material political power exercised by nationalist movements.
115. | Melvin L. Otey | Currents in Theology and Mission | June 17, 2026
Uses 1 Kings 18 to interpret Christian nationalism as a potential form of syncretism in which allegiance to God becomes fused with allegiance to national identity.
116. | Frederick P. Lampe | Currents in Theology and Mission | June 17, 2026
Uses anthropology and theology to argue that Christian nationalism should be understood as a complex cultural phenomenon involving symbols, rituals, stories, politics, and religion.
117. | Duane Larson | Currents in Theology and Mission | June 17, 2026
Contrasts Christian-nationalist apocalyptic rhetoric with a theology-of-the-cross understanding of Christian eschatology.
118. | Craig L. Nessan | Currents in Theology and Mission | June 17, 2026
Surveys civil religion, Christian Reconstructionism, Dominionism, the New Apostolic Reformation, and Seven Mountains theology as theological components in contemporary Christian nationalism.
119. | Paul A. Djupe & Brooklyn Walker | Politics and Religion | March 26, 2026
Tests whether theological and pluralist arguments explicitly constructed against Christian nationalism actually counter Christian-nationalist attitudes among American Christians.
120. | Joshua Hordern | Studies in Christian Ethics | January 23, 2026
Uses public theology and Joan Lockwood O'Donovan's thought to consider Christian nationalism, public authority, Christian affections, vocation, and the distinction between evangelical and governmental commands.
Investigates whether Christian nationalism is intrinsically racial or functions more broadly as a Christian in-group protection ideology across racial groups.
Studies how emerging Christian religious leaders engage with Christian nationalism and how nationalist attitudes intersect with spirituality and social-justice commitments.
123. | Esther Parajuli | Review & Expositor | May 30, 2025
Critically examines the theological anthropology underlying Christian nationalism and how nationalist constructions of insiders and outsiders shape ideas about human worth and belonging.
124. | Nilay Saiya | Politics and Religion | May 13, 2025
Identifies three distinct theological forms of Christian nationalism—charismatic dominionism, Calvinist nationalism, and Catholic integralism—and compares their doctrines and political goals.
125. | Michael J. DeMoor | Philosophia Reformata | September 13, 2023
Reviews Stephen Wolfe's Christian political theory and argues that its account of nationhood and national agency conflicts with important features of Kuyperian Reformed political theology.
126. | Ruiqian Li and Paul Froese | Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion | August 2, 2023
Distinguishes religious traditionalism from Christian statism and argues that supposedly Christian-nationalist beliefs can represent substantially different theological and political orientations.
127. | William R. Myers | Theology Today | July 3, 2023
Examines theological constructions underlying American Christian nationalism and proposes responses drawing on Dorothee Sölle and Jürgen Moltmann.
Investigates how Christian-nationalist religious claims interact with racial conceptions of national belonging, relevant to theological debates over catholicity and neighbor-love.
129. | Michael J. DeMoor | Philosophia Reformata | 2023
Evaluates Stephen Wolfe's Christian nationalism as a project in Reformed political theory and proposes Kuyperian architectonic critique as an alternative.
Definitions, Typologies, and Public Understanding
130. | Brandon Showalter | The Christian Post | May 23, 2026
Surveys competing definitions of Christian nationalism and explains why disagreement over terminology complicates theological judgments about whether it is compatible with Christianity.
131. | Chris Butler | Christianity Today | May 5, 2026
Argues that not every conservative Christian political position should be labeled Christian nationalism and calls for theological precision about what actually constitutes nationalist Christianity.
132. | Lisa Loraine Baker | Christianity.com | March 5, 2026
Surveys definitions of Christian nationalism and asks whether efforts to create an explicitly Christian political order can be squared with biblical Christianity.
133. | Al Baker | Patheos | February 28, 2026
Argues that Christian nationalism lacks a sufficiently stable definition and warns that theological criticism can become misleading when the label is applied to ordinary conservative Christian political engagement.
134. | Daniel Christopher Samms | Liberty University | May 1, 2025
Compares sociological definitions of Christian nationalism with several contemporary Christian political theologies and argues that common academic definitions do not always accurately describe theological proponents.
135. | Pew Research Center | Pew Research Center | January 28, 2025
Provides comparative empirical context for evaluating Christian nationalism as one form of religious nationalism and distinguishes theological belief from political preferences about establishment.
136. | Jonathan Tran | The Christian Century | July 2024
Questions whether the term has become conceptually overextended and argues that critics must take Christian political theology and the church-state question more seriously.
137. | Chip Rotolo, Gregory A. Smith and Jonathan Evans | Pew Research Center | March 15, 2024
Provides empirical context for theological debates by distinguishing public support for Christian political influence, official establishment, church-state separation, and the Christian-nationalist label.
138. | John Fea | Christianity Today | February 16, 2024
Reviews theological and historical arguments against Christian nationalism while cautioning against definitions that classify nearly all conservative Christians as nationalists.
139. | Paul D. Miller | Christianity Today | March 3, 2023
Argues for a precise definition separating Christian nationalism from normal Christianity and examines biblical texts often used to identify the United States with covenant Israel.
140. | Abigail Vegter, Andrew R. Lewis and Cammie Jo Bolin | Politics and Religion | January 26, 2023
Distinguishes American civil religion from Christian nationalism and examines whether public religious symbolism necessarily implies nationalist political theology.
141. | Pew Research Center | Pew Research Center | October 27, 2022
Shows that Americans attach substantially different meanings to "Christian nation," ranging from theocracy to general Christian moral influence, underscoring the importance of precise theological definitions.
142. | Pew Research Center | Pew Research Center | October 27, 2022
Collects Americans' own explanations of Christian nationalism, illustrating why theological assessments can differ depending on how the concept is defined.
143. | Mark David Hall | Providence | March 3, 2022
Argues that some measurements and accusations define Christian nationalism far too broadly and distinguishes actual nationalism from conventional Christian support for religious freedom and public religion.
Historical and Theological Background
144. | Matthew Kaemingk and Shadi Hamid | Comment | August 31, 2026
Explores theological objections to Christian nationalism, including treatment of religious minorities, coercive political power, historical claims about Christian America, and Christian obligations toward outsiders.
145. | Steven Waldman | The Christian Century | June 16, 2026
Uses American religious history to question claims that a contemporary evangelical political program simply represents the nation's original Christianity.
146. | Russell Moore | Christianity Today | May 20, 2026
Uses biblical interpretation, particularly 2 Chronicles 7:14 and the history of Israel, to argue against treating the United States as though it occupied Israel's covenantal position.
147. | Ralph C. Wood | Christianity Today | September 25, 2024
Reviews Joel Looper's theological argument that nationalist Christianity can function as "another gospel" and considers the problem across different historical periods rather than limiting it to contemporary politics.
148. | N. Gray Sutanto | Christianity Today | June 17, 2024
Uses Herman Bavinck's Reformed theology to examine Christianity's relationship to ethnicity, nationalism, racism, catholicity, and the universal scope of the gospel.
149. | Biblical Reasoning | Biblical Reasoning | April 27, 2023
Examines historical Baptist arguments about establishment and religious liberty and warns against cherry-picking Baptist history to justify contemporary Christian nationalism.
150. | Drew J. Strait | Brethren in Christ History & Life | April 2023
Treats Christian nationalism as both a theological and political crisis and assesses it through Anabaptist understandings of Jesus, political power, public witness, and Christian identity.
151. | Kristin Du Mez | History News Network | February 15, 2023
Examines the historical and ecclesial dangers critics associate with white Christian nationalism and places current debates within longer evangelical political history.
152. | Bradford Littlejohn | Themelios / The Gospel Coalition | 2023
Reviews Stephen Wolfe's political theology in relation to the magisterial Protestant tradition and assesses where Wolfe's nationalist conclusions do and do not follow from Reformation sources.
153. | James Wood | Theopolis Institute | June 17, 2021
Challenges the assumption that Christian nationalism must necessarily contradict Christian catholicity, drawing on Henri de Lubac to explore how national particularity and universal church identity might coexist.
154. | Thomas S. Kidd | The Gospel Coalition | December 18, 2020
Distinguishes Christian patriotism from Christian nationalism, arguing that national love becomes theologically problematic when America assumes a central role in redemptive history or receives allegiance belonging ultimately to Christ.
Global and Comparative Perspectives
155. | Lisa Gasson-Gardner and Corinne L. Mason | Canadian Review of Sociology | August 18, 2026
Examines Christian nationalism in Alberta and shows how dominion theology and parental-rights politics can intersect within a Canadian context.
Tests whether an American Christian-nationalism concept transfers to Finland and other secularized multiparty contexts, illuminating how national church traditions alter the phenomenon.
157. | Eric Gregory | Studies in Christian Ethics | February 25, 2026
Examines the Church of England as a possible form of liberal Christian nationalism, raising theological questions concerning establishment, Christology, eschatology, mission, and ecclesiology.
158. | Naomi Haynes | Religion | 2026
Examines theological similarities between the prosperity gospel and charismatic forms of Christian nationalism in Zambia, Brazil, Ghana, and Papua New Guinea.
159. | John Ishiyama | Politics and Religion | September 15, 2025
Broadens Christian-nationalism research beyond the United States and examines how Christian identity, political theology, democracy, and religious tolerance interact in African contexts.
160. | John Ishiyama | Politics and Religion | September 15, 2025
Examines Christian nationalism in African societies, useful for separating theological nationalism as a global phenomenon from specifically American historical forms.
161. | Harvard Divinity School | Harvard Divinity School | March 5, 2025
Examines Christian nationalism globally and discusses theological concerns including idolatry, church-state fusion, evangelization, and distortion of the inclusive New Testament kingdom of God.
162. | Don Thorsen | The Ecumenical Review | 2025
Places Christian nationalism within a wider discussion of religious nationalism, interreligious dialogue, religious freedom, pluralism, and Christian responsibility toward religious minorities.
163. | Ronald S. Cava | Baptist News Global | July 2, 2024
Evaluates Christian nationalism through Baptist ecclesiology and political theology, emphasizing that Jesus' kingdom cannot be reduced to a political program.
164. | Naomi Haynes | Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute | 2023
Examines covenantal Christian nationalism in Zambia and the theological problem of applying biblical analogies about Israel and covenant to modern nations.
165. | Benjamin Lynerd | University of Chicago Religion & Culture Forum | January 26, 2018
Distinguishes political theology derived from Christian doctrine from religious nationalism based primarily on group identity and political power.
Books, Collections, and Extended Resources
166. | Various Authors | Currents in Theology and Mission | June 17, 2026
A full theological issue titled "Declaring Independence from Christian Nationalism," bringing biblical, historical, theological, anthropological, and ecclesial approaches to the question.
167. | Keith L. Johnson | Baylor University Press | 2026
Uses Karl Barth's resistance to German nationalist Christianity to examine how Christian theology can identify the nation as an idol when national identity becomes incorporated into divine revelation.
168. | Andrew L. Whitehead | Brazos Press | 2023/2026 listing
Examines Christian nationalism through the theological categories of power, fear, and violence and argues that these can function as idols within American Christianity.
169. | Stephen Healey | The Christian Century | April 2025
Reviews the argument that mainline Protestant civil religion helped construct practices that later supported Christian nationalism, complicating the idea that the phenomenon belongs only to conservative evangelicalism.
170. | Daniel D. Miller | Cambridge University Press | March 7, 2025
A scholarly overview situating Christian nationalism within contemporary North American Christianity and examining its theological, cultural, and political significance.
171. | Richard T. Hughes & Christina Littlefield | University of Illinois Press / Oxford Academic | 2025
Compares the American "Christian nation" idea with the biblical concepts of chosen nation and kingdom of God, arguing that the comparison is crucial for evaluating Christian nationalism theologically.
172. | Richard T. Hughes & Christina Littlefield | JSTOR / University of Illinois Press | 2025
Historical and biblical investigation of the Christian America tradition from Puritanism through January 6, with extensive attention to whether the idea of a Christian nation fits New Testament theology.
173. | The Christian Century | The Christian Century | 2025
Reviews arguments that Christian nationalism often operates more as a political identity framework than as orthodox Christian belief, raising questions about what makes an ideology genuinely Christian.
174. | Richard T. Hughes and Christina Littlefield | University of Illinois Press | 2025
Examines the Gospel accounts of Jesus and argues that the biblical kingdom of God provides an important theological standard for assessing claims about a Christian nation.
175. | Richard T. Hughes and Christina Littlefield | University of Illinois Press | 2025
Examines Paul and Revelation to determine whether New Testament theology supports identifying any earthly nation with God's kingdom.
176. | Richard T. Hughes and Christina Littlefield | University of Illinois Press | 2025
Surveys Christian nationalism after January 6 and considers how contemporary political behavior relates to historic Christian doctrines and biblical teaching.
177. | Richard T. Hughes and Christina Littlefield | University of Illinois Press | 2025
Concludes a historical and theological comparison between Christian America ideology and the biblical kingdom of God.
178. | Paul D. Miller | IVP Academic | 2024 edition
Presents a sustained evangelical argument that Christian nationalism merges Christian faith with national identity in ways that can conflict with Christian theology and religious liberty.
179. | Stephen Backhouse | Oxford University Press | 2011
Examines Søren Kierkegaard's critique of nineteenth-century Christian nationalism and his rejection of attempts to equate authentic Christianity with national Christendom.
180. | Various Authors | Political Theology Network | Various
Collection of theological essays examining Christian nationalism through Scripture, ecclesiology, political theology, public ethics, nationalism, violence, and Christian discipleship.
