Church Matters: A New Christian Authoritarianism?: Christian Nationalism, Theonomy, and Magisterial Protestantism

What is the mission of the church? Provoked by secularism’s growing dominance in culture, a growing number of Christians have begun arguing the church needs to undertake nation building through culture war. Some identify as Theonomists, others as Magisterial Protestants, many as Christian Nationalists. Differences exist between these groups, but all of them want all Ten Commandments or the Apostles' Creed placed front and center in a nation’s founding documents. Many would also shrink the scope of religious liberty. Yet is this what Jesus had in mind when he sent his church into the world to make disciples? This issue of Church Matters will argue that it isn’t. These authoritarian systems fail to recognize that nations can’t be saved; only people can. And it’s saved people gathering in churches who bear Jesus’s name, not governments. Jesus promised victory to his Church, not to the countries where his churches live as exiles and pilgrims.Table of ContentsEditor's NoteAuthoritarianism and Gospel AuthorityA New Christian Authoritarianism by Jonathan LeemanWhat Authority Has God Given to Governments? by Jonathan LeemanSay No to Christian Nominalism by Jonathan LeemanTheonomy and Christian Nationalism BasicsTheonomy Primer: What Is It and How Does It Work? by Tom HicksReconstruction Theonomy Vs. General Equity Theonomy by Joseph ThigpenThe Many Faces of Christian Nationalism by John WilseyTheological CritiqueTheonomy: Serious Theology, Serious Politics, Seriously Wrong by Albert MohlerThe Noahic Covenant's Importance for Government by David VanDrunenIs It Possible to Be a Baptist Christian Nationalist? by Matthew EmersonPostmillenialism and Theonomy by David SchrockRelating Moses's Law to Christians by Jason DeRouchieFour Critiques of Theonomy from Three PerspectivesA Presbyterian Perspective: The Intellectual and Sociological Origins of the Christian Reconstructionist Movement by Ligon DuncanA 1689 Baptist Perspective: Confessionalism and Theonomy by Justin PerdueA Progressive Covenantal Perspective: Paul and the Tripartite Division of Moses's Law by Joshua GreeverA Progressive Covenantal Perspective: Theonomy and Moses's Law by Jason DeRouchieHistory, Culture, and ConversationsTheonomy and Sharia Law by Matthew BennettCulture Warriors: The Good and The Bad by Michael HortonAgainst Religious Establishment in Baptist Political Theology by Nathan FinnTo Study History, Exercise Virtue by John WilseyUtopian Seductions by Matthew ArboJohn Gill on Theonomy by Ian ClaryGovernment's Two-Edged Sword by Matt MartensCharlemagne and the Legacy of Christian Political Violence by Dustin AsburyPastoral EncouragementsThe Aim of Preaching in an Increasingly Hostile Culture to Christianity by John PiperThree Building Blocks for a Christian's Political Theology by Kevin DeYoungWhat Is a Greater Grief: A Compromised Church or a Compromised Nation? by Jeremy Walker"God Is (Not) an Englishman" by Jamie SouthcombeBaptist Covenant Theology: A Pastor's Best Defense Against Theonomy by Jeff WiesnerTen Diagnostic Questions for the Potential Ideologue by Ken BarbicHow I Went Too Far with Politics by Dave BrownInternational Pastors on Culture War—Why or Why Not? by Josh Manley, Sam Masters, Benny, Johnny LithellSamples of Public Prayers Prayed by Pastors by Mark Dever, Juan Sanchez, Jaime Owens, Ross ShannonBook ReviewsThe Case for Christian Nationalism, by Stephen Wolfe by Andrew WalkerOn Earth as in Heaven, by Peter Leithart by Dan DarlingSurvival and Resistance in Evangelical America, by Crawford Gribben by Joseph ThigpenEmpires of Dirt, by Douglas Wilson by Paul Alexander Read more