Perhaps Crenshaw thinks Biden’s America is more of a “negative world” than Nero’s Rome and that the New Testament’s normative expectations of Christian behavior therefore do not apply. Or perhaps he thinks New Testament ethical teaching represents a kind of slave morality in our current political moment. If so, QED. The conclusion of Crenshaw’s article is, however, admirably clear as it really does put on display the kind of “Christianity” being espoused. 

In reading Ben Crenshaw’s response to my opinion piece at First Things, several points came to mind. Much could be said but here are two brief thoughts.

It is indeed possible that I have misunderstood the “negative world” idea, but perhaps not in quite the way Crenshaw claims. When I encountered it in Aaron Renn’s First Things essay, it struck me as providing a potentially useful taxonomy for highlighting some of the dramatic changes of the last twenty years in America with regard to the cultural climate and religion. But as Crenshaw deploys it, it seems less a modest heuristic tool and more part of a grand theory of culture. This can then apparently function as a Procrustean bed for categorizing and dismissing other arguments a priori. Now, Crenshaw’s reading of the idea may well be correct, in which case I find it considerably less helpful than I first did. In retrospect, therefore, I would not have bothered referencing it. The problem with grand theories is that they risk simplifying the complexities of real life as it is lived at ground level.

More worrying than its capacity for over-simplification, however, is that the “negative world” now appears to have become a justification (excuse?) for ignoring basic New Testament teaching on Christian behavior—whether one is politically active or not. Crenshaw’s lack of serious engagement with the Bible is surprising, given the issue is that of the nature of Christianity and Christian political ethics. True, he does point to Rahab and gestures toward the New Testament by citing Hebrews 11:31. But to make her behavior normative for Christians today in our current circumstances is not a straightforward move. This is not to say there are no situations where Christians may be called on to act similarly, but it is quite simply no easy task to reach such a judgment.

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