‘Stockholm Syndrome Christianity’ is an accessible yet rich read that diagnoses a pathology coming from within modern Christianity. Especially troublesome is that many leading and previously venerable Christian figures show clear symptoms of the pathology. In a firm yet kind way, West’s book provides ample evidence that the diagnosis is correct, and that Christians must address this pathology before it gets worse and spreads further.

Although reading classic works on political theology can be helpful in addressing problems of modern Christianity, these classics should also be read in conjunction with contemporary books that address contemporary problems. One of the contemporary issues vexing modern Christianity is that many of its institutional leaders have marred orthodox Christianity by ingratiating themselves with cultural and political elites who reject orthodox Christianity. Helping us understand and address this problem is John G. West’s book Stockholm Syndrome Christianity (2025), which is premised on the analogy of wolves among a flock of sheep.[1] Instead of getting rid of the wolves, some sheep befriend and ingratiate themselves to these wolves until these favored sheep start getting annoyed at other sheep who want to get rid of the wolves!

As absurd as this sheep-wolves flock story is, this is precisely the image West presents in Stockholm Syndrome Christianity to describe the state of modern Christianity. The wolves are the “anti-Christian secular culture, and the sheep represent Christians who have embraced the assumptions of that culture.”[2] The embrace is so complete that the sheep “are grateful and think the [wolves are] doing something good”[3]; the sheep obstinately believe they are “being loving and kind”[4] by assisting the wolves.

Stockholm Syndrome Christians

Over the course of twelve chapters encompassing abortion, gender and LGBTQ, race, science and Darwinian evolution, religious liberty, and the value of scripture, West lays out the case that many Christians—particularly Christian leaders—have become Stockholm Syndrome Christians. Named for a bank robbery in Stockholm, Sweden, where the robbers took hostages that “began to bond with the criminals and view the police and government as their enemies,”[5] West claims that the same syndrome is playing out among Christians: Christians “have been immersed for years in an elite culture that rejects orthodox Christianity, . . . [and thus they] easily start identifying more with those who hate Christianity than those who embrace it.”[6] For West, Stockholm Syndrome Christians are both sincere and insidious: They are genuinely seeking the good of those around them, but they are unwittingly allowing “anti-Christian secular culture” (wolves) to bear down on and gain traction within Christianity.[7]

West does not spare the details nor the examples. He names names and provides detailed accounts of many Christian leaders who have exhibited Stockholm Syndrome, including scientists, pastors, authors, and politicians. West demonstrates how Stockholm Syndrome Christian leaders seem to “run away from the Bible’s teaching rather than embrace and explain it,”[8] are “seemingly embarrassed by the biblical view,”[9] and will try “to make you feel guilty for raising legitimate questions about whether [their] teachings are consistent with the Bible . . . to avoid oversight and accountability.”[10] Three leading figures West spends some time discussing are Tim Keller, Andy Stanley, and Francis Collins, and I will briefly overview one topic among several that West connects to each individual.

Tim Keller and the Theistic Evolution

West recounts how open-handed Keller was toward having certain scientists share about theistic evolution to Christian leaders, and how closed-handed Keller was to giving the same opportunity to scientists who were more supportive of intelligent design and less supportive of neo-Darwinian evolution. West, a former professor at Seattle Pacific University, works as the Vice President of Discovery Institute, a place arguably best known for being a hub of leading scientists and philosophers of science who support intelligent design (the view that an intelligent being designed and created the universe). The individuals of the Discovery Institute have received many distinguished endorsements, ranging from philosopher Thomas Nagel to Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh John C. Walton. Despite this, West recounts that “Keller was perhaps the person most responsible for giving [Francis] Collins a one-sided platform to promote theistic evolution among evangelical leaders.”[11]

Andy Stanley and the Authority of the Bible

West contends that the “devaluation of Scripture . . . is foundational to all other elements of Stockholm Syndrome Christianity.”[12] To illustrate, West uses the example of how megachurch pastor Andy Stanley treats the Old Testament. West cites examples from Stanley to show that Stanley sees the Old Testament as “basically irrelevant for Christians,”[13] that “[i]t certainly isn’t needed to understand or apply the Christian faith,”[14] that it is instrumental in “keeping people away from Christianity,”[15] and that Christians would not be in error to “let the Old Testament go.”[16] These indictments from West about how Stanley views half the Bible are damning, and West is careful to provide evidence that his assertions of Stanley are correct. Stanley is also dismissive toward the New Testament, specifically when he called New Testament chapters that deal with homosexuality “clobber passages”—a pejorative phrase used by homosexual activists to try to undermine God’s word.[17]

Francis Collins and the Government

When secular culture rewards a Christian who engages in this practice with an elite position in society, other Christians are incentivized to also weaken their biblical orthodoxies and strengthen their secular identifications.

Read More

1. John G. West, Stockholm Syndrome Christianity: Why America’s Christian Leaders Are Failing—and What We Can Do about It (Seattle: Discovery Institute Press, 2025).

2. Stockholm Syndrome Christianity, 349.

3. West, Stockholm Syndrome Christianity, 349.

4. West, Stockholm Syndrome Christianity, 349.

5. West, Stockholm Syndrome Christianity, 16.

6. West, Stockholm Syndrome Christianity, 16.

7. West, Stockholm Syndrome Christianity, 349.

8. West, Stockholm Syndrome Christianity, 135.

9. West, Stockholm Syndrome Christianity, 86.

10. West, Stockholm Syndrome Christianity, 255.

11. West, Stockholm Syndrome Christianity, 71.

12. West, Stockholm Syndrome Christianity, 28.

13. West, Stockholm Syndrome Christianity, 28.

14. West, Stockholm Syndrome Christianity, 28.

15. West, Stockholm Syndrome Christianity, 29.

16. West, Stockholm Syndrome Christianity, 30. West cites Stanley’s Irresistible: Reclaiming the New That Jesus Unleashed for the World (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2018) for all of these assertions.

17. Steve Jordahl, “Andy Stanley taken to task again for remarks on ‘gays’ and church,” American Family News, January 24, 2023.