Christians have always sought to understand how to navigate their dual citizenship, Church-State relationships, being Christians as individuals and being the Church as an institution, and evangelism or outreach outside the church from practices within the covenant community. These differences and debates have always been in bounds and not a matter of doctrinal fidelity.

With the Presbyterian Church in America (PCA) and other member denonominations of the North American Presbyterian and Reformed Council (NAPARC) currently “studying” Christian Nationalism, I too set off on a journey to understand the spectrum of beliefs (within NAPARC) as they relate to Christian Nationalism. The interviews I conducted helped me (and many others) to understand more fully what is meant by “Christian Nationalism.”

It was not my goal to lay out every view related to how Christians should engage in matters of cultural and political significance. I was simply seeking to discern what is in and out of bounds for Christians to believe and advocate for and how those beliefs and activities relate to the gospel, the church, Christians, and political government.

I am not an historian. I am, however, an exegete of both Scripture and the culture, and I believe that I am called and equipped to engage these matters. This is true for every minister within NAPARC Churches.

Defining Christian Nationalism

As this project has revealed, coming up with a uniform definition of Christian Nationalism is difficult. In The Case for Christian Nationalism, Stephen Wolfe defines Christian Nationalism as

a totality of national action, consisting of civil laws and social customs, conducted by a Christian nation as a Christian nation, in order to procure for itself both earthly and heavenly good in Christ (p.11).

Doug Wilson defines it as

the view that secularism is a hollow construct, now plainly revealed to be bankrupt. Additionally, CN is the belief that human societies require a transcendent anchor to hold everything together, and that this transcendent anchor should be the true and living God, and not a placeholder idol. ^[1]

Or, as he has often said, “Christian nationalism is the conviction that we should stop making God angry.”^[2] By this, Wilson implies that a nation as a national entity (e.g., as expressed through political authorities) should acknowledge the true God and act in accord with His moral law. Of course, Wolfe and Wilson have their own programs to accomplish their ends. As they say, the devil is in the details.

Much of the difference between these two men involves their starting points and their eschatology. This affects their programs, motives, and timetables. Wilson holds to a postmillienial eschatology and is taking a much longer view of the process. Wolfe holds to an amillenial eschatology and is more concerned with what can be achieved in a shorter window. Wilson is a presuppositionalist, while Wolfe adopts a Thomistic natural theology. Wilson is Kuyperian.^[3] Wolfe is anti-Kuyperianism. All this to say, you cannot put guys in a box and say this is a post-mill project.

The extreme versions of Christian Nationalism apparently advocate for the United States to reclaim not just her Protestant heritage, but also her White Identity. These extreme versions include a rising tide of both antisemitism—and by that I do not mean simply disagreeing with foreign policy toward Israel, but the real despising of Jews in the United States—and various forms of Kinism, including opposition to interracial marriage. Sadly, Joel Webbon is leading the charge to sanitize and normalize both views (i.e., antisemitism and Kinism) within what is seen as a Christian Nationalism movement (if it can be called a movement at all).

In all of this, it remains to be seen if the term Christian Nationalism will have utility at all anymore or if it will simply become synonymous with the ungodly programs of the anonymous X/Twitter edgelords who are constantly railing about it and against anyone who disagrees. For that reason, I hesitate even to try to summarize the movement. However, it seems necessary to do so, if for no other reason than that many are being labeled a Christian Nationalist whether or not they are one.

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