A Brief Book Notice from Books At a Glance
An excellent resource on a contemporary topic!
Table of Contents
Introduction
Classic Protestantism & Christian Nationalism – Joe Rigney
Against Christian Nationalism – Paul D. Miller
A Nation Among the Nations – R. Albert Mohler
Christ and Nations – R.R. Reno
Christian Nationalism as Strategic Worldview Necessity
Selected Quotes
- Rigney: A nation is a people marked out by a combination of shared ancestry, shared history and experience, a common language, literature, culture, customs, and religion, a shared attachment to a particular land and place, and a common law and magistrate. (17)
- Rigney: Our primary goal—as individuals, in our families, in our churches, in our communities, and in our nation—ought to be to seek [God’s] face and favor, and to honor him in all that we do. (50)
- Miller: When we have religious nationalism, nationalism is the noun, religion the adjective: nationalism is the main event, religion the modifier. When nationalists turn to religion, it is typically for what religion can do for the nation, not the other way around. (84)
- Miller: King Jesus does not (yet) desire the nations to call themselves by his name in this present fallen, sinful age, perhaps because he knows how badly fallen nations will twist his gospel if they pretend to bend the knee. Instead, King Jesus expects all nations of whatever culture, civilization, and religion, to govern by the lesser light of nature. (105)
- Mohler: While words and concepts have always developed over time, and often with energetic debate, the current intellectual and political climate is marked by radical revision, mass confusion, and ideological subversion. (159)
- Mohler: Against the prevailing secular argument, I do believe that the Declaration of Independence does explicitly acknowledge the living God, Creator of the world and guarantor of our inalienable rights. Regrettably, there is no such explicit religious or theological acknowledgement in the Constitution. (178)
- Reno: A nation has temporal depth; it is a community of living memory. Law gives objective form to a people, shaping their common life. Memory gives subjective form to a people, providing both a patrimony and a task. (238)
- Reno: In sum, establishing a church or churches is unwise. Promoting the religious life of the nation by other means is imperative. How to do so effectively is a matter of judgment informed by prudence. (252)
- Wilson: Put another way, the task of a real Neo-Calvinism is to do battle with every form of unbelief. (301)
- Wilson: There are three governments among men that were created directly by God. These governments are family, church, and state. Because they were formed and authorized by God Himself, He writes the by-laws. (314)