Fighting culture wars or following Jesus?

For much of my life, the Christian faith has been pushed to the margins of public life. Despite noble efforts by various people and organisations to highlight its relevance and positive impact on society, it has often been met with indifference or outright hostility. That seems to be changing. And yet, I find myself with mixed feelings about this shift.

In my generally positive reflections on Justin Brierley’s contention that there is a surprising rebirth of belief in God, I acknowledged a concern: that this renewal was either being driven or hijacked by politically conservative voices like Jordan Peterson and Douglas Murray. I was encouraged to discover that I am not alone in this concern. The excellent opening episodes of Brierley’s Surprising Rebirth podcast highlight this very issue.

I don’t consider myself strictly liberal or conservative—I see good and bad in both. A truly Christian political theology, I believe, should transcend the categories of left and right. So I struggled to articulate exactly what troubled me about this new enthusiasm for Christianity until I read a First Things article based on Paul Kingsnorth’s Erasmus Lecture from late last year.

It was brilliant. Kingsnorth observes that at least some of the renewed interest in the Judeo-Christian tradition is a reaction to the unrest and disruption of Western decline and liberal democracy’s fractures. For some, this resurgence is an attempt to rescue “Christian civilization” as a bulwark against perceived threats. And then go on to conquer the world in the name of this civilization. But, as Kingsnorth rightly points out, this is not the same thing as following Christ. In fact, it risks becoming another Tower of Babel.

He puts it starkly:

“Civilizational Christianity puts civilization first and Christianity second. Its proponents are less interested in whether the faith is actually true or transformative than in what use it can be to them in their ongoing culture war.”

He also quotes C.S. Lewis:

“Religions devised for a social purpose, like Roman emperor-worship or modern attempts to ‘sell’ Christianity as a means of ‘saving civilization,’ do not come to much. The little knots of Friends who turn their backs on the ‘World’ are those who really transform it.”

Kingsnorth calls us not to fight for a so-called Christian West but to simply and humbly follow the way of Jesus in these turbulent times. I do think he overstates his case at times— seeming to reject not just empire but urban life itself, as if we must return to some Edenic, agrarian ideal. He overlooks the creation mandate to fill and rule over the world, and that the new world Scripture envisions is not just a garden but a garden-city, the New Jerusalem. A fair critique is offered by Trevin Wax at The Gospel Coalition. Nevertheless, so much of Kingsnorth’s central point resonates. The kingdom of God does not advance through culture wars or by desperately trying to preserve a civilization. It moves forward through those “little knots of friends,” creative minorities, communities of people who love Jesus, follow his way, and—like him—lay down their lives in countless acts of self-giving love for the good of the world.

We have to choose: are we chasing after Christian civilization, or are we following the way of Christ?

It’s a long read or listen, but well worth your time. You can find Kingsnorth’s article at First Things, or listen to the lecture here.