Jun 16, 2026 · 33 min · 12 segments
In this episode, we sit down with David Strain to discuss the PCA's ad interim committee on Christian Nationalism. We explore the diverse definitions of the movement, the ethical challenges it…
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Jared NelsonHost
Ben RatliffHost
Well, one of the things, I think maybe even going into that meeting, into overtures, was the question, what is Christian nationalism? I didn't know if maybe your committee figured it out.
I mean, what exactly was the breadth of what you're covering? Because everybody has a different definition, so it could be a really wide study or a narrow study.
Well, I think we've tried to acknowledge that Christian nationalism is an unfortunate...
And the reality is that Christian nationalism is... movement comprised of a number of shared sensibilities and convictions, but it has significant diversity within it.
It's a network of individuals, ministries, churches, online, in print, and it's something of a moving target as a result.
And there are different strands to that movement from the sort of new apostolic reformation sort of charismatic version to what we might identify as something more closely aligned to the old theonomy type movement in the reformed world to all the way to things that are pretty extreme ethno-nationalist and white supremacist movements.
Some of the folks who are advocating for this are, I think, honestly seeking to engage in a project of theological retrieval.
looking especially at 17th century high orthodox political theology and saying there's been a welcome recovery of reformed orthodox treatments on things like the doctrine of God that's been a blessing to the church.
Why don't we do the same with political theology? And so that's one slice of this discussion.
There are others with various overlapping interests and some additional concerns.
In other words, there's a sort of a woke right, to use Neil Shenvey's phrase here.
If you're familiar with that way of thinking about it, we all understand what we mean, I think, by the woke left, that we are living in a society that is governed by a set of unexamined structural biases that privilege from the perspective of the left, the woke left, that privilege white Anglo-Saxon men.
And that what needs to happen in order for there to be an equitable and just society is that people should get, they should be awoken, awakened to that unexamined, unnoticed bias.
And in some versions of that, the way to wake people up is to use shock tactics and be provocative and confrontational.
Well, there's a very similar paradigm in some segments of the of the right, both the theological and sociopolitical right, that believes, agrees with the woke left that we are living in a society governed by a system of oppression and privilege.
But the woke right says the people that are being oppressed are white Anglo-Saxon men and that it's actually an effeminized society.
Well, one of the things, I think maybe even going into that meeting, into overtures, was the question, what is Christian nationalism? I didn't know if maybe your committee figured it out.
I mean, what exactly was the breadth of what you're covering? Because everybody has a different definition, so it could be a really wide study or a narrow study.
Well, I think we've tried to acknowledge that Christian nationalism is an unfortunate...
And the reality is that Christian nationalism is... movement comprised of a number of shared sensibilities and convictions, but it has significant diversity within it.
It's a network of individuals, ministries, churches, online, in print, and it's something of a moving target as a result.
And there are different strands to that movement from the sort of new apostolic reformation sort of charismatic version to what we might identify as something more closely aligned to the old theonomy type movement in the reformed world to all the way to things that are pretty extreme ethno-nationalist and white supremacist movements.
Some of the folks who are advocating for this are, I think, honestly seeking to engage in a project of theological retrieval.
looking especially at 17th century high orthodox political theology and saying there's been a welcome recovery of reformed orthodox treatments on things like the doctrine of God that's been a blessing to the church.
Why don't we do the same with political theology? And so that's one slice of this discussion.
There are others with various overlapping interests and some additional concerns.
In other words, there's a sort of a woke right, to use Neil Shenvey's phrase here.
If you're familiar with that way of thinking about it, we all understand what we mean, I think, by the woke left, that we are living in a society that is governed by a set of unexamined structural biases that privilege from the perspective of the left, the woke left, that privilege white Anglo-Saxon men.
And that what needs to happen in order for there to be an equitable and just society is that people should get, they should be awoken, awakened to that unexamined, unnoticed bias.
And in some versions of that, the way to wake people up is to use shock tactics and be provocative and confrontational.
Well, there's a very similar paradigm in some segments of the of the right, both the theological and sociopolitical right, that believes, agrees with the woke left that we are living in a society governed by a system of oppression and privilege.
But the woke right says the people that are being oppressed are white Anglo-Saxon men and that it's actually an effeminized society.
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