Here I continue my discussion of Rodney Clapp’s book Living Out of Control: Political and Personal Faith in Waning Christendom. This week’s chapter is Chapter Five: Christian Nationalism: An Alternative to Living Out of Control. If you have read the chapter, feel free to comment but stay on topic. If you have not read it, you may ask a question. According to Rodney (I call him by his first name as we are friends), Christian nationalism, at least as he... Read more

Here I have been discussing Rodney Clapp’s book Living Out of Control—about the demise of “Christendom” and how American Christians need to see that as a benefit and take advantage of it to be the church God intends us to be. All of the discussion and debate about that, here, raises the issue of “civil religion.” What is that and what does it have to do with Christendom? The phrase “civil religion” was coined by Enlightenment political philosopher Jean Jacques... Read more

Martin Luther King believed and said that “man’s law” is not the “higher law” and that the “higher law,” which he specifically identified as “the moral law” or “God’s law” justifies civil disobedience to man’s law. This was stated in his famous “Letter from Birmingham Jail.” MLK was a Christian theologian and a prophet. He openly based many of his claims about justice on biblical prophets and on Jesus’s teachings. His Christianity was in the forefront of his ministry and... Read more

  This is another installment of the current book discussion of Living Out of Control: Political and Personal Faith in Waning Christendom by Rodney Clapp. Here I will take up Chapter Four: Prefigurative Politics and Secularity. If you have read this chapter, feel free to comment. If not, feel free to ask a question. The thesis of this chapter is that the Christian church should not attempt to control culture or society but only “prefigure the world as it will... Read more

The conspiracy to assassinate Hitler was wider and deeper than many people realize. One of its members was Ulrich von Haskell, an aristocrat and diplomat for the German government. He was arrested by the Gestapo in July, 1944 and tried and executed on the same day (July 29). The Gestapo then arrested his daughter AND two little sons, one four and one two, at their home in Northern Italy. There was no reason for their arrest and following detention than... Read more

In Chapter Two (of the book currently under discussion here—Living Out of Control by Rodney Clapp), Rodney argues that true Christianity, like the best of the Jewish tradition, has always been non-coercive when it comes to the kingdom of God and its values. I couldn’t agree more. There is no hint in the Bible that God’s people are called by God to enforce biblical religion on people. Yes, yes, don’t say it, I know portions of the Old Testament can... Read more

  Recently, according to news reports, a leading mega church pastor and evangelist with close ties to President Trump promised followers that if they sent her ministry $1K she would provide them with “blessings.” One such was to be making God their enemies’ enemy. What follows here is my opinion, not of the pastor-evangelist herself or of her character but of her promise. While many have criticized her for this, few, if any, have recognized this promise as a promise... Read more

This is a follow-up and clarification of my two recent posts in which I talked about “soft Christendom” and especially values to be taught in public institutions, especially schools. I told a true story about a public school district that invited “community leaders” to create a list of “community values” to be taught in public schools. All the leaders gathered topped their lists with “love” as the highest value and virtue—to be taught in public schools in their district (something... Read more

Here I continue ongoing discussion of the book Living Out Of Control: Political and Personal Faith in Waning Christendom by Rodney Clapp. (Here I will refer to the author as Rodney as we are friends.) Chapter Two is Responsibility as Response-ability. If you have read the chapter, feel free to comment. If not, you may ask a question. In either case, observe the rules at the end here. In this brief chapter, Rodney argues that we, God’s people, are not... Read more

A true story. Some years ago I was invited to serve on a community task force to work with the local school district. This was in suburban Minnesota (Twin Cities). At the time I was teaching at Bethel College, a broadly evangelical liberal arts Baptist college. The US Supreme Court had recently ruled that public schools could teach “community values”—beyond merely “values clarification.” The school district invited me and about twenty-five other “community leaders” to advise them about “community values.”... Read more