As a pastor, I have the privilege of weekly opening up the Scriptures and teaching a congregation about the present reality of the Kingdom of God and the implications the Kingdom has for us right here, right now. These duties of pastoring \u2013 \u201cpreaching and peopling\u201d as I heard it once described \u2013 fill me with joy as I sense that I am partnering with God in helping people see their lives as a part of the greater mission of God in the world. My assumption is that people see the activity of God in their lives not just on Sunday, but all the days of the week. They understand that they are lights in the world (Matthew 5:15, Philippians 2:15) with the purpose and identity of being the people of God, revealing the light of God to those around them (1 Peter 2:9-10).<\/p>\n
The forceful awakening Christian Nationalism delivered my early ministry na\u00efvet\u00e9 came through conversations with people \u2013 from regular attenders to the deeply committed and invested \u2013 who aligned with the ethos of Christian Nationalism. There is no clear, agreed-upon definition for Christian Nationalism. For this post, I will follow these defining ideas of Christian Nationalism found by sociologists, Andrew L. Whitehead and Samuel L. Perry:<\/p>\n
1. Christian Nationalism pushes for the United States being declared a Christian nation and,<\/p>\n
2. \u201cthe success of the United States is a part of God\u2019s plan.\u201d[1]<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n
As a pastor, it is consistently disheartening when Christians, whether wittingly or not, swear primary allegiance to a kingdom other than the Kingdom of God. How do we decipher whether one\u2019s allegiance is primarily to one\u2019s country or to Jesus? When the values of one kingdom are chosen at the expense of another.[2]<\/a><\/p>\n
For this post, we will explore Francis Fukuyama\u2019s content around identity politics in his book Identity: The Demand for Dignity and the Politics of Resentment<\/em>.[3]<\/a> After this, I will provide a response for pastors who are serving people whose souls may be entangled with Christian Nationalism (with myself being one of these pastors).<\/p>\n
Summary of Identity<\/em><\/strong> by Francis Fukuyama<\/strong><\/p>\n
Fukuyama explores how identity politics, or, more specifically, the demand for recognition from various groups throughout the world, has shaped society.[4]<\/a> There is the threat that identity politics will perpetuate conflict \u201cunless we can work our way back to more universal understandings of human dignity,\u201d according to Fukuyama.[5]<\/a> When modernization embedded identity to the inner-self, this opened up the possibility for people to define who they are themselves.[6]<\/a> This move, though enticing, caused anxiety for those who did not know who they were to their core.[7]<\/a> They, like malignant cells with no sense of self, attached to other organisms.[8]<\/a> One of these \u201corganisms\u201d is nationalism, which \u201cdemand[s] recognition of dignity in restrictive ways: not for all human beings, but for members of a particular national or religious group.\u201d[9]<\/a><\/p>\n
In short, as a pastor, I assumed opening up the Scriptures and encouraging people to see the Kingdom of God would minister to their souls. What I did not realize was this: their sense of identity was already ministered by Christian Nationalism. This ministering to their identities came through the affirmation that they have been victimized by the elites who refuse to recognize them.[10]<\/a><\/p>\n
Where do we go from here? <\/strong><\/p>\n
In reading Fukuyama, I reflected on the challenge for pastors: the pastoral crisis of identity. When people do not know who they are, or they find their identity not in being a child of God but elsewhere, then there is an opportunity to pastor people toward a better, more sure identity. They may not be \u201crecognized\u201d by broader society. But they are a part of the family of God \u2013 and God himself came to his own but was not \u201crecognized\u201d (John 1:9-11; 1 John 3:1). As a pastor, I need to lean in, help guide people away from false identities, and rebuild identities on the foundation of Jesus.<\/p>\n
The map for faithful Christians choosing to be a faithful presence in the world may require journeying the path of faithful living in the midst of the empire. In his commentary on the book of Revelation, Professor Michael Gorman writes this: \u201cRevelation is (primarily) good news about Christ, the Lamb of God\u2014who shares God\u2019s throne and who is the key to the past, present, and future\u2014and therefore also about uncompromising faithfulness leading to undying hope, even in the midst of unrelenting evil and oppressive.\u201d[11]<\/a><\/p>\n
Christian Nationalism provides an identity for people who have felt invisible.[12]<\/a> But this identity is given by \u201cempire,\u201d and not the Kingdom of God. \u00a0The Kingdom we give primary allegiance to is the Kingdom of God. Paul reminds the followers of Jesus in the Roman colony of Philippi, \u201cBut our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ\u201d (Philippians 3:20, ESV). From this Kingdom is our identity and citizenship.<\/p>\n
[1]<\/a> Kelefa Sanneh, \u201cHow Christian Is Christian Nationalism?,\u201d The New Yorker<\/em>, March 27, 2023, https:\/\/www.newyorker.com\/magazine\/2023\/04\/03\/how-christian-is-christian-nationalism.<\/p>\n
[2]<\/a> The divergences of values in the United States, Christian Nationalism, and the Kingdom of God would be beneficial. But for the sake of time and space (or, more specifically, word count), I must leave this tension to be explored with the reader.<\/p>\n
[3]<\/a> Fukuyama, Identity<\/em>.<\/p>\n
[4]<\/a> Ibid. xv.<\/p>\n
[5]<\/a> Ibid. xvi.<\/p>\n
[6]<\/a> Charles Taylor, A Secular Age<\/em> (Cambridge, MA: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 2007), 475.<\/p>\n
[7]<\/a> Ibid. 56, 66.<\/p>\n
[8]<\/a> Edwin H. Friedman, A Failure of Nerve: Leadership in the Age of the Quick Fix (10th Anniversary, Revised Edition)<\/em> (Church Publishing, Inc., 2017), 151.<\/p>\n
[9]<\/a> Fukuyama, Identity<\/em>, 73.<\/p>\n
[10]<\/a> Ibid.<\/p>\n