Training New Generations of Saints
In a few years’ time, if not much sooner, I think it’s likely that a great many regular evangelical churchgoers will know the name Brad East, and regard him as one of the premier exponents of Christian faith in the Western world.
In no small part, I base this prediction on books like Letters to a Future Saint: Foundations of Faith for the Spiritually Hungry, just published this week. East, a theology professor at Abilene Christian University and a frequent CT contributor, draws on his college classroom experience to give believers in that age group—or any age group, really—a compelling guide to loving and following Jesus.
In his review for the September/October issue of CT, Biola University theology professor Uche Anizor credits East with “offering a distinctive blend of theological instruction and spiritual mentorship.”
The book, writes Anizor, “cover[s] the whole of Christian doctrine, from the nature of the Trinity to the unfolding of the last things, while providing clear teaching on the Incarnation, Christ’s atonement, the church, sacraments, the Christian life, prayer, and more.
“East’s intended audience is young Christians whose faith is sincere but relatively ‘untutored.’ He addresses the recipient of his letters as ‘future saint,’ drawing attention to the fact that, while we are saints right now, our full sainthood, or holiness, awaits the return of Christ.
“East hopes his instruction will help prod us further down the path of sainthood. In short, his book seeks to catechize readers, not in a typical question-and-answer format but by giving brief, thoughtful explanations of central themes—and thorny issues—within Christian theology.
“What, according to East, is Christianity all about? The answer, quite simply, is Christ. In these letters, that is more than a banal statement. In every section of the book, East makes it clear that being a Christian is about looking to Christ. It’s about gazing at the beauty of Christ that makes costly discipleship worth it. It’s about knowing and loving Christ, and being the people of Christ.
“East writes in an ecumenical spirit, drawing from historic church tradition and seeking to articulate a brand of ‘mere Christianity.’ He will ruffle some feathers here and there, perhaps, with his positive views on evolution, support for infant baptism, and regular talk of ‘saints.’ His aim, however, is to present what most Christians can get onboard with.”
A Wider Critique of Christian Nationalism
At CT, we field numerous pitches from writers looking to condemn some aspect of Christian nationalism. And we’re happy to green-light at least some of them, because even though we know that term is often invoked in careless and biased ways, we want to communicate unreservedly that our highest devotion belongs to Christ, not to any secular nation or political movement.
The trouble comes, of course, in sorting the wheat from the chaff. Many writers are content taking aim at a familiar set of easy targets, whose cultish attachments to Donald Trump or cartoonish views of Americans as God’s chosen people make them ripe for a good pummeling. Ideally, though, we’re giving our readers something beyond predictable fare.
One thing that struck me about Joel Looper’s new book, Another Gospel: Christian Nationalism and the Crisis of Evangelical Identity, is his evident sincerity in wanting to cast a wider net of critique, both ideologically and chronologically. Though he reserves his sharpest words for the most sycophantic Trumpers and fellow travelers, his indictment reaches more revered figures as well.
Ralph C. Wood, a longtime professor at Baylor University and an expert on great Christian literature, draws out some of these themes in his review.
“Looper,” writes Wood, “skewers such obvious targets as Eric Metaxas, who told Trump in 2020, ‘Jesus is with us in this fight for liberty. … This is God’s battle even more than it is our battle.’ He also takes aim at Robert Jeffress, pastor of First Baptist Church in Dallas, who said in 2016, ‘I want the meanest, toughest SOB I can find to protect this nation. And so that’s why Trump’s tone doesn’t bother me.’
“Lest liberal Protestants cluck in self-satisfaction at Looper’s evisceration of evangelicals—since their churches may contain few if any MAGA-style Trumpers—they too should beware. ‘Since the late 1960s,’ writes Looper, ‘many liberal Protestants have slipped into a brand of Americanized Christianity without realizing it. The worship of God came to seem extraneous to their primary task of community activism, nonprofit work, and getting out the vote, and the Democratic Party slowly displaced the church as their primary community.’
“Looper also takes on such weightier figures as Reinhold Niebuhr and Rod Dreher, as well as Stephen Wolfe, the Presbyterian author of The Case for Christian Nationalism. But contemporary malefactors are not Looper’s only bêtes noires. He also shows how Protestant heroes like Martin Luther, John Calvin, and Ulrich Zwingli were willing to use coercive state power in alleged service of the church—burning heretics, for instance.
“Not even such revered figures as Abraham Lincoln and Martin Luther King Jr. escape Looper’s theological critique. He has no desire to tarnish authentic American heroes. He confesses that only the flint-hearted can fail to be moved by the Gettysburg Address. Yet the unchurched Lincoln more readily adverted to an abstract Providence than to the incarnate Lord.
“Quoting Lincoln’s words, Looper writes that he thus turned the blessed dead of Gettysburg into little ‘Christs through whose shed blood “the nation might live.”’ Looper concludes, ‘The military has become America’s savior and redeemer … because the nation had first assumed the place of the church as the primary vehicle for God’s work in the world.’”
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in the magazine
Our September/October issue explores themes in spiritual formation and uncovers what’s really discipling us. Bonnie Kristian argues that the biblical vision for the institutions that form us is renewal, not replacement—even when they fail us. Mike Cosper examines what fuels political fervor around Donald Trump and assesses the ways people have understood and misunderstood the movement. Harvest Prude reports on how partisan distrust has turned the electoral process into a minefield and how those on the frontlines—election officials and volunteers—are motivated by their faith as they work. Read about Christian renewal in intellectual spaces and the “yearners”—those who find themselves in the borderlands between faith and disbelief. And find out how God is moving among his kingdom in Europe, as well as what our advice columnists say about budget-conscious fellowship meals, a kid in Sunday school who hits, and a dating app dilemma.
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