Category: Politics

"I voted" sticker

My Open Letter on Faith, Hope, Love, and the Election

November 8, 2016

Prefacing my Anxious Bench post today, I admitted that I wasn’t thrilled that my Tuesday slot in that rotation left “me with the unenviable responsibility of posting on a particularly fractious Election Day. I thought about doing something as apolitical as possible, but ultimately decided I should address the election in some fashion. So after I cast my absentee ballot a … More My Open Letter on Faith, Hope, Love, and the Election

SA members promoting the German Christians at church elections in 1933

The Bonhoeffer Effect, “Unpleasant Parallels,” and the 2016 Election

October 18, 2016

Thanks to conservative intellectual Eric Metaxas, Dietrich Bonhoeffer has become a member of this crazy election’s extended cast of characters. At multiple points this year (most recently in a Wall Street Journal op-ed and then a series of tweets), Metaxas has hearkened back to his Bonhoeffer biography in order to make the case for supporting Donald Trump. We ARE responsible for … More The Bonhoeffer Effect, “Unpleasant Parallels,” and the 2016 Election

Haidt, The Righteous Mind

Moral Psychology and Politics: Why Is the Trump Tape Such a Revelation to Evangelicals? (Adam Johnson)

October 12, 2016

One of the benefits of working at a place like Bethel is that I get to learn from brilliant colleagues like Adam Johnson, who teaches cognitive neuroscience in our psychology department. Adam’s research focuses on memory, decision-making, and moral psychology and has been supported by grants from BioLogos and the National Institutes of Health.  In this guest post, he draws on insights … More Moral Psychology and Politics: Why Is the Trump Tape Such a Revelation to Evangelicals? (Adam Johnson)

Crouch, Strong and Weak

“Strategy Becomes Idolatry”: Christianity Today Against Evangelical Support for Trump

October 10, 2016

Today Andy Crouch, the editorial director of Christianity Today, managed to do two things with a single essay: make me look much smarter than I am, and give me hope that the evangelical movement might actually learn something from this debacle of an election. First, making me look smart: I’m in Denver to speak at one of … More “Strategy Becomes Idolatry”: Christianity Today Against Evangelical Support for Trump

Volf, A Public Faith

Have Christian Intellectuals Made Any Difference in This Election?

October 6, 2016

With just over a month until Election Day, I hope that lots of fellow Christians paid attention to Miroslav Volf’s interview with journalist Jonathan Merritt, since the Yale theologian makes a plausible argument that Hillary Clinton is not only the more competent of the two major party presidential candidates running for office now, but that the kind of vision she stands … More Have Christian Intellectuals Made Any Difference in This Election?

Robert Jeffress and Donald Trump

One More Reason Evangelicalism Needs Fewer White Men in Leadership

September 29, 2016

Heading into Monday night’s first presidential debate, an ABC/Washington Post poll found Donald Trump leading Hillary Clinton among white evangelicals, 71%-22%. Much though Trump’s boorish, unprepared performance in the debate embarrassed even political conservatives, I’m not sure that my fellow evangelicals learned anything new that night that shouldn’t already have dissuaded them from backing Trump. As a FiveThirtyEight profile pointed out Tuesday, his support from … More One More Reason Evangelicalism Needs Fewer White Men in Leadership

Logo for The AND Campaign

Three “Third Ways” for Evangelicals in Politics

September 15, 2016

I’ll leave it to my colleagues on Election Shock Therapy to engage in rigorous, trained analysis of American politics. But I have reached one conclusion based on my observation of the 2016 presidential election campaigns: Evangelicals need a political “third way.” I’ve never liked the idea of evangelicals being too closely identified with either of our two major … More Three “Third Ways” for Evangelicals in Politics

Election Shock Therapy logo

My Favorite New Podcast on Politics

September 14, 2016

If you’re struggling to make sense of the 2016 election (that should be all of you — it’s confusing!), then let me recommend that you check out Election Shock Therapy, a weekly podcast from four of my colleagues at Bethel University. Produced by my frequent podcasting collaborator Sam Mulberry, EST features Chris Moore (PhD, Ohio State), Andy Bramsen (PhD, Notre Dame), … More My Favorite New Podcast on Politics