Another Gospel: Christian Nationalism and the Crisis of Evangelical Identity

Joel Looper offers his fellow evangelicals a theological rationale for resisting Christian nationalism.

I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting the one who called you in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel--not that there is another gospel, but there are some who are confusing you and want to pervert the gospel of Christ.

So wrote Paul to the Galatians who demanded the circumcision of gentile converts. Such rigid adherence to the old law prioritized one culture over the universal church. Joel Looper hears an urgent message for American Christians today in this biblical controversy. Though evangelicals emphasize fidelity to the gospel above all else, many have fallen in step with ＂a different gospel＂--that of Christian nationalism.

Analyzing Scripture, church history, and current events in the United States and Russia, Looper shows how the nation can supplant the church as Christians’ primary allegiance--and why Jesus calls us to a different kind of community. He also engages directly with Christian nationalist authors, exposing their distortions of theology.

Looper communicates a fresh, insider’s perspective on how this false gospel has colonized American evangelicalism. He also shows us how we can revive the traditional Christian vision of community, drawn together by the Holy Spirit. Thoughtful and balanced, Another Gospel offers readers a way out of the rut of a well-worn argument--and a way forward for the American church.

Joel Looper teaches at Baylor University and serves as coordinator for Shalom Mission Communities, a network of international Christian communities. He is also the author of Bonhoeffer’s America: A Land without Reformation.