“We could not tell if you were for it or against it.”
That is the comment one man made to me after most others had left the conference room. I was there with my host, Rev. Dr. Lawrence Carter, dean of the chapel at Martin Luther King Jr. International Chapel on the campus of Morehouse College.
I went there last week to be inducted into their Collegium of Scholars, and that was all nice and good and quite impressive. But later, as part of the day-long festivities, I helped lead (with the inimitable Rev. Dr. Bill Leonard, a long-time friend), a seminar on Christian Nationalism. And it was this seminar that had prompted this observation from the man who lingered behind.
“We could not tell if you were for it or against it.”
In many circumstances, that would be a damning indictment and maybe so in this instance. Dr. Leonard and I had both approached this assignment as scholars, wanting to shed light on the history and impact of religious nationalism. Leonard drew from his expertise in American history and invoked the struggle for religious liberty in the early colonies.
I presented religious nationalism as a global phenomenon, drawing attention to recent religious developments in Russia. On March 27, Russian Orthodox Patriarch Kirill moderated an assembly that approved a document titled “The Present and Future of the Russian World.” From start to finish it was a defense of Christian Nationalism of the Russian sort, designed to shore up their vision of the Christian Civilization of Russia as a bulwark against the religious and cultural apostasy of the West.
I had begun my presentation asking the question put to me at the luncheon earlier in the day. “What is Christian Nationalism?”
The response to that question, the dialogue that ensued, and my inclusion of the episode in Moscow left me feeling disconnected to the audience. I had the strange sensation that something was amiss. And I said as much to the man who spoke to me after it was all over.
“We could not tell if you were for it or against it.”
I had approached it as a scholar, providing background and context and what turned out to be complicating information. What they wanted and needed, I was surmising as the seminar wound down, was a prophet who would warn them of the dangers of Christian Nationalism, especially that version that is dominating political news.
I said to him, “I have the uneasy feeling that we were not connecting with the audience.” He nodded his head as if to agree.
Of the forty or so people attending this breakout session, Dr. Leonard and I were the only white people, save the noted scholar who had earlier that day received the 2024 Gandhi, King, Mandela Peace Prize. He was sitting on the second row square in front of us: Rev. Dr. Gary John Dorrien of New York City.
I continued: “I think the explanations and interpretations two white men were trying to offer were heard very different by an audience that had the most to lose from the rise of Christian Nationalism.” The unnamed man nodded in agreement.
He may have said something else, but I don’t remember. Dean Carter hurried out to lead the concluding session of the day. Dr. Leonard had already told me he was booked on the midnight flight back to Greensboro and might not stay for the final assembly.
I found myself a seat midway back in the cavernous chapel and listened as seven or eight people were honored with video, testimony, and award. Their large oil paintings had been unveiled earlier in the day, adding to the scores of people adorning the walls and halls of the famous chapel. But my attention remained on those 40 or so souls whose animated dialogue in the seminar on Christian Nationalism demonstrated that our words were passing in the night, neither connecting, nor convincing, nor consoling. Perhaps only confusing.
Maybe it was not the disaster I felt; but maybe it was. Certainly, it was an occasion where I had the most to learn. I hope I did.
And, by the way, the next time I speak or write on Christian Nationalism (like the book review elsewhere in this newsletter), I will make certain people (black and white) understand where I stand on the issue!
“We could not tell if you were for it or against it.”
That is the comment one man made to me after most others had left the conference room. I was there with my host, Rev. Dr. Lawrence Carter, dean of the chapel at Martin Luther King Jr. International Chapel on the campus of Morehouse College.
I went there last week to be inducted into their Collegium of Scholars, and that was all nice and good and quite impressive. But later, as part of the day-long festivities, I helped lead (with the inimitable Rev. Dr. Bill Leonard, a long-time friend), a seminar on Christian Nationalism. And it was this seminar that had prompted this observation from the man who lingered behind.
“We could not tell if you were for it or against it.”
In many circumstances, that would be a damning indictment and maybe so in this instance. Dr. Leonard and I had both approached this assignment as scholars, wanting to shed light on the history and impact of religious nationalism. Leonard drew from his expertise in American history and invoked the struggle for religious liberty in the early colonies.
I presented religious nationalism as a global phenomenon, drawing attention to recent religious developments in Russia. On March 27, Russian Orthodox Patriarch Kirill moderated an assembly that approved a document titled “The Present and Future of the Russian World.” From start to finish it was a defense of Christian Nationalism of the Russian sort, designed to shore up their vision of the Christian Civilization of Russia as a bulwark against the religious and cultural apostasy of the West.
I had begun my presentation asking the question put to me at the luncheon earlier in the day. “What is Christian Nationalism?”
The response to that question, the dialogue that ensued, and my inclusion of the episode in Moscow left me feeling disconnected to the audience. I had the strange sensation that something was amiss. And I said as much to the man who spoke to me after it was all over.
“We could not tell if you were for it or against it.”
I had approached it as a scholar, providing background and context and what turned out to be complicating information. What they wanted and needed, I was surmising as the seminar wound down, was a prophet who would warn them of the dangers of Christian Nationalism, especially that version that is dominating political news.
I said to him, “I have the uneasy feeling that we were not connecting with the audience.” He nodded his head as if to agree.
Of the forty or so people attending this breakout session, Dr. Leonard and I were the only white people, save the noted scholar who had earlier that day received the 2024 Gandhi, King, Mandela Peace Prize. He was sitting on the second row square in front of us: Rev. Dr. Gary John Dorrien of New York City.
I continued: “I think the explanations and interpretations two white men were trying to offer were heard very different by an audience that had the most to lose from the rise of Christian Nationalism.” The unnamed man nodded in agreement.
He may have said something else, but I don’t remember. Dean Carter hurried out to lead the concluding session of the day. Dr. Leonard had already told me he was booked on the midnight flight back to Greensboro and might not stay for the final assembly.
I found myself a seat midway back in the cavernous chapel and listened as seven or eight people were honored with video, testimony, and award. Their large oil paintings had been unveiled earlier in the day, adding to the scores of people adorning the walls and halls of the famous chapel. But my attention remained on those 40 or so souls whose animated dialogue in the seminar on Christian Nationalism demonstrated that our words were passing in the night, neither connecting, nor convincing, nor consoling. Perhaps only confusing.
Maybe it was not the disaster I felt; but maybe it was. Certainly, it was an occasion where I had the most to learn. I hope I did.
And, by the way, the next time I speak or write on Christian Nationalism (like the book review elsewhere in this newsletter), I will make certain people (black and white) understand where I stand on the issue!
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