Resources on Christian Nationalism

[1] In keeping with the theme of this journal issue, the books section consists of an annotated list of resources for further study on the important topic of Christian nationalism.  The resources are diverse and cover a range of perspectives and angles on the topic.  The first section addresses White Christian Nationalism in the United States, including a book that attempts to justify American Christian nationalism.  The second section brings an international historical perspective by focusing on 1930’s Christian nationalism in Germany and its theological background. This section includes books, sermons and essays. Many thanks to Mick Grzonka for his extensive work on this, particularly on the second section.

Contemporary American Christian Nationalism

Pamela Cooper-White, The Psychology of Christian Nationalism: Why People Are Drawn in and How to Talk Across the Divide (Minneapolis, MN: Fortress Press, 2022). Cooper-White reveals the extent of Christian nationalism, its deep psychological roots, and strategies for connecting across divisions.

Amanda Tyler (ed.), “Report on Christian Nationalism and the January 6 Insurrection”. Baptist Joint Committee for Religious Liberty and Christians against Christian Nationalism. Released February 9, 2022. Accessible for free at https://bjconline.org/jan6report/.

Kristin Kobes Du Mez, Jesus and John Wayne: How White Evangelicals Corrupted a Faith and Fractured a Nation (New York, NY: Liveright, 2020). See forthcoming August 2024 issue of Journal of Lutheran Ethics for a full review of this book.

Kevin Michael Kruse, One Nation under God: How Corporate America Invented Christian America (New York: Basic Books, 2016). History of Christian nationalism in the United States, including attention to cultural influences on American Christianity in the 20^th century.

Andrew L. Whitehead and Samuel L. Perry, Taking America Back for God: Christian Nationalism in the United States. Updated edition. (New York: Oxford University Press, 2022). An empirical analysis of Christian Nationalism in the United States and how it shapes views on contemporary social issues including immigration, Islam, gun control, police shootings, gender roles and presidential politics.

Andrew L. Whitehead, American Idolatry: How Christian Nationalism Betrays the Gospel and Threatens the Church (Grand Rapids, MI: Brazos Press, 2023). Whitehead examines three idols of Christian nationalism — power, fear and violence — arguing that they violate core Christian beliefs.  He offers a path forward using stories and case studies in racism and xenophobia.

Philip S. Gorski and Samuel L. Perry, The Flag and the Cross: Christian Nationalism and the Threat to American Democracy. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2022. Scholars identify alarming anti-democratic beliefs of those who promote Christian nationalism.

Lerone A. Martin,  The Gospel of J. Edgar Hoover: How the FBI Aided and Abetted the Rise of White Christian Nationalism (Princeton University Press, 2023). Demonstrates the influence of Christian nationalism when embraced by a powerful social institution.

Katherine Stewart,  The Power Worshippers: Inside the Dangerous Rise of Religious Nationalism (Bloomsbury Publishing, 2022).  Illuminates powerful personalities, groups and networks behind the mobilization of Christian nationalism.

Stephen Wolfe,  The Case for Christian Nationalism. (Moscow, ID: Canon Press, 2022). The author is in favor of Christian nationalism and this book presents his case.

On the German version of 1930s “Christian nationalism”, Nazi church persecution and theological background

Victoria Barnett, For the Soul of the People: Protestant Protest Against Hitler, Reprint Edition (New York Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1998).

Karl Barth, R. Birch Hoyle (Translator). Theological Existence To-Day! A Plea for Theological Freedom. (Wipf & Stock Publishers, 2012).

Eivind Berggrav, Man and State (Philadelphia: Muhlenberg Press, 1951).Eivind Berggrav Norwegian Lutheran bishop during the Nazi occupation of Norway during World War II. Berggrav wrote this book while in solitary confinement in his house for two years. The manuscript was smuggled out. Thorough analysis of the relationship between church and state. Available (with login) at https://archive.org/details/manstate0000berg/page/n5/mode/2up.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer, sermon titled “A Church Of The World Or A Church Of The Word?“ In: Dietrich Bonhoeffer, A Testament to Freedom: The Essential Writings of Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Geffrey B. Kelly and F. Burton Nelson (Eds.), Revised edition (San Francisco, Calif.: Harper San Francisco, 1995) Sermon text also available at https://lifewatchumc.files.wordpress.com/2020/05/lifewatch_newsletter_12-15.pdf.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer, sermon titled “On the question of Church Communication” In: Theological Education at Finkenwalde: 1935-1937. Edited by Mark S. Brocker and H. Gaylon Barker. Translated by Douglas W. Stott. First English-Language edition. Vol. 14. Dietrich Bonhoeffer Works. Minneapolis, Minnesota: Fortress Press, 2014. Especially pages 665 and on. Bonhoeffer delivered this essay April 20-25, 1936

Busch, Eberhard, and Daniel Migliore. The Barmen Theses Then and Now: The 2004 Warfield Lectures at Princeton Theological Seminary. Translated by Darrell Guder and Judith Guder. (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 2010). 50-51.

Arthur C. Cochrane, The Church’s Confession Under Hitler, 2nd edition (Pittsburgh: Wipf and Stock Publishers, 1976).

Helmut Thielicke, Notes from a Wayfarer: The Autobiography of Helmut Thielicke, US Edition (New York: Paragon House, 1998).

Epaphroditus. “The Church Conflict in Germany.” Churchman 54, no. 1 (1940): 25–33. 28. This resource also offers a chilling report about the situation in Nazi Germany around 1940. It is written by an anonymous member of the Confessing Church. Available at https://www.churchsociety.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/Cman_054_1_Epaphroditus.pdf.

Diane (D.M.) Yeager “God, Church, and Country: Berggrav’s Leadership in the Norwegian Resistance” In December 1944 the Norwegian Lutheran bishop Eivind Josef Berggrav (1884-1959) was featured on the cover of Time, becoming one of the few protestant religious figures to have been thus honored. In 1942, the New York Times chose him as one of the six religious leaders to be profiled… Available at JLE, May 2006 (Volume 6 Issue 5)