Caleb E. Campbell
InterVarsity Press, 208 pages
Published July 2, 2024
White Christian nationalism is as old as the republic for which it stands. In recent years, new and more virulent forms have evolved, largely as a backlash to the Obama presidency and Americans’ growing acceptance of LGBTQIA+. Christian nationalists are organizing at the national and congregational levels to legislate their morality, alter the relationship between religion and state, and “take back America for God.”
This movement has provoked a raft of books, including Tim Alberta’s The Kingdom, the Power and the Glory, Russell Moore’s Losing Our Religion: An Altar Call for Evangelical America, and David Gushee’s Defending Democracy from Its Christian Enemies. Now we have a book designed to help people in the pews recognize and respond to this problem.
Caleb Campbell’s Disarming Leviathan: Loving Your Christian Nationalist Neighbor is a missionary handbook for Christians eager to win over Christian nationalist family and friends. Leviathan, the mythical sea-dragon, is Campbell’s metaphor for the insidious, supernatural evil animating this movement, inspiring fear, seducing the church, corrupting politics, and leading people away from God. Notwithstanding his epic and apocalyptic portrayal of Christian nationalism, Campbell’s approach is unpretentious and conversational. Some will find his bullet points and folksy voice refreshingly accessible; others may be distracted when he detours with yet another anecdote about his grandfather’s bible, Aunt Betty, the pleasant people who greeted him at the Turning Point U.S.A. rally, or the missionaries who visited his church when he was a kid.
Campbell writes chiefly for a Protestant, evangelical audience, reassuring us that our Christian nationalist friends and family can still be “saved” — despite their false doctrines and rank idolatry. He informs us that Christian nationalism is rooted in fear of ethnic erasure and cautions against demeaning or giving up on our Christian nationalist neighbors. He coaches us on how to make productive responses to their typical scriptural proof texts, theological claims and disinformation. I might have put some things differently, but most of this is pretty helpful.
Campbell counsels us to assume the posture of an interested, innocent friend. Think Ned Flanders of The Simpsons. His encouragements to maintain purity of heart are well-taken; but one wonders if our efforts will come across as sincere, since he clearly urges us to approach people with an agenda, ready to downplay any differences.
Those deeply familiar with Christian nationalism may find the book simplistic. There is no close analysis of their beliefs or survey of what is, in fact, a somewhat diverse and contradictory movement. There is no historical account of its roots in predecessor movements, no reflection on why this heresy keeps reappearing, and no deep reporting of its influence, thought leaders, or the threat it poses. That said, the book succeeds at being a field manual of clear descriptions and practical advice. Mainline Protestants seeking a resource for a study group or class should welcome it as an introduction. And those who wonder how the church might respond will find in Disarming Leviathan a good starting place.
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