I would never pretend to declare what is normative for Christianity itself as the manifestation of Jesus’ teachings. I’m simply stating my own convictions in reaction to this particular brand of Christian religion, regardless who reads or agrees with me.
God is working in the American Redoubt. The peculiar politics of Christian Nationalism is not the whole story; there is a sort of reformation or renewal of faith (called “Christian Reconstruction”) that isn’t really involved in the politics. Let’s be clear on that. Throughout history since New Testament times, we have seen a great many moves of the Spirit. Predictably, those that spread the most among people and across boundaries had good things in them, but somehow seemed to get off track, and even hijacked. I believe that’s happening in the American Redoubt.
That God is involved means at least some of the flow is sweet refreshing Water of Life. You may need a filter to remove the grit and debris of human obsessions, but it’s worth the trouble.
Here is one sweet swallow: The Sin of Empathy. The author (Joe Rigney) casts the linked article in the flavor of one of his favorite writers from a previous generation, CS Lewis. The article echoes The Screwtape Letters, in which CS Lewis seeks to show us something of the demonic motivations, in which a senior demon writes to his nephew who is an apprentice tempter. Under this dramatic cover, Lewis seeks to reveal truth from the backside.
Some of Lewis’s story is silly nonsense, filled with cultural biases that are not in the gospel message, but have been read into it by westerners like Lewis. Rigney’s replay of that theme does not escape the same flaw. Still, it offers one very interesting nugget: American mainstream images of empathy are not a good match for the compassion of Christ.
In sum, the mainstream whining demands that you sacrifice your identity and pickle yourself in someone else’s sorrow, lest you stand accused of not caring enough. This is the quintessence of left-wing political ethics. The individual must be dissolved in order for the whole of society to move forward to some ill-defined glowing image of Nirvana. Rigney gets it right, in that each of us keeping our God-given identity is critical. We cannot crawl down into the pit of suffering to save someone, unless we at least have ourselves tethered to some anchorage outside of the pit. We don’t join them there; we try to get them out.
This raises the question of the person stuck in the pit and holding them accountable for wanting to get out. Too many find their home in the pit; it becomes the source of their power over others. We call it “victimology” these days.
Thus, Rigney calls empathy (by that definition) a sin. He’s published other stuff based on this theme, and you can look him up online. He has a book on leadership, but I believe the article linked above gives us the essence of what he might have to say.
His association with the religious movement centered in Idaho was taken as support for Christian Nationalism and got him kicked out of his job as president of Bethel College and Seminary in Minneapolis, MN. Their loss, not his. Now he’s moved to a similar institution in Moscow, Idaho. The various influencers who control the purse strings at Bethel were embarrassed by the mainstream complaints that Rigney was racist, was the kind of man who would cover up “me too” complaints, etc. Rigney’s writing wasn’t consistent with the agenda of Bethel College and Seminary, nor particularly with Christian Nationalism. It was Christian Reconstruction, AKA Theonomy.
Side note: Bethel is one of John Piper’s projects, associated with Desiring God and The Gospel Coalition. Piper has become recently notorious for his apparent compromise with wokism. He promoted the vaxx, for example. There are counter-complaints from the Christian Nationalists aimed back at John Piper in particular, and Baptists in general.
Yes, Christian Nationalism is just an echo of the old Dominionist/Theonomy school of religion. But they aren’t the same thing; Theonomy can lead to Christian Nationalism, but doesn’t demand it. The latter is merely one application of the former. But they are hard to separate when viewed by outsiders. Both posit that human government is obliged to promote the gospel, and to suppress heresy, so that we can all return to Eden while still in our fallen state. Do you see how this echoes a lot of other older heresies? Christ dying on the Cross was not a political failure; He didn’t care about human politics in the first place. The Cross was a victory, and we all need our own crosses to follow Him. We must renounce this world, just as He did.
As for Rigney, I don’t argue against the notion that the mainstream brand of empathy is wicked, and results in great evil. But the word “empathy” itself does not indicate something evil; Christ also exercised empathy. His death on the Cross came with our sin and sorrow placed on Him. Without His brand of empathy, we cannot break through the barrier of spiritual isolation that keeps people away from the gospel message. Don’t tussle over the words; empathy can be done well and poorly. Like everything else in human baggage, it can be abused or it can be blessing.
I do agree that good covenant leadership requires that we be aware of how empathy is abused in the mainstream. But I also maintain that good covenant leadership does not seek to influence human politics outside of the covenant community. And that the only way to form a covenant community is by attraction, not by pushing outward and conquering others. The very moment someone is compelled, it is no longer the gospel they are obeying. A charitable reading of the Christian Reconstruction movement in Moscow, Idaho is that they are trying to form a genuine covenant community. We’ll see.
There’s more…
