Aside from the obvious (lose the Republican GOTV organizer’s email address) what practical steps can culture war churches take to move to a more theologically sound way of advancing justice and mercy in the public square? In my latest for The Green Room I focus on three specific steps, including:

The Past: Dominance paradigm churches overestimate both the moral and religious integrity of the American past. There is, to be sure, much that is morally good and authentically Christian in our national history. But it is important to see the ugliness and the Romantic, heretical religious individualism as well. Nothing other than God and his word (incarnate and written) is really pure.

This will not only (hopefully) cure us of poisonous nostalgia and teach us to set forward-looking rather than backward-looking goals. Knowing more clearly the story of how (e.g.) Christianity was essential to the abolition of slavery will also help us to see the deficiencies in our account of moral knowledge.

Real moral goodness is known by nature but it is not fully known by nature. The gospel, the cross and the whole biblical story from beginning to end help us understand what it means to be good in a way that those outside simply don’t have access to. This means the church does not just fight for the good in the public square; it has to develop and offer to each culture a unique understanding of what it means to be good in the context of that particular culture.

Next in the series, what fundamentalist/isolationist churches can teach the rest of us about cultural engagement.

The Green Room carries the latest installment of my series on how to grow out of inadequate models of the kingdom of God; this one is on how culture-war churches can look deeper at their theology to find ways to grow:

“I just don’t understand it,” the world-famous culture war pastor said to me. His voice was soft, his head cast down, his tone sorrowful. “I don’t question that they’re believers. They are. I know they are. But I just don’t understand how anyone who believes in Jesus could vote for politicians who support abortion.”

“They” were the black church, which votes overwhelmingly Democratic.

Next up: Practical steps these churches can take to move toward a deeper theology of culture.

The Green Room carries the second installment of my new series on how to move forward from our three inadequate models of the kingdom of God. I write about “dominance” model churches:

These churches care a lot about justice, and – just as important – they have a theologically informed understanding of what justice is and requires. Fortification and accommodation churches should consider how dominance churches, alone of the three types, have to some extent successfully resisted the relentless individualization of advanced modern culture, treating people as members of their communities rather than as isolated, self-oriented individuals.

Next time, how dominance churches can find first steps to growing beyond dominance.

Am I glad I voted for this man? Why, yes, yes I am:

As a C.I.A. officer, I saw firsthand authoritarians’ use of these tactics around the world. Their profound appetite for absolute power drives their intolerance for any restraint — whether by people, organizations, the law, cultural norms, principles or even the expectation of consistency. For a despot, all of these checks on power must be ignored, undermined or destroyed so that he is all that matters.

Mr. Trump has said that he prefers to be unpredictable because it maximizes his power. During his recent interview with The New York Times, he casually abandoned his fiery calls during the campaign for torture, prosecuting Hillary Clinton and changing libel laws. Mr. Trump’s inconsistencies and provocative proposals are a strategy; they are intended to elevate his importance above all else — and to place him beyond democratic norms, beyond even the Constitution.

He followed up with ten things we should do in the age of Trump.

Check out my long post over at JPGB on tradition, discovery and divine calling in the delightful movie Moana:

At first, the divine call resolves our tensions – by its transcendent authority it supercedes and breaks down our artificial divisions between tradition and discovery, between identity and purpose. It demands both; because, and only because, it demands both with an authority higher than both, it gets both.

But then the ocean doesn’t help.

As always, your thoughts are welcome!