The death of Charlie Kirk added fuel to an already evident revival in America. What Evangelical Dark Web has dubbed the “Bro Revival” has had data points trickle in. But the funny thing about the Bro Revival is that it’s coming from where Big Eva said it would not: the right. One of Tim Keller’s final writings argued that Christians needed to moderate in order to reach people.
But first, understand Tim Keller’s framework:
Zone 1 – Fundamentalism. (Corresponding to G.Packer’s “Real America” – Far Right Populism)
Anti- any talk of social justice. Militant. Super-complementarian, rigid gender roles. Trump, anti-vax. This is not only demographically large, but Republican operatives and the pandemic and excesses of the Left over the last couple of years has swelled the numbers here. This group rejects any strong emphasis on social justice as ‘liberal’ or ‘Marxist’ and denies the reality of structural injustice. Highly individualistic in its social theory.
Zone 2 – Conservative evangelicalism. (Corresponding to G.Packer’s “Free America” – Center Right Liberalism)
2a – Complementarian, but more flexible and less rigid about gender roles. Strict doctrinally-biblical inerrancy, penal substitution atonement. Will talk of social justice but in a guarded, muted way, and it is addressed only through individual and private charity. Much more stress on traditional family and sexuality than on race and justice. Sees the mission of the church as strictly evangelism. Trump-leaning without wanting to endorse Trump himself. They basically see the Woke Left as a far bigger threat.
2b-Also complementarian and conservative by believing in systemic racism and structural injustice. More willing to address injustice with structural measures than just private charity. More willing to work with egalitarians without rancor. Sees the mission of the church as equipping people for integrating faith and work and for justice, even if the institutional church should concentrate on the Word and evangelism.
Zone 3- Egalitarian evangelicalism. (Corresponding to G.Packer’s “Smart America” – Center Left Liberalism)
3a – Mainstream evangelicals. Not nearly as doctrinally oriented. Shies away from using the term ‘inerrancy’. Less willing to say there is an exact biblical position on everything. More pragmatic operationally. More willing to create alliances across races and denominations. Puts far more emphasis on social justice than on traditional family and sexuality. Mainly egalitarian in the church but (a) grounding views in the Bible rather than saying Paul was wrong or we must get beyond him (b) often willing to affirm husband’s leadership in the family and non-interchangeable gender roles in the family, (c) cooperative with complementarians and more open to their views. Not at all open and affirming to gay/homosexual marriage and ordination.
3b – As above, but more consistently and insistently egalitarian, not willing to make common cause with complementarians because of a conviction their view is inherently misogynist/unjust, and willing to say the Bible’s teaching on women is now outdated. Still affirming traditional church prohibition of homosexual acts, but much more willing to affirm and work with celibate gay Christians.
Zone 4 – Ex- or Post-Evangelicalism. (Corresponding to G.Packer’s “Just America” – Far Left Progressivism)
Progressive Christian/post or ex-evangelical. Like the older mainline, quite willing to see Scripture as flawed and regressive in many ways. Open and affirming to all LGBT. Egalitarian obviously. Unlike the older mainline, they do not just dismiss or ignore evangelicalism/fundamentalism, but think that it is destroying the country, that even Zone 3 forms are abusive and bad for people. Some have with fairness said that this group is as militant and inflexible as the fundamentalists they so fear.
Tim Keller believed that the zone of revival would be 2b and 3a. In other words, liberal Christianity that isn’t as liberal as it could be. Tim Keller and The Gospel Coalition prepared for the harvest of liberal revival and framed their theology accordingly, with offshoots like the Tim Keller Center For Cultural Apologetics, an organization loaded with Side B Theologians.
But far from the case, the Bro Revival involves the gospel being preached on Joe Rogan, Tucker Carlson, and other podcasts. Going soft on sodomy when normies are disillusioned with the excesses of the homosexual movement, and embracing Black Lives Matter, when normies are tired of anti-White rhetoric, was a miscalculation of epic proportions. Or was it an intentional misleading of the Evangelical church that Keller was ultimately hatching?
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2 Responses
All the revival is in the anti-israel category which he didn’t even have a zone for. Israel killed Charlie Kirk and everyone went back to church to join the movement to fight israel and make sure they don’t end up in hell with the jews.
Populism is not far-right. Populism has no ideology. There have been lots of left-wing populists, including most populist movements in America. Far right means very low tax rates, minimal social programs, proactive law enforcement, punitive criminal justice (as opposed to rehabilitative), strong defense, aggressive (but not interventionist) foreign policy, low regulations, conservative on social issues, virtually absent social planning, social justice or equity. On that scale, Trump actually isn’t very conservative at all. Even his “America first” foreign policy merely rolls back the interventionism and nation-building that existed nowhere in the GOP or on the right before Bush.
You can say that Trump has effectively governed to the right of every modern American president if you consider his Supreme Court nominations, his immigration policies and his actual attempts to reduce the federal workforce but that is not saying very much. Nixon and Ford were liberal Republicans. Reagan was a former Democrat whose primary focus was defeating the Soviet Union and secondary focus was rolling back income tax rates that were supposed to be temporary but stuck around for over 30 years. George H. W. Bush was only slightly more conservative – or less liberal – than Nixon and Ford but pretended otherwise to get elected. George W. Bush was merely conservative window-dressing, scraps to keep the pliant base pacified.
Trump’s contribution to conservatism, other than his judicial appointments – which were huge and cannot be underestimated – is driving nearly all the frauds out of the party. Amazing that a guy who actually wasn’t that conservative accomplished this. Thanks to the meltdown that he caused it will be easier for the GOP to elect actual conservatives in the future. Or at least more conservative than they were before.