Mere Christendom: A Review

 By Pastor Shane Lems - Posted at The Reformed Reader Blog:

Published January 8, 2024

I’ve recently been reading books for and against Christian nationalism. Although I don’t consider myself a Christian nationalist, I do want to know about it from both sides. In the next few weeks, I’ll mention books for and against Christian nationalism on this blog. Some of the book reviews I’m writing will be expanded and published elsewhere, but I thought giving some shorter versions here would be good. The first book for review is Mere Christendom.

Mere Christendom contains Doug Wilson’s thoughts about a Christian society based on 1) his postmillennial-theononomic interpretation of Scripture and 2) his patriotic conservative Christian federalist view of American history. The book has four main parts: 1) Where we are now, 2) Mere Christendom, 3) Lies about Mere Christendom, and 4) How to Restore Christendom. Mere Christendom reads like a series of random thoughts gathered together under certain headings (e.g. taxation, Christian Nationalism, Free Speech, theonomy, American Exceptionalism, Liberty, etc.).

Mere Christendom doesn’t give a detailed biblical basis for Wilson’s political views, although Scripture is found throughout the book. In this book, Wilson does not engage with or evaluate opposing viewpoints, giving their strengths and weaknesses. However, Wilson does jeer at and criticize opposing viewpoints. Mere Christendom is more like a somewhat haphazard series of “fireside chats” in which Wilson shares his various political views.

Here are my thoughts on this book: the good, the annoying, and the bad: ...

Read more here.