On Christian Nationalism

David M. Gides is Professor of Theology at the University of Providence in Great Falls, Montana. He is the author of Pacifism, Just War, and Tyrannicide: Bonhoeffer’s Church-World Theology and His Changing Forms of Political Thinking and Involvement (2012) and editor of Uncivil Disobedience: Theological Perspectives (2023).Joan Braune is Lecturer in Philosophy at Gonzaga University and works in Critical Theory and Critical Hate Studies. Her previous books include Understanding and Countering Fascist Movements: From Void to Hope (Routledge, 2024) and The Ethics of Researching the Far Right: Critical Approaches and Reflections (2024).

“This fascinating book takes scholarship on Christian nationalism to a new level. The essays grapple with the definition of Christian nationalism, use a multidisciplinary approach, and compare Christian nationalisms in different parts of the world. While recognizing pervasive evangelical Protestant nationalisms, the book also explores Catholic and Orthodox variations. Most significantly, these essays go beyond sociological analysis to include theological responses, indicating Christian ways to combat Christian nationalism. The analysis is thus both trenchant and hopeful.”William T. Cavanaugh, author, The Uses of Idolatry“Gides and Braune offer a much needed addition to the literature on Christian Nationalism. Through bringing together a diverse range of scholarly voices and perspectives, On Christian Nationalism: Critical and Theological Perspectives offers a nuanced understanding of one of the most significant movements in contemporary US life. This book's focus on race and gender is an important corrective to many analyses of Christian Nationalism which can fail to recognize their centrality to this movement. Through including sections on comparative analysis and theological responses to Christian Nationalism, the book also broadens the conversation around Christian Nationalism in important ways, recognizing it exists within a dynamic, global context.”Sophie Bjork-James, author, The Divine Institution: White Evangelicalism’s Politics of the Family“There’s no shortage of books on Christian Nationalism these days—and for good reason. It’s a movement that’s reshaping American politics in real time. But what sets this collection of essays, edited by David M. Gides and Joan Braune, apart is its clarity, depth, and crucially, its scope. Rather than treating White Christian Nationalism as a uniquely American phenomenon, the contributors place it in a global context—tracing its echoes in Bolsonaro’s Brazil, Putin’s Russia, the spectral nationalisms haunting Germany and elsewhere. That comparative lens is essential. It helps us see what’s particular about the American case—its racial dynamics, its theological roots—as well as what it shares with broader trends in global authoritarianism. The result is a rare kind of project: intellectually serious, morally grounded, and urgently relevant. It doesn’t just describe the problem; it helps us understand the world that’s making it possible.” Jeffrey W. Robbins, editor, Doing Theology in the Age of Trump: A Critical Report on Christian Nationalism

• Introduction 1. “Whose House?”: Christian Nationalism, January 6, and Political Investment in Whiteness 2. How Religious Activists Framed “Christian Nationalism” as a Political Category 3. Christian Nationalism: A Theological Social Imaginary Rooted in the Past and with Global Expansion 4. The “White” in White Christian Nationalism 5. Appropriation of Tradition as Regression and Transgression: Catholic Fascist Movements and U.S. Christian Nationalism 6. A Fifth Column: New Trends in White Christian Nationalist Antisemitism 7. From Stitching Seams to Shooting Sinners: A Christian Nationalist Power Couple's Strategic Gendered Rhetoric 8. Sex and the Supremacy of Christ: Sex and Romance in Christian Nationalism 9. “Marxists Want to Destroy the Traditional (Christian) Brazilian Family”: Understanding the Legitimization of Cultural Marxism Conspiracy Theory in Brazil 10. Messianic Ruscism: Christian Nationalism and the Lure of Putin’s Russkii Mir 11. Building a Nation of Fear: Islamophobia and the White Christian Identity 12. Christian Nationalism Among the Nationalisms: A Contribution from Comparative Political Theory 13. Can Christian Anti-Nationalism Live?: A Reflection on Ezekiel’s Valley of the Dry Bones 14. Christian Nationalism, Racism, and Weaponized Gender 15. Back Into the Fold: A Sociological and Theological Analysis of US Christian Nationalism and the Deutsche Christen, and the Hope for Reintegration 16. Dominionism in the Trumpocene: Toward a Biblical Hermeneutic of Resistance