I grew up believing I knew what the book of Revelation was about. It was about the future, specifically our future, and if you paid close enough attention you could match its symbols to newspaper headlines. The beast was probably some European politician. The mark was probably a microchip. Russia was Gog. China was the kings of the East. And Israel, always Israel, was God’s prophetic clock, ticking down to the rapture. ...
I’ve been trying to put my thoughts together on what, precisely, grieves me about American evangelicalism. Here’s what I have, so far. I was born and raised in conservative/fundamentalist USA evangelicalism. I went to Cedarville University for undergrad, where I studied Bible and Spanish. Then, I went to Beeson Divinity School. Then, I went to Wheaton College Graduate School. My first misgivings about the evangelicalism started in college. In 2012 or so, I couldn’t help but notice some concerning parallels between the German churches in 1920s-30s and American evangelical Christianity. I stopped calling myself an evangelical in 2016 when it became clear just how many evangelicals voted for Trump. ...