The Case for Christian Nationalism
Epilogue: Now What? | IV. Dominion (Part 3)
Previously:
The need for a connection of people and place is natural and good. The Gospel did not “critique” or eliminate this. We should seed out forms of living that make that life possible.1
Before a Christian of Western European descent moved to a location where he could find a supposedly greater sense of connection of people and place, I would ask him whether he has taken the time to get to know his current neighbors. Has he spent time with the Arab Muslim family next door, and do they know him as their friendly and kind neighbor, or does he avoid them because they are ethnically and religiously different? Does he talk to the married gay couple across the street, and do they know him as the conservative Christian who obviously disagrees with their lifestyle, but who still exudes the love of Christ in their interactions, or is he the “bigot” who looks down his nose at them? Does he actually make an attempt to live the gospel, or is he more interested in retreating to a place of comfort, while ironically calling others Anabaptists?
Christian nationalism, in light of grace, is most natural to the Christian human being. Thus the precursor to any Christian nationalism is a people intentionally seeking their natural good according to man’s nature.2
The message that Christians are to primarily seek their own material good as their most natural and beneficial path is directly antithetical to the gospel. “Let no one seek his own good, but the good of his neighbor” (1 Corinthians 10:24). To reject this as a key directive is to reject the commandment of Christ, when he said, “If anyone would be first, he must be last of all and servant of all” (Mark 9:35). Christian Nationalist political theory takes the self-serving actions of the world and wraps them in a fake pietism that speaks to the Western Christian’s fear of life as a minority in a post-Christian nation.
Christian nationalism should have a strong and austere aesthetic… we ought to be men of power and endurance. We cannot achieve our goals with such a flabby aesthetic and under the control of modern nutrition. Sneering at this aesthetic vision, which I fully expect to happen, is pure cope. Grace does not destroy T-levels…3
As opposed to the goal of good health or even just looking more attractive, the hyperfocus on physiological aesthetic as a social marker has long been a common theme in Nietzschean white-nationalist online circles, where anonymous account holders often share pictures of themselves from the rear in bodybuilding poses like the back double biceps, while hiding their face. It is strange that Wolfe would speak in similar terms as them in his Christian Nationalist theory, even to go as far as to use childish internet lingo such as “pure cope”. In November of 2022, only a week before Thomas Achord was exposed as holding explicitly white-nationalist beliefs, he and Wolfe interviewed an anonymous white-nationalist author, “Raw Egg Nationalist”, on their podcast.4 His book, The Eggs Benedict Option, a tongue-in-cheek play on Rod Dreher’s The Benedict Option, is published by the white-nationalist book publisher, Antelope Hill, along with his magazine, Man’s World. Raw Egg Nationalist is very much obsessed with aesthetics, most especially physical conditioning, often using homoerotic images of bodybuilders in his branding and social media.5 It is difficult to believe that Wolfe would similarly speak of these types of aesthetics of male physique as a Christian Nationalist social marker without full knowledge of its common use among ethno-nationalist accounts, like Raw Egg Nationalist.
Next:
Stephen Wolfe, The Case for Christian Nationalism (Moscow, Idaho: Canon Press, 2022), 468.
Ibid., 469.
Ibid., 469-470.
Stephen Wolfe on Twitter: “I can't remember if I tweeted this. We interviewed Raw Egg Nationalist… Check it out.”
https://twitter.com/PerfInjust/status/1594809643460599809
Raw Egg Nationalist on Twitter: “A TESTOSTERONE MASTER THREAD. Here's a master thread of threads and posts about testosterone. You're sure to find something interesting in here, so make sure you bookmark this. In no particular order.”
In the tweet is a picture of a naked man standing on a rock, with his legs and arms spread wide open, with a red light machine barely covering his genitals and with his face blurred.
https://twitter.com/Babygravy9/status/1652310463345033216
