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1/ Charting the Evangelical Awokening"
The "Great Awokening" is a thesis by @ZachG932 that the media (and by extension, media-influenced progressive readership) underwent a discontinuous phase transition toward new ways of thinking about social justice. https://www.tabletmag.com/sections/news/articles/media-great-racial-awakening
The "Great Awokening" is a thesis by @ZachG932 that the media (and by extension, media-influenced progressive readership) underwent a discontinuous phase transition toward new ways of thinking about social justice. https://www.tabletmag.com/sections/news/articles/media-great-racial-awakening
When I saw this done for major newspapers, it made me wonder if I could do the same thing for components of the evangelical world, to better quantify its emergent schism over social justice.
I selected @CTmagazine as patient-zero for the project, for reasons mentioned before.
I selected @CTmagazine as patient-zero for the project, for reasons mentioned before.
My methodology was suggested by this blunt @aaron_renn quote about "neutral world" (culturally accommodating) evangelical culture:
"The average neutral world Christian leader... talks obsessively about two topics today: refugees (immigrants) and racism."
https://www.aaronrenn.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/The-Masculinist-13-The-Lost-World-of-American-Evangelicalism.pdf
"The average neutral world Christian leader... talks obsessively about two topics today: refugees (immigrants) and racism."
https://www.aaronrenn.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/The-Masculinist-13-The-Lost-World-of-American-Evangelicalism.pdf
I broke up "political" topics at @CTToday into two groups: right-fork (abortion, LGBT, abstinence, and human origins) and left-fork (Renn's duo of racism and immigration).
I grouped related terms for the right-fork group (i.e., "sex education" and "porn" for abstinence.)
I grouped related terms for the right-fork group (i.e., "sex education" and "porn" for abstinence.)
For racism and immigration, I used ONLY those two terms, grouping them with nothing else.
Then I plotted articles archived using that topic keyword as a function of year, from 2004 to now (including only data through September in 2020). The results were dramatic.
Then I plotted articles archived using that topic keyword as a function of year, from 2004 to now (including only data through September in 2020). The results were dramatic.
Right-fork issues dominate for the first decade, then fall into a precipitous decline. Meanwhile, left-fork issues experience a sharp breakout.
The inflection point seems to be roughly around 2013. Before then, "racism+immigration" rarely tops 20 articles. Now it's at ~90.
The inflection point seems to be roughly around 2013. Before then, "racism+immigration" rarely tops 20 articles. Now it's at ~90.
Here's the ratio of "progressive political" to "conservative political" articles in @CTToday.
It's gone parabolic, as in @ZachG932's work.
In 2004, conservative articles led by about 5 to 1. In 2020, progressive articles dominate by 3.5 to 1 (and this is only through August).
It's gone parabolic, as in @ZachG932's work.
In 2004, conservative articles led by about 5 to 1. In 2020, progressive articles dominate by 3.5 to 1 (and this is only through August).
If anything this probably underestimates some of the underlying dynamics. For example, here's how abortion was discussed in 2009 by Dinesh D'Souza (THAT D'Souza!), in intensely polemical terms: https://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2009/september/17.78.html
Meanwhile, here's how recent coverage tends to go -- less about moral grandstanding (or more charitably, prophetic opposition), and more about analysis of the issue's discomfort-inducing salience for the current election.
Tonally quite different. https://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2020/september/pro-life-politics-2020-election-evangelicals-trump-abortion.html
Tonally quite different. https://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2020/september/pro-life-politics-2020-election-evangelicals-trump-abortion.html
The reverse process applies to recent articles on race, which are strongly prophetic in tone, full of the language of sin and confession. Those who dissent from the article's conclusions are called out pre-emptively for their "defensiveness" and "anger". https://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2020/july-web-only/perils-of-white-american-folk-religion.html
Whom should be credited with this transformation of priorities?
The shift in editorial focus toward elevating left-fork and downplaying right-fork issues has occurred during the tenure of @tedolsen and the recently departed @MarkGalli, who left calling for Trump's departure.
The shift in editorial focus toward elevating left-fork and downplaying right-fork issues has occurred during the tenure of @tedolsen and the recently departed @MarkGalli, who left calling for Trump's departure.
But a fair amount of the credit should also go to the preparatory work of the previous generation of editors and writers, notably including David Neff and Katelyn Beaty. (Neff, shortly after his departure, came out in favor of same-sex marriage.) https://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2013/july-august/honoring-david-neff-gentleman-scholar.html
It's important to recognize that none of this involves any shift in theology, explicitly, just a dramatic shift in emphasis. It's a matter of what's being regarded as higher on the priority list, and what's lower.
But the shift is dramatic, and it precedes BLM and Trump.
But the shift is dramatic, and it precedes BLM and Trump.
No old-evangelical conservatives are still invited to write for CT (D'Souza would be unthinkable even without the felony conviction!), but there are plenty of centrists like @bonniekristian, @KSPrior, and @Tish_H_Warren, cautioning that the gospel shouldn't be lost along the way.
This interview between @DavidAFrench and Prior suggests an optimistic pathway for the Awokening to follow, with some elements of the old-evangelical social project (abortion opposition, basically) joined to the new focus on race and immigration.
However, speaking as a skeptical conservative on social issues, I think this pathway will be more difficult to walk than French and Prior are admitting.
Participation in (polarized) politics will motivate the further suppression of the right-fork issues set, to avoid conflict.
Participation in (polarized) politics will motivate the further suppression of the right-fork issues set, to avoid conflict.
Meanwhile, social conservatives have little motivation to sit at the feet of CT's new stable of writers hoping for crumbs to fall their way.
The siren-song of Trumpism appeals to a certain personality in ways that French's description of "performative masculinity" captures well.
The siren-song of Trumpism appeals to a certain personality in ways that French's description of "performative masculinity" captures well.
All of this hurts, and I don't want to retreat into an analytical scientist-mode that denies how much it hurts.
I want to still live in a world where this interview could still happen, not a world where @ericmetaxas is punching out protesters and @philvischer is lecturing Bob the Tomato fans about being complicit in white supremacy. https://philvischer.com/the-phil-vischer-podcast/episode-4-guest-eric-metaxas/
Imperfect as it was, the old CT of 2000-2012 was better for me than either of the choices on the menu today.
There's still hope for a reduced "center", represented by the French-Prior moderate wing, or MereO's @jake_meador. But the inertia creates serious challenges.
There's still hope for a reduced "center", represented by the French-Prior moderate wing, or MereO's @jake_meador. But the inertia creates serious challenges.
Those who admired elements of CT's balance, or the winsome tone of its reframing of traditional issues from the religious right, are deprived of an essential voice.
This is a tragedy for traditional (pre-Trump era) conservatives forced to beg for scraps, or else go full-Tucker.
This is a tragedy for traditional (pre-Trump era) conservatives forced to beg for scraps, or else go full-Tucker.
Also, as I said last week, an essential gap in the picture painted by Prior and French is the complete omission of sexual ethics issues.
Even if abortion could somehow be repackaged for progressives, it's hard to see how the orthodox position on sex can remain palatable.
Even if abortion could somehow be repackaged for progressives, it's hard to see how the orthodox position on sex can remain palatable.
In short, I come partially to praise Christianity Today, Billy Graham's enduring legacy to chart a middle course through fundamentalism and mainline liberalism.
But increasingly, that praise is in past tense.
But increasingly, that praise is in past tense.
