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When was the moment you discovered that Evangelicalism, as an ideology, is empty?
Ideology is indeed empty at its core. All political systems are founded upon an inaugural (primordial) trauma that establishes what ‘we’ are for versus what ‘we’ are against. Playing off the fears and insecurities of people, an antagonism is created that sustains the System. For Zizek (to oversimplify), this is what is real, this is ‘the Real’ that drives the System.
American democracy, for instance, does not embody any transcendent ideal such as the inalienable rights of each person to pursue, ‘life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.’ Instead, this ideology is driven by the antagonism between those who wish to accumulate wealth in freedom and disadvantaged people who are victims of this wealth accumulation. This antagonism, covered over by the idea of ‘freedom’, founded the American system of democracy as it rebelled against the monarch of the British Commonwealth at the time of the American Revolution.” - David Fitch, The End of Evangelicalism, p. 25
This week’s podcast is a great conversation with my friend Gino Curcuruto, who, like me, is a pastor and contextual theologian. We dive into our decades of journeying inside of evangelicalism, the moments when the ideologies at work became apparent to us, and how contextual theology is making us hopeful and helping us love our neighbors better.
You can connect with Gino on Substack, where he has been working his way through the book we discussed, The End of Evangelicalism by Dr. David Fitch. His latest post in the series is really helpful!
Also, make sure to check out his podcast for Northern Seminary called For Context!
On a humorous note, you will also notice immediately that Gino and I are twinning! We are so alike, both in our work and in our middle-aged white guy pastor appearances, that we are meme-worthy.
As always, please share your thoughts and reflections!
