Patriotism

A version of this book review of Timothy Keller’s Prodigal Prophet first appeared in the Winter 2019 issue of Providence‘s…

Is it possible for a Christian to love his or her country too much? Is America itself even deserving of a Christian’s loyalty? If Christians have anything to offer the civil kingdom, how should they go about it?

True patriotism is not about establishing the external borders of your love so much as the ordering of it. For the Christian, who has access to an unending source of love in God, no one ought to be excluded from this love—neither your neighbor, nor fellow countrymen, nor other peoples around the globe.

An incarnational nationhood deepens and overcomes the weaknesses of both the nation-as-idea and nation-as-ethnicity visions.

Tonight people will gather for Burns Night to remember one of Scotland’s national heroes. But should this man’s flaws cause us to rethink his place in national mythmaking and nationalism in general?

Should Christians promote nation-states in all places at all times? No.

Works by C.S. Lewis and Tim Keller can help us understand the outlines of a healthy Christian patriotism—a righteous love of one’s imperfect country and home, including the people there and much more.

Imagine, if you will, a world full of completely unselfish people, of people who always thought of others first and not themselves; people who always sacrificed their own interests and looked for someone else to help. Paradise, right? Wrong.

Many millennial American Christians hold apathetic views toward patriotism, and even worse, they advocate for a perspective that sees the US as an empire.