The Case for Political Combat

Zealots at the Gate

Our most “combative” episode yet. Progressive secularism is on a winning streak. It has scored a number of significant political victories over those who hold traditional Christian and Muslim understandings of the moral life. How should people of faith respond? Our guest worries that we might be playing a little too nice. James R. Wood is one of the most exciting and controversial Christian thinkers writing today. A theologian, professor, and ordained minister, Wood argues that people of faith need to actively contest, dispute, and sometimes even mock the political ideas of their secular opponents. What do you think? Should Christians and Muslims ready themselves for rhetorical combat? Is a “winsome” approach to persuasion naive?

LINKS

Referenced essays from James Wood:

https://comment.org/the-church-against-the-ideologies/

https://americanreformer.org/2022/05/this-article-is-not-about-tim-keller/

https://www.theamericanconservative.com/the-limits-of-winsome-politics/

James Wood’s critique of Christian civility and “winsomeness”:

https://www.firstthings.com/web-exclusives/2022/05/how-i-evolved-on-tim-keller

Shadi explores how an Islamic approach to politics was “swallowed” by the modern state:

https://www.firstthings.com/article/2022/10/how-modernity-swallowed-islamism