The decay of western liberalism and the christological alternative: a reply to Ben Wood

ABSTRACT

The rise of populist politics presents a range of challenges for the future of democracy. The religious dimensions of populism merit further investigation, not least insofar as appeals to ‘Christian identity’ feature within right-wing, nationalist rhetoric. Theological discourse needs to critique such a misappropriation of Christian discourse both in theory and in practice. First, it must substitute associations of Christianity with exclusive and fixed accounts of ‘the people’ with alternative accounts of the body of Christ as knowing no boundaries. Second, it must be countered by practical, public demonstrations of the churches as communities of practice that embody values of openness, inclusion and hospitality.

This is a reply to:

Wood, B. 2018. “The Decay of Western Liberalism and the Christological Alternative.” Global Discourse. doi:10.1080/23269995.2018.1523331.

KEYWORDS:

• Post-secular political space
• populism
• Christian theology
• performative public theology

This article responds to:

The decay of Western liberalism and the Christological alternative

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.