The Constantine Option

What's the Future of Evangelical Christianity?

Before I begin: It's been over a year since my last article, around the time my firstborn arrived, but I intend to get back into the swing of writing weekly. There's certainly no shortage of work we have to do as brothers and sisters in Christ! May He bless our labors.

I want to make clear from the beginning that I'm not preying on the downfall of Evangelical Christianity. In fact, I'm trying to preserve it, God help me.

And preservation it needs! While Evangelical Christianity has grown magnificently in the last several decades, a generation of young men now arise who are far more skeptical than any surviving generation before them. If you spend much time with men under 30, you may already understand my meaning.

Our generation (that is, Gen Z, or "zoomers") has extremely traditional tendencies, the likes of which would shock most baby boomers if they understood the extent of it. When someone over 40 says they're conservative, they mean they miss the 70s; when someone under 40 says they're conservative, they mean they miss the Roman Empire.

Why This is a Problem For Evangelicals, Specifically

This generation tends to sees the West as one continuous narrative, in which Evangelicalism is a small and very recent plot point. That is to say, it could be left out without harming the coherence of the entire story. This is in sharp contrast to, for example, Catholicism, without which much of Western history could not be understood at all.

Zoomers feel this, very deeply. I imagine my protestant parents didn't know anyone who seriously looked into to Catholicism or Orthodoxy growing up, yet I personally know several who've considered it and a few who actually converted. It's easy to understand why once you understand zoomers: traditional Baptists want their church to use the KJV, traditional Catholics want their church to use Latin. The latter simply resonates with these young men more.

What, then, are Evangelicals to do?

Patristics

The solution seems quite plain to me: simply take church history seriously. This is, in my opinion, already an oversight of the protestant church in general. I suppose that's because I have this zoomer disposition I'm describing.

The stained glass and traditional hymns might get them interested, but the thing that gets zoomers seriously discerning the ancient churches is one simple claim:

All Nicene Christians can make this same argument. You can find reason to doubt infant baptism or the papacy in the church fathers. I'm not making an argument one way or the other, I only mean to say that the Christian armed with Patristics (the study of the church fathers) is likely to beat one not so armed in an argument, and this is the disparity that I'm trying to remedy.

My Purpose

Those of you who know me know that I'm not interested in infighting. We have bigger fish to fry than which Christian denomination is correct, so do not take anything I say as a defense or an attack on any church tradition. I'm simply trying to do my part to strengthen Western Christianity.

I believe that the Evangelical church can very easily lean into this generation, especially in the USA. I hope they do. I hope every church called by His name leans into the study of the Saints who came before us, that we would be edified and guided by them. It would be foolish to do otherwise, when we have 2000 years of theology preserved by God's providence for us.

In the case of Evangelical churches, it seems to me almost a matter of survival.

God bless you,

The Constantine Option