From Megyn Kelly's claim that Jesus is white to former President Trump's claim that he is the “chosen one” or the “King of Israel,” there is serious trouble in paradise. Contemporary manifestations of white Christian nationalism are deeply entangled in political issues from women’s political rights over their own bodies to the rejection of Critical Race Theory (CRT). Carrying Christian signs and crosses, protestors at the Capitol insurrection on January 6th were not only fighting with a sense of white nationalist duty but fighting with a religious zeal, making this a pressing moment in the current timeto which this volume speaks. This edited collection invites scholars share frustration, anger, interrogation, and conceptual clarity with readers regarding this toxic form of Christianity that fights not in the name of love, but in the name of political domination and out of deep fear and hatred. Attention is also brought to Christianity’s counter-voice, one predicated upon love, and its effectiveness to resist not just deep political pro-white forces at work, but also its capacity to focus emphasis upon Christian love. The text is designed to speak to the contemporary moment with respect to the explicit and implicit ways in which white nationalism and white Christianity continue to be entangled and reinforce one another. Contributors are asked to articulate what is behind this racially, politically, ideologically, psychically charged whiteness of Christianity in the US, and to articulate what is beyond the whiteness of Christianity for both Christians and non-Christians alike concerned with the rise of white Christian nationalism.
