As usual, I’ve been busy with work and church which is why my post on Herodotus, Book 9 has not appeared yet. In order to get some content out, I’ve decided to write on a book I read recently: Life in the Negative World: Confronting Challenges in an Anti-Christian Culture by Aaron Renn.
The Argument
Renn divides up the history of the last sixty or so years, in relation to modern culture’s view of Christianity, into three eras:
The Positive World (1964-1994)
This is about when Christianity was still viewed as more or less positively. It was socially advantageous to be a Christian, go to church, etc. Having a title like “Reverend” or “Pastor” gave you more credibility as a moral authority. Citing the Bible gave impact and credence to your moral and political arguments.
The Neutral World (1994-2014)
This is about when Christianity began to be viewed more or less neutrally. Christianity was just one belief system among many others and being a Christian, in general, did not give you the same advantage as it did in the “Positive World.”
The Negative World (2014-present)
This is about when Christianity began to be viewed more or less negatively. Being a church-going Christian can have a negative impact on your social standing—especially if you, or your church, are not toeing the line on certain matters
You and I could certainly quibble about the dates. I can look over at my bookshelf right now to a book I randomly picked up at a used bookstore about a year ago: The Criminalization of Christianity by Janet Folger. It was published in 2005—during the time Renn calls the Neutral World. Any of us who has some familiarity with the 1960s and 1970s can say that our culture was not all friendly toward Christianity. Otherwise, organizations like Moral Majority would not have surfaced or had much relevance.
Renn gives justifications for why he picked the dates he did. For example, he picks 2014 as the start of the “Negative World” because that’s when the far-left, DIE (Diversity, Inclusion, and Equity), social justice stuff (what is collectively called “woke”), really began taking off.
Basically, Barack Obama’s second term as president of the United States.
The time between 2012-2016 was a major shift in our culture. You had the Trayvon Martin killing in 2012 (and Obama’s racially divisive statements about it) which became the catalyst for the corporate press and far-left organizations to push other killings into the spotlight as the years went on. This culminated in 2020 with George Floyd and the Summer of “Love.”
2014 saw the emergence of GamerGate—a consumer revolt against journalists, developers, and publishers in the video game industry who were pushing far-left politics into their creation, promotion, and coverage of video games. This revolt would spill over into comics (“ComicsGate”), table top games (like Dungeons & Dragons), trading card games (like Magic: The Gathering), sports, and Hollywood, as people began applying the same scrutiny to those hobbies and industries. Heck, people began realizing this far-left nonsense was infecting innocuous hobbies like knitting and hiking.
2015 saw Obergefell v. Hodges which effectively legalized homosexual “marriage.” It wasn’t long after this that the transgenderism insanity began.
Christians Live in the Negative World—What Else is New?
Yeah, I hear you. Christians have been persecuted since the Church was born. Even though people have stopped feeding Christians to lions, stoning them to death, or nailing them to crosses, Christians still endured persecutions of other kinds throughout the centuries.
There’s a few things to consider though:
For a period of time in Europe, and later America, Christians were relatively safe. They could go to church, preach the Gospel, do acts of charity, and discuss Christian matters, without too much hostility. It was a far different story if you were elsewhere—like in Islamic controlled areas or the Far East.
The reasons for Christians having a hard time today are quite different compared to the past. While the Christian in the Roman Empire faced problems with his government for refusing to worship the Roman gods and/or the emperor, he never once got sent to jail or the Coliseum for refusing to use someone’s preferred pronouns.
Most Christian churches today still naively operate like they’re still in the Neutral, or worse, the Positive World.
This is the primary warning that Renn brings up in his book. The strategies that churches used in the past, when the culture was warm or neutral toward Christianity, largely do not work anymore. They have to adapt to this new, anti-Christian world when it comes to spreading the Gospel, bringing people into churches, and interacting with the secular.
Also, as I mentioned above, the issues of the day are rather unique compared to the past. Christians in the past never had to seriously debate about how many genders there are. They never had to confront a culture so oversaturated with pornography, slander, violence, profanity, immodesty, escapism, etc. They never had to deal with the disintegration of marriage and family on the scale we are dealing with. And Artificial Intelligence was mostly confined to science fiction novels.
Renn’s hope with his book is to get conversations started about these topics. What can the Church do moving forward? How can the Church operate in this Negative World while not compromising on the Gospel or God’s commands?
So… What Do Christians Do?
This is a good question. Renn provides some general advice, but that’s it. The bullet points in brackets are my personal contributions (though some of them may be in Renn’s book, I just can’t remember).
Pursue Excellence
Christians, if possible, should get highly skilled in different fields—from the creative to the technical.
[Christians should stop making the mistakes conservatives do by latching onto any pundit, intellectual, or politician who may appear on their side on one or two issues. Agree where you agree, disagree where you disagree, but don’t turn them into one of your rock stars or spokesmen. Christians need to be better than that. They need to be more concerned with the morality of public figures than what they have in recent years.]
Be Resilient
Insulate churches and other Christian institutions from the whims of the secular world. That would mean if an organization, or group of organizations, went after a church because of it’s stance on “gay marriage”, they couldn’t do any real harm to that church or institution.
[Someday, this may mean churches and Christian nonprofits will have to cease relying on 501c3’s and the like because they’ll be a liability to the Gospel.]
Ownership
Christians should own businesses, schools, banks, and the like, that can compete with their secular counterparts and insulate Christians from being “cancelled” for their opinions.
[Chick-fil-A is compromised unfortunately—despite Renn using it as a positive example.]
Speak the Truth Clearly
Christians should not be unambiguous about where they stand on the “hot button” issues of this age and what the Bible says.
[Christians should be able to clearly state what is a sin and what is not a sin.]
[Christians also need to start developing instruction and doctrine concerning Artificial Intelligence. Don’t be surprised if, in the near future, an AI program will be fed the Bible, commentaries and writings of Church fathers and major theologians, etc., and then set up as a pastor of a church who will give sermons, lead in singing songs or liturgy, and counsel its members. Christians will need a clear biblical response if it occurs.]
Final Analysis
Should you read this book? I suppose. Should you buy this book? I would wait for a drop in price or find it used somewhere.
The primary reason I say this is because this book came out of an article Renn wrote for First Things in 2022 titled “The Three Worlds of Evangelicalism.” And honestly, it shows that this book came out of an article.
After reading the first few chapters, I wanted to put it down because I felt I got what I wanted out of it. This desire increased when it became clear that Renn was more interested in getting the conversation going rather than providing some concrete solutions.
If you read his article in First Things, you will probably have all you need to advance the conversation and begin brainstorming solutions—and you won’t have to spend any money. The only reason to purchase the book is to support Aaron Renn himself. And if that’s what you want to do, then absolutely purchase the book.
Having said all of that, the conversation Renn is trying to get started absolutely needs to happen if you are a Bible believing Christian. We do live in a world that has gotten a lot more hostile toward Christianity compared to America’s past. We need to adjust to this new hostile world without compromising our beliefs and morals. We need bulwarks against organizations, businesses, and even the government, so that Christians can be faithful to Christ and raise their families and support their churches with less anxiety than they do now.
Life is only going to get worse for the Christian. If you read your Bible, you already know that. What makes today unique is that, unlike in the past, it feels like something has been fundamentally broken in the last 10-15 years. There was a clear existential, spiritual, metaphysical, whatever-you-want-to-call-it, shift that took place. Something has been off.
Maybe it started with the 2008 recession. Maybe it started with Barack Obama’s second term. Maybe it started with Donald Trump’s campaign and presidency and the reaction to that. Maybe it started with Obergefell. For sure though, the fruits of it have been on clear display since 2020.
Whatever caused it, you can feel it all around you (if you’ve been paying attention). This weird air. This feeling like you’re in an alien world. It’s not just Christians that are sensing it too—which is why it’s so alarming.
Something is going to snap like a rubber band that’s been stretched too far. What the effects of that will be is anyone’s guess.
What Christians can’t be guessing on, however, is their response. They need to be prepared for an inevitable catastrophe.
Unfortunately, I’m not terribly confident Christians will be ready. I hope, however, that books like Life in the Negative World will begin to wake up my fellow brothers in Christ and we can build something that will weather the storm coming our way.
May your days be filled with grace.
-Andronikos Anodos