Poisoned Fruit from a Toxic Tree

Christian Nationalism as the Legacy of Slaveholding Christianity

Abstract

This article argues that White Christian nationalism is not a new theological movement but the latest expression of Slaveholding Christianity—a coherent religio-political tradition that fuses White supremacy, divine order, and the demand for sovereignal freedom. In tracing this lineage, it shows that the same theological grammar undergirds today’s Christian nationalist movement. Backlash to Barack Obama’s election triggered its open re-emergence; Donald Trump’s elections brought it to the center of American political power. The article examines how the Black religious tradition has consistently articulated a counter-Christianity—and considers the threats to that tradition from both external attack and internal infiltration.