Dominionism and the Danger of Social Gospel

https://oldlife.org/2026/08/31/does-aaron-renn-really-think-elites-will-save-us/

Hart sounds the warning here and I greatly appreciate it. I've written before about the problems associated with Aaron Renn and American Reformer. In this case, Renn seems to argue for a kind of top-down influence, wanting Evangelicals in 'elite' and controlling positions within society and culture. It would seem that he believes such attainments will help advance the Kingdom. I would like to see some evidence from the New Testament that suggests this. I can point to numerous verses that suggest the opposite.

As a historian, Hart knows the story of the Mainline Churches and the Social Gospel and he rightly sees Dominionism flirting with the same path. For years I've been talking about the new Ecumenical Movement. As long as I can remember the fear was always of Liberal, Modernist, and Left-wing Ecumenism - churches coming together on the basis of lowest common denominator theology, and trying to build a new Humanist Babel. The result would be a socialist dystopian nightmare.

Instead, we're seeing that version of ecumenism become irrelevant and instead a new Right-wing paradigm has emerged. As long as you're on board with the political agenda and the culture war strategy, it doesn't seem to matter if you're Evangelical, Confessional, Roman Catholic, Mormon, Mainline, Jewish, Secular, or whatever. It's a big tent and doctrine takes a back seat. All that matters is your adherence to the social agenda - right-wing nationalism, anti-immigration, capitalism, gun culture, and rolling back The Great Society, New Deal, and in some cases the post-Civil War Constitutional Amendments.

Now I will grant that should these people win the day (God forbid) they would immediately turn on each other and begin to devour themselves. But in the meantime, they are nevertheless devouring souls along the way, making proselytes twice the children of Hell in the process. When this all falls apart these people will be lost and fall into a state of apostasy - but frankly many are already more or less there as far as I'm concerned. Someone like Pete Hegseth is a perfect example of this. professing Christ but demonstrating every day in every way that he does not know Him and in fact hates everything Christ is about. He thinks godliness is gain and grace is an invitation to commit rape and mass murder.

Renn laments the supposed Evangelical focus on evangelism and gospel outreach - never mind the fact that in most cases this is a truncated and distorted version of the gospel rooted in decisionalism, antinomianism, and one that downplays the notion of repentance and the renewed life. Sanctification is optional (along with church discipline) and mortification is an unknown concept if not completely rejected. For many Evangelicals the emphasis on numbers is connected to fame and fortune and trying to create an energy.

So perhaps the problem with Evangelicalism is less an issue of their failure to cultivate high-brow culture and produce cultural elites and more a problem of false Christianity to begin with.

On that note, Renn seems to think that culture-shaping institutions and legislation will provide some kind of remedy for this ill - demonstrating he's just as confused and lost in the weeds as the Evangelicals he would criticise. His praise of Tim Keller and the kind of worldly-wise compromised Evangelicalism he championed just further demonstrates this.

Hart is correct, even if he's not as willing to publicly denounce this to the level I do. I think this movement is going to reap a terrible harvest. History shows us what happened with the Mainline. Before the end of the 21st century, this movement will have failed and will result in large-scale defections and apostasy from the Christian faith. If they 'win' anything, it will be but to create a veneer that might last a generation or two at best. The end result is far more destructive - modern European culture testifies to this in a most stark and painful fashion.

Unfortunately I'm afraid the Confessionalist tradition has (at least historically) been more in favour of someone like Renn. It has celebrated power and influence and as I've previously argued, the symbolism in a place like Princeton Seminary (adjacent to the Ivy League College) is rather telling. As an ex-Confessionalist I'm willing to say the tradition and many of its presuppositions are wrong.

But the tradition has changed and broadened in the context of the American Revision. While this does not 'excite' me per se, I can appreciate some of the good that is coming out of this trend as well as a better theology influenced by the likes of Vos, Kline, and even Van Til - though many won't make the connection to the famous apologist. While retaining the Confession at critical points, and the tradition in the broad strokes, these teachers and their disciples have seen the folly of traditionalist sacral paradigms connected to the Magisterial Reformation. And thus when new iterations and recycled paradigms emerge, such as what we're seeing with Christian Nationalism and outfits like the American Reformer, some moderns (just as devoted to their tradition and the historic faith) are able to challenge these teachers and their assumptions.

As such, we can be thankful there are at least a few voices in Confessional circles willing to call out these false teachers and expose the defective nature of their teaching.

See also:

https://pilgrimunderground.blogspot.com/2024/03/a-ridiculous-essay-about-anti-trump.html

https://pilgrimunderground.blogspot.com/2025/04/the-negative-world-occasion-for-some.html

https://proto-protestantism.blogspot.com/2025/10/christian-nationalism-wilson-ethos-and.html

https://proto-protestantism.blogspot.com/2024/03/playing-chick-fil-with-sabbath.html

https://proto-protestantism.blogspot.com/2024/09/the-errors-of-westminster-divine-george.html

https://proto-protestantism.blogspot.com/2025/05/samuel-davies-colonial-era-hero.html