📘Lexicon Entry: MAGA Christianism
Category: Primary Concepts | Published: 2025-04-02
Definition
MAGA Christianism refers to a specific variant of Christianism that fuses elements of traditional Christianity with MAGA (Make America Great Again) political ideology. This fusion transforms both religious and political identity, creating a worldview where partisan loyalty becomes inseparable from religious identity and where Christian symbols and language are deployed primarily for political purposes.
Key Characteristics
MAGA Christianism manifests through three primary theological mutations:
Primitive Biblicism: Claims direct, unmediated access to biblical meaning while bypassing historic interpretive traditions, scholarly insights, and theological nuance. This approach enables selective use of biblical texts to support political positions while avoiding texts that challenge those positions.
Practical Atheism: Though maintaining formal belief in God, functionally removes Jesus as exemplar for moral and political life. This mutation allows approval of political behaviors that directly contradict Christ's example and teachings, effectively treating Jesus as savior but not lord.
Binary Apocalypticism: Divides the world into absolute categories of good and evil, casting political opponents as not merely mistaken but wicked or demonic. This framework transforms political disagreements into cosmic spiritual warfare, justifying extreme measures against perceived enemies.
Historical Context
While elements of MAGA Christianism have appeared throughout American history, its current form crystallized during the Trump era, when evangelical leaders increasingly portrayed Trump as divinely appointed despite his personal divergence from traditional Christian values. This legitimation often employed "Cyrus theology"—comparing Trump to the Persian king Cyrus who, despite being a non-believer, was used by God to restore the Israelites according to biblical accounts.
Distinction from Traditional Christianity
MAGA Christianism differs from traditional Christian orthodoxy in several crucial ways:
Theological Priority: Where orthodox Christianity begins with God's self-revelation in Christ and derives political implications from that revelation, MAGA Christianism begins with political goals and retrofits theology to support them.
Understanding of Power: Traditional Christianity emphasizes Christ's model of servant leadership and power through apparent weakness (exemplified in the cross), while MAGA Christianism embraces a domination model of power closer to imperial Rome than to Jesus.
Treatment of Enemies: Jesus commanded love of enemies and prayer for persecutors, while MAGA Christianism frequently demonizes opponents and justifies harsh treatment of perceived enemies.
Related Terms
Primitive Biblicism
Practical Atheism
Binary Apocalypticism
This lexicon entry was last updated on April 2, 2025