Karl Barth and Christian Nationalism

Karl Barth’s critique of German Christian nationalism is well known, but some American Christian nationalists have drawn on the theology of Barth and Barmen to justify and support their agenda—notably John MacArthur’s Grace Church during the COVID-19 crisis, the masterminds behind Project 2025, Kevin Roberts and Russell Vought, and antiabortion activist Katelyn Walls Shelton. This paper argues that Barth’s political writings in the 1930s evince a characteristic weakness—an overly abstract notion of Christian freedom and an overly sanguine confidence in the self-evidence of the Bible’s witness against Christian nationalism. Both points may have made sense within the context of Germany, but they have translated poorly in the American context. Those committed to Barth’s intentions must recover elements of his earlier theology from the first Romans commentary and his more overtly socialist writings as a necessary supplement and corrective to his later work.

This paper explores how a doctrine of sin drawn from resources found in Karl Barth might contribute to theological reflection on nationhood, nationalism, and patriotism. Focusing on my own Scottish and British context while engaging broader theoretical questions, I argue that attentiveness to sin provides an essential tool for Christian engagement with the modern nation-state. Rather than offering any prescriptive political conclusion, the paper proposes that a robust doctrine of sin, developed in conversation with Barth, can help to reframe discussions of nationalism within churches in ways that are both chastening and constructive. I argue that a well-constructed hamartiology based on a critical and appreciative reading of Barth illuminates the dynamics of (self) deception, the insidious functioning of ideology, and the potential of all states and nations to become “at least a little Leviathan,” whilst also preserving the possibility of responsible, hopeful political discernment with regard to the nation.