Douglas James Wilson (born June 18, 1953) is a conservative Reformed and evangelical theologian,
pastor at Christ Church in Moscow, Idaho, faculty member at New Saint Andrews College, and author and speaker. is a prominent figure in the Reformed and evangelical theological landscape, primarily known as the pastor of Christ Church in Moscow, Idaho. He is the pastor of Christ Church, Moscow, Idaho, and the church belongs to the Communion of Reformed Evangelical Churches (CREC). Wilson is known for his conservative Reformed theological views, including postmillennialism, Christian nationalism, and covenant theology. He is also a proponent of classical Christian education and presuppositional apologetics. Wilson has been the subject of controversy due to some of his views and statements. These include his strong stance against feminism, views on gender roles within marriage, and his past writings that offered a qualified biblical defense of slavery. A Christianity Today article published in July 2025 mentions his controversial use of anti-LGBTQ+ slurs. Wilson and Christ Church have a significant presence in Moscow, Idaho, with affiliated institutions like Logos School, New Saint Andrews College, and Canon Press (a publishing house). He's also gained national attention in recent years, particularly within conservative political circles. Some see his work as a guide for implementing a hardline conservative Protestant Christianity in public life. Wilson and his allies are working to increase their influence in Washington D.C., with plans to open a Christ Church outpost there. He has appeared with prominent figures in the conservative movement and expressed support for dismantling the administrative state and re-evaluating the Supreme Court decision on same-sex marriage. A May 2025 Politico article notes that he sees the current conservative movement as a force against what he considers a failing secular experiment. It's important to note that his views are considered controversial by many, including some within the Reformed and evangelical traditions. Critics have raised concerns about his theological consistency, particularly in relation to the Federal Vision movement, and the potential for his teachings to foster a culture of abuse within the church. Some have accused him of subtly blurring the lines between justification by faith alone and justification by works. Therefore, approaching his teachings with discernment is advised.
pastor at Christ Church in Moscow, Idaho, faculty member at New Saint Andrews College, and author and speaker. is a prominent figure in the Reformed and evangelical theological landscape, primarily known as the pastor of Christ Church in Moscow, Idaho. He is the pastor of Christ Church, Moscow, Idaho, and the church belongs to the Communion of Reformed Evangelical Churches (CREC). Wilson is known for his conservative Reformed theological views, including postmillennialism, Christian nationalism, and covenant theology. He is also a proponent of classical Christian education and presuppositional apologetics. Wilson has been the subject of controversy due to some of his views and statements. These include his strong stance against feminism, views on gender roles within marriage, and his past writings that offered a qualified biblical defense of slavery. A Christianity Today article published in July 2025 mentions his controversial use of anti-LGBTQ+ slurs. Wilson and Christ Church have a significant presence in Moscow, Idaho, with affiliated institutions like Logos School, New Saint Andrews College, and Canon Press (a publishing house). He's also gained national attention in recent years, particularly within conservative political circles. Some see his work as a guide for implementing a hardline conservative Protestant Christianity in public life. Wilson and his allies are working to increase their influence in Washington D.C., with plans to open a Christ Church outpost there. He has appeared with prominent figures in the conservative movement and expressed support for dismantling the administrative state and re-evaluating the Supreme Court decision on same-sex marriage. A May 2025 Politico article notes that he sees the current conservative movement as a force against what he considers a failing secular experiment. It's important to note that his views are considered controversial by many, including some within the Reformed and evangelical traditions. Critics have raised concerns about his theological consistency, particularly in relation to the Federal Vision movement, and the potential for his teachings to foster a culture of abuse within the church. Some have accused him of subtly blurring the lines between justification by faith alone and justification by works. Therefore, approaching his teachings with discernment is advised.
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A rabbi’s warning to America about Idaho’s Christian nationalism | Opinion I’ve learned it is rarely a good thing when national media features Idaho. It’s often about the state’s horrifying abundance of right-wing extremism. No different was a recent New York Times piece spotlighting Doug Wilson, a self-described theocrat and pastor based in Moscow, Idaho, whose disciples now include powerful MAGA acolytes in the federal government. I urge all Americans to stand up for true freedom and reject Christian nationalism For many years, I hoped that Idaho would moderate to grow more like the rest of America. Instead, America is becoming more like Idaho. Religious reactionaries like Wilson have emerged to lead a far-reaching movement to cement power in the hands of a theocratic minority. Their goal is clear: Replace democratic governance with fundamentalist rule. (Idaho Statesman 11/24/25) READMORE>>>> Pastor Doug Wilson exhorts Trump to accept Gospel amid fleeting glory: 'Just ask Him' Pastor Douglas Wilson penned an open letter to President Donald Trump this week, exhorting him to acknowledge the fleeting nature of worldly glory and accept the Gospel. Wilson, who serves as senior pastor at Christ Church (CREC) in Moscow, Idaho, added his voice to the chorus of Christians who have expressed concern for the president's soul after he seemed to question his salvation earlier this week." I don't think there's anything going to get me in Heaven," Trump told a reporter Sunday on Air Force One regarding whether bringing peace to the Middle East might earn him a place in paradise. "I think I'm maybe not Heaven-bound. I may be in Heaven right now as we fly in Air Force One. I'm not sure I'm going to be able to make Heaven." (Christian Post 10/16/25) READMORE>>>> Why Doug Wilson is wrong about women’s rights and the 19th Amendment Should the 19th amendment, which gave women in the United States the right to vote, be repealed? A growing movement of American evangelicals think so.For example, in recent months, Doug Wilson, a controversial pastor based in Moscow, Idaho, and co-founder of the Communion of Reformed Evangelical Churches, has sparked strong disagreement within American evangelicalism with his stance on household voting and the repeal of the 19th Amendment. Wilson has been involved in several controversies, including his perspectives on Southern slavery, particularly after co-authoring the plagiarized 1996 booklet Southern Slavery as It Was with Steve Wilkins. The booklet sparked intense debate, with critics accusing Wilson of downplaying the brutality of slavery and defending the right of Christians to own slaves, citing biblical grounds for their argument. Wilson’s defenders argue he was trying to highlight the complexities of the issue, but many have criticized his views as insensitive and revisionist. (Baptist News Global 10/15/25) READMORE>>>> Doug Wilson's view on Christian marriage is blasphemous Last week, I read an article in The Wall Street Journal that profiled Douglas Wilson, pastor of Christ Church in Moscow, Idaho, who is described in Wikipedia as a “public proponent of postmillennialism, Christian nationalism, covenant theology and biblical patriarchy.” The article in question, “Douglas Wilson Wants the U.S. to be a Christian Republic. MAGA is Listening,” proclaims, “The incendiary pastor calls for taking away women’s right to vote and barring non-Christians from holding office.” I found many things in the article with which I disagree profoundly with Rev. Wilson. However, one statement I found so appalling and offensive that I felt compelled to take up my pen to refute it. (Christian Post 10/3/25) READMORE>>>> Christianity Today Rejects $10 Million Buy-Out Offer by Doug Wilson-Affiliated Publisher Christianity Today (CT) magazine has rejected a $10 million buy-out offer from Canon Press, a publishing company founded by prominent Christian nationalist pastor Doug Wilson. News of the offer was posted online Sept. 29 by Daily Wire reporter Megan Basham, who claimed that many Christians lament that CT “has been captured by worldly ideology.” Basham suggested Canon Press would restore the magazine to the “intended purpose” of its founder, the Rev. Billy Graham. (Julie Roys 10/1/25) READMORE>>>> Ep. 507: Michael Reneau of The Dispatch on Doug Wilson, Jen Hatmaker, and More
On today’s program, Warren Smith has one of his periodic “lightning round” talks with Michael Reneau of The Dispatch. This time, they dig into celebrity Christians, including Jen Hatmaker, Doug Wilson, Chip and Joanna Gaines, and others. They also discuss how Tim Keller is sort of an antidote to that, the “anti-celebrity celebrity. Noble: 30 Pieces of Silver—is Gov’t praying or preying on the Evangelical vote? In Moscow, Idaho, conservative evangelical pastor Doug Wilson last year praised the nomination of now-U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth for his opposition to women in combat. Then, in an interview broadcast last month, Wilson told CNN that in his vision of a Christian America, women would hold few leadership positions beyond being "chief executive" of the home and raising children. "Women are the kind of people that people come out of," he said. "It doesn't take any talent to simply reproduce biologically." Meanwhile, at Covenant Bible Church, an evangelical church in suburban Austin, Texas, pastor Joel Webbon has echoed Wilson's view that in a Christian nation, women shouldn’t be able to vote. (USA Today 9/9/25) READMORE>>>>> A once-fringe Christian leader gets a warm welcome in Trump’s Washington For decades, Doug Wilson was a relatively unknown pastor in Idaho, relegated to the fringe of evangelicalism for his radical teachings. Now he's an influential voice in the Christian right. That shift in clout was apparent this past week as he took a victory lap through Washington, sharing a stage with Trump administration officials and preaching at his denomination’s new church. “This is the first time we’ve had connections with as many people in national government as we do now,” Wilson told The Associated Press in August. (ABC7 9/8/25) READMORE>>>>> After Challenging Doug Wilson, Podcaster’s Confession Shakes Anti-Patriarchy Movement Days after challenging Pastor Doug Wilson to a public debate, Peter Bell, producer and host of the podcast “Sons of Patriarchy,” made a social media confession that has forced a reckoning within the community he helped build around exposing abuse in patriarchal churches. Bell, whose podcast investigates Wilson’s Moscow, Idaho-based church movement, said in a since-deleted Aug. 23 Facebook post that he struggled with pornography addiction for nearly two decades, was fired from multiple jobs for lying and experienced marital separation during his podcast’s first season last year. The confession came shortly after Bell appeared at a Moscow community event Aug. 8 at the Kenworthy Performing Arts Center, where he and others spoke about the impact of Wilson’s teachings. The podcast producers scheduled their first Moscow visit to coincide with Grace Agenda, a weekend conference hosted by Wilson’s Christ Church that serves as a major recruiting event for the church. (Julie Roys 9/4/25) READMORE>>>>> Hegseth-backed church draws heat for viral CNN segment CNN segment featuring pastor Doug Wilson sparked pushback from religious experts and advocates who argue that his version of patriarchal Christian nationalism conflicts with core Christian teachings. The segment went viral after Pete Hegseth -- who's a member of a church affiliated with Wilson's congregation -- shared it along with his stamp of approval. Wilson, co-founder of the Communion of Reformed Evangelical Churches (CREC), appeared on CNN with Pamela Brown, sharing his vision of a Christian nation and world. During the interview, he described women as “the kind of people that people come out of.” The segment gained further attention when Hegseth shared it on X, adding the caption, “All of Christ for All of Life.” The Pentagon said Hegseth belongs to a church affiliated with CREC and respects Wilson’s work. Hegseth “very much appreciates many of Mr. Wilson’s writings and teachings,” they wrote. (Knewz 8/29/25) READMORE>>>>> Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth is a Sexist Who Wants to Take Away Women’s Right to Vote CNN recently did an interview with Doug Wilson, co-founder of the Communion of Reformed Evangelical Churches (CREC), while also talking with several other CREC pastors and church members. Wilson shared his dreams of a “Christian world” while making derogatory comments about women, including that “it doesn’t take any talent to simply reproduce.” He also said that women, as individuals, shouldn’t be able to vote. The same opinion is shared by his fellow pastors, Toby Sumpter and Jared Longshore. Sumpter argues that there should be one vote per household, where the man would cast the vote. Longshore, on the other hand, supports abolishing the 19th Amendment. Hegseth, who is also a member of CREC, shared the video of the interview on X with the caption “All of Christ for All of Life.” The move drew a lot of criticism, forcing Pentagon Press Secretary Kingsley Wilson to state that “Of course, the secretary thinks that women should have the right to vote.” But the statement quickly takes a contradictory turn, adding that Hegseth “very much appreciates many of Mr. Wilson’s writings and teachings.” (Fox Interviewer 8/26/25) READMORE>>>>> Who’s questioning women’s right to vote? “In my ideal society, we would vote as households,” a pastor tells CNN. “And I would ordinarily be the one that would cast the vote, but I would cast the vote having discussed it with my household.” Another agrees, saying he’d back an end to a woman’s right to vote: “I would support that, and I’d support it on the basis that the atomization that comes with our current system is not good for humans.” The discussion of 19th Amendment rights was part of a news segment focused on Doug Wilson — a self-proclaimed Christian nationalist pastor based in Idaho — that was reposted to X by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth. The secretary is among Wilson’s supporters, and his involvement with Wilson’s denomination highlights how a fringe conservative evangelical Christian belief system that questions women’s right to vote is gaining more traction in the Republican Party. (Wisconsin Examiner 8/20/25) READMORE>>>>> Douglas Wilson’s America Pastor Doug Wilson has garnered lots of attention lately. A recent CNN feature put a spotlight on his new Washington, D.C., church—attended by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth—his church in Moscow, Idaho, and his ministry work, which spans from education to book publishing. Also of note is the top-down vision Wilson and his supporters have for Christianity’s role in American government. In today’s Dispatch Faith, Institute on Religion & Democracy President Mark Tooley dives into Wilson’s views on theology and government—which include women losing their right to vote—while explaining why Wilson and his camp may be attracting congregants. (The Dispatch 8/17/25) READMORE>>>>> Doug Wilson agrees to debate 'Sons of Patriarchy' after dueling events in Moscow, Idaho Pastor Doug Wilson has agreed to a live on-air discussion with the producers of “Sons of Patriarchy,” a podcast dedicated to exposing what it describes as abuse within Wilson’s church, Christ Church, after a confrontation during a weekend of dueling events in Moscow. The unexpected agreement came Saturday (Aug. 9) when Wilson was approached by Peter Bell, the podcast’s producer, and Sarah Bader, who works on the show, during a weekend-long event organized by the church. Bell said Wilson agreed to “a live 1-on-1 with me in Moscow, Idaho. We have it on record.” (Religion News Service 8/12/25) READMORE>>>> |
May 30, 2025: Julie Roys reported: On 30 acres at the edge of Moscow, Idaho, construction crews are erecting a Jeffersonian set of classical buildings arranged around a central quad, resembling a miniature University of Virginia. But this isn’t a public university. It’s the new campus for Logos School, part of the influential pastor Doug Wilson’s decadeslong effort to transform this college town into a conservative Christian redoubt.
July 15, 2025: Juicy Ecumenism reported: A recent episode of Man Rampant, the Canon Press podcast hosted by Reformed pastor and author Douglas Wilson, features political theorist Stephen Wolfe, author of The Case for Christian Nationalism. Titled “Christian Nationalism, the American Kind,” their conversation revisits the themes of Wolfe’s controversial book, offering what he sees as a theological and political recourse for Christians who reject the dominant post–World War II liberal consensus. At the center of Wolfe and Wilson’s argument is a call to return to a vision of the United States as they believe the Founders originally intended: a nation built upon Christian values and cultural cohesion. The postwar consensus, in their view, ushered in a godless worldview of Americans that believed they, acting out of a “helium of hubris,” no longer needed God. For dissenters, Wolfe suggests, the antidote lies in reclaiming an explicit Christian nation in all realms of society.
August 4, 2025: Byline Times reported: Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth reportedly attended a service at Christ Church Washington D.C., a church affiliated with self-identified Christian nationalist Doug Wilson, an influential right-wing leader who seeks to turn the U.S. and other nations into Christian-led theocracies. Hegseth and his family were in attendance at the church’s inaugural service in Washington in July, CNN reports. “The Secretary is a proud member of a church affiliated with the Congregation of Reformed Evangelical Churches, which was founded by Pastor Doug Wilson,” Chief Pentagon Spokesman Sean Parnell said in a statement to The Independent. “The Secretary very much appreciates many of Mr. Wilson’s writings and teachings.”
August 12. 2025: World reported: Communion of Reformed Evangelical Churches co-founder and pastor Douglas Wilson on Monday said he was grateful to see Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth share content from his publishing house, Canon Press. Hegseth was in effect echoing the post’s sentiments, giving it an ‘Amen,’ Wilson told the Associated Press. The defense secretary made headlines after sharing a clip last week of a CNN report citing Hegseth as a parishioner of Wilson’s church. The video also contained church pastors arguing against voting rights for women and against women serving in combat or leadership positions in the military.
March 22, 2024: Christianiy Today reported: Pastor and aspiring theocrat Douglas Wilson publicly used a slur against women that not only will I not repeat here but that almost no secular media outlet would quote—and that’s without even referencing Wilson’s creepily coarse novel about a sex robot. Wilson, of course, cultivates a cartoonishly “Aren’t we naughty?” vibe not representative of most evangelical Christians. But the problem is the way many other Christians respond: “Well, I wouldn’t say things the way he says them, but …” In the same way, they characterize as just “mean tweets” Donald Trump attacking those claiming to be sexually assaulted by him for their looks or war heroes for being captured or disabled people for their disabilities or valorizing those who attack police officers and ransack the Capitol as “hostages.”
 Douglas Wilson
"From the time Ephesians was written up to the time of Constantine, there were intermittent persecutions of the church by the Roman authority, some of them quite savage. So it's not as though the Christians in that era or the next century or the century after that were living in small-town America, Mayberry. That wasn't their situation, nevertheless, they were called to faithfulness. I'm very optimistic about the future of human history. That doesn't mean that I don't have eyes in my head. I can see things disintegrating around us now. I believe that we really are in clown world now, but if you take human history and look at it in 500-year increments, I'm really optimistic. If you take human history and look at it in 5-year increments there are periods where things are looking pretty bad. It looks like everything's falling apart. Revolutionaries have a central characteristic, and that is that they are impatient...What do we want? XYZ. When do we want it? Now.' They want dramatic, revolutionary, sometimes violent change, and they want it now. Christians are reformational, not revolutionary. We've got big plans, and God has great designs for this sorry world of ours, but he wants the yeast to work through the loaf gradually. He wants the mustard seed to grow up gradually. He wants the water that's going to fill the earth like the knowledge of the Lord, he wants the water to fill up the earth gradually. So consequently, we need to develop a different mindset." --Douglas Wilson; 1819 News: From 'clown world' to Christendom — Pastor Doug Wilson explains what it takes to re-create a Christian civilization through education 6/9/24
 Kevin Richert
The most important thing to know about Doug Wilson is he believes he is in a spiritual war and that he has a vision for weaponizing Christian education and preaching to create a figurative army to change America into an explicitly Christian nation. When I interviewed him, he called his students “munitions.”
Now Wilson was in the Navy, as was his father, Jim Wilson, who wrote an influential book on evangelizing called Principles of War. So Doug Wilson says his sometimes violent language is simply drawing from his background and is 100% figurative. And it’s true, as far as I can tell, Doug Wilson has never called for actual violence. But the language certainly unsettles some people. --Kevin Richert; Favs News; A look inside Christian nationalism — with an Idaho emphasis 9.21.24 |
September 21, 2024: Favs News reported: Moscow — a college town that skews to the left of Idaho’s political mainstream — is an unlikely vanguard in the debate over Christian nationalism. But the preacher of a fundamentalist church is determined to transform the politics of the Palouse, as part of a bigger campaign to make America an explicitly Christian nation. Schools are the centerpiece of Doug Wilson’s crusade. In National Public Radio’s “Extremely American” podcast, Boise-based journalist Heath Druzin takes an in-depth look at Christian nationalism. The series focuses largely on Wilson, his Moscow-based Christ Church and its inroads in the region’s education ecosystem. In this email interview, we ask Druzin about what he learned — and how education is at the heart of the Christian nationalism movement.
December 14, 2024: Baptist News Global reported: Twenty-three years after John Piper called Doug Wilson an “absolute genius at sarcasm and irony,” pop Calvinists are still wringing their hands over how to respond to the conservative Reformed pastor from Moscow, Idaho. “You’re very clever, really clever. And I think we need you like crazy,” Piper said of Wilson back then. Referring to Wilson’s Credenda/Agenda publication, which was a conservative Reformed cultural and theological journal published from 1989 to 2012, Piper admitted, “I can O.D. on it fast because it is so well done from a rhetorical standpoint.”
February 22, 2023: Religion News Service reported: Many churches in northern Idaho refused to close even as the pandemic peaked here. In September 2020, at Christ Church in Moscow, Idaho, founded by Reformed pastor Douglas Wilson, members staged a protest outside City Hall, singing Psalms maskless in defiance of local ordinances, resulting in three arrests. National Republicans were watching this rebellion among these ardent right-wing Christians and tried to make it an election-year issue. “DEMS WANT TO SHUT YOUR CHURCHES DOWN, PERMANENTLY,” then-President Donald Trump tweeted. Far from shutting down, Wilson’s congregation has doubled over the past four years. “A lot of the fomented discontent of the last two years, I would say, is 80% of the reason people come here,” said Wilson in a recent interview in his office. The pastor himself, while claiming his take on pandemic rules is more nuanced, has made dismissive fun of masking and argued in favor of fake vaccine cards for the unvaccinated.
March 8, 2023: Religion News Service reported: In North Idaho, religious and secular activists work to fight Christian nationalism. In Rehberg’s hometown of Moscow, Pastor Doug Wilson, a well-known purveyor of Christian nationalism who has helped found two churches in the area, as well as a K-12 school and a college, has talked about making Moscow “a Christian town.” With a public university campus and a tradition of independent thinkers, Moscow seems unlikely to fulfill Wilson’s vision. And some of the pastor’s biggest detractors are fellow Christians: Local Episcopal leaders, Rehberg said, have had “significant conversations” with other mainline Christian leaders about how to be an “alternative voice.”
April 28, 2023: 9 Marks: Book Review: Survival and Resistance in Evangelical America, by Crawford Gribben
Amidst growing societal pressure and a waning consensus on the best manner of Christian political engagement, American evangelicals face a torrent of suggestions for how to relate to the public square. Some opt for direct action on local, state, and national levels. Others avoid such activism. Some seek to build think tanks, schools, and other institutions in global centers of power. Others call for a strategic retreat in order to build a new society. Each movement has its arguments and growing body of literature. But it’s this last group that forms the subject of Crawford Gribben’s Survival and Resistance in Evangelical America: Christian Reconstruction in the Pacific Northwest. What’s appealed to survivalists in previous generations has now found a following among American evangelicals. In particular, hundreds of evangelicals have moved northwest in the hopes of building a better society.
Amidst growing societal pressure and a waning consensus on the best manner of Christian political engagement, American evangelicals face a torrent of suggestions for how to relate to the public square. Some opt for direct action on local, state, and national levels. Others avoid such activism. Some seek to build think tanks, schools, and other institutions in global centers of power. Others call for a strategic retreat in order to build a new society. Each movement has its arguments and growing body of literature. But it’s this last group that forms the subject of Crawford Gribben’s Survival and Resistance in Evangelical America: Christian Reconstruction in the Pacific Northwest. What’s appealed to survivalists in previous generations has now found a following among American evangelicals. In particular, hundreds of evangelicals have moved northwest in the hopes of building a better society.
Gribben’s description focuses on a few growing communities in the Pacific Northwest. Most notably—and, in Gribben’s view, the most successful—is the one in Moscow, Idaho led by Douglas Wilson and others. Through careful research and personal interviews, Gribben describes some of the history, beliefs, and challenges facing these communities, as well as the troubling past of similar movements.
Douglas Wilson
“The name of the Lord is a strong tower: The righteous runneth into it, and is safe”
Proverbs 18:10. In times of trouble, people naturally and instinctively resort to their god. If their God is the God of the Bible, they cry out to Him and are delivered. But if there is a natural disaster, say, and they cry out for FEMA to arrive, this shows that their faith is in the power of the state, in the power of government. In times of trial, people turn to their gods, and this is why times of trial are truly revelatory. Times of trial reveal the names of the gods. Only Jehovah is capable of providing the kind of protection that we most certainly need in a world like this one. As this proverb puts it, His name is strong tower. Notice that it is His name that is a strong tower. Remember that when the difficulty erupts into our lives, it is His name that we call out. His name is a strong tower." --Douglas Wilson
Proverbs 18:10. In times of trouble, people naturally and instinctively resort to their god. If their God is the God of the Bible, they cry out to Him and are delivered. But if there is a natural disaster, say, and they cry out for FEMA to arrive, this shows that their faith is in the power of the state, in the power of government. In times of trial, people turn to their gods, and this is why times of trial are truly revelatory. Times of trial reveal the names of the gods. Only Jehovah is capable of providing the kind of protection that we most certainly need in a world like this one. As this proverb puts it, His name is strong tower. Notice that it is His name that is a strong tower. Remember that when the difficulty erupts into our lives, it is His name that we call out. His name is a strong tower." --Douglas Wilson
Douglas Wilson
The primacy of worship: I have already mentioned the importance of worship in our thinking. The late Andrew Breitbart used to argue that culture was upstream from politics. This is exactly correct, but we would also add that worship is upstream from culture. Henry Van Til once said that culture was religion externalized. If that is the case, as we believe it is, then America is currently worshiping some pug-ugly gods. As we work on our response to all of this, we distinguish the church from the kingdom. To use the metaphor of a medieval town, the church is at the center of the town, and the kingdom would be all the shops and homes. The church is the ministry of Word and sacrament, but the worship conducted there shapes and informs everything else. Church and kingdom are distinct, but they are all under the authority of Christ and His Word. And worship on the Lord’s Day is the most important aspect of our lives.
Biblical absolutism: We have rejected the Enlightenment project, root and branch. We do not want the Bible to occupy a position of authority that is limited to some private devotional space. We want that at a minimum, of course, but we also believe that the Word brings everything under judgment, which means that we do not subject it to our judgments. Human reason is a gift from God, but reason has to be understood as the rods and cones of the eye, and not as the source of light. Reason sees light, but does not create it. Our reason enables us to search out what God is telling us through His Word, and through the way He created the world. Eyes can see a flashlight without aspiring to become a flashlight.
Chestertonian Calvinism: Our desire is to learn how to take the truth of God seriously without taking ourselves seriously. What we are after is historic Reformed theology, but with a crisp citrus-like aftertaste.
Not wilting under criticism: It probably does not come as a shock to discover that not everyone thinks we are wonderful. Some of what we get is good faith criticism, which we always want to welcome, and want to answer in kind. But many of the incoming attacks are bizarre, outlandish, off-the-chain, and slanderous. We welcome this kind also, but mostly because Jesus requires us to (Matt. 5:11-12). And what this has actually done is create a very robust immune system for us. As mentioned earlier, many people have decided to move here, and in order to do so now they almost always have to wade through a torrent of abuse that has been directed at us. That means that those who sign up have already seen all sorts of allegations. The fact that we have weathered this kind of hostility, and the fact that it is taken in high good humor, has been particularly attractive to those Christians who discovered over the last three years that their pastors and elders had the ecclesiastical equivalent of a glass jaw.
Practical Christian living: We have sought to imitate the pattern that the apostle Paul used in his epistle to the Ephesians. There are the first three chapters that are crammed full of indicative statements, which we believe embody the fullness of Reformed theology. What we find there is credenda—things to believe. But with that foundation poured, the apostle goes on to instruct the saints on how to live. The last three chapters of Ephesians provide the agenda—things to do. Pursue unity. Love one another. Husbands, love your wives. Wives, respect your husbands. Children, obey your parents. The end result is rich doctrinal teaching that has a very practical bent.
Emphasis on thoroughgoing Christian education: From the earliest days of our ministry here, we have emphasized the importance of Christian education for our covenant children. The result of this emphasis is that virtually no children in our community are in the government school system, and approximately 30 percent of the children in our entire town are receiving a private Christian education. One goal, and it is not an outlandish goal considering, is to see government education drop below 50 percent.
Worldview thinking: Owen Barfield once said of C.S. Lewis that what he thought about everything was contained within what he said about anything. That is as succinct a definition of worldview thinking as anyone could ask for. We believe that everything is connected under the Lordship of Christ, and we seek self-consciously to make those connections in our minds as we engage with the culture around us. We want people to remember that they are Christians all the time, and there is never an appropriate time to “switch it off.” As Abraham Kuyper once claimed, there is not one square inch of the universe over which the Lord Jesus does not lay authoritative claim.
Postmillennial optimism: One unique doctrinal characteristic of our community is the eschatological optimism. Most evangelicals in North America are premillennial in their convictions, which means that it is often assumed that when the surrounding culture goes to blazes, this is only to be expected, and is yet another sign that the end is near. But our understanding of scriptural prophecy is different, in that we expect that before the Lord returns, the world will be successfully evangelized, and that includes America. The earth will be as full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea (Is. 11:9; Hab. 2:14). This is the reason why clown world doesn’t have us quite as discouraged as it does some others.
A biblical aesthetic: We believe that Christians need to do better than to cultivate merely two-thirds of the triad of “truth, goodness, and beauty.” Christians historically have contributed a great deal to the treasury of the world’s aesthetic glories—from the music of Bach, to the lines of Salisbury cathedral, to the poetry of George Herbert—but we believe that for the last century or so, we have unfortunately started to mail it in. We believe that Christians need to be called back to their responsibility to see aesthetics as an essential part of our apologetic to the world. The reformation and revival we pray for will absolutely need to include a reformation of the arts. So much of the modern and postmodern world is just mud-fence ugly.
Masculine authority: Because we are not taking our cues from the world’s egalitarianism, but rather from Scripture, we believe that God’s pattern for life between the sexes is that men are to provide for and protect their wives and families. The husband is to serve as the head of his wife as Christ is the head of the church (Eph. 5:25). And in the church, the Bible absolutely forbids women to teach or to exercise authority over men (1 Tim. 2:12). Not only do we accept all of this on Scripture’s authority, we are also resolved not to feel the least bit sheepish about it. What this has resulted in is that our men are not made to feel ashamed of their masculinity, but rather are exhorted to pursue the honor of Christ with it, and to use it as an instrument with which they love their families.
Feminine glory: Far from this resulting in downtrodden women with exasperated looks on their faces, this has had the effect of liberating our women, not from the men, but from the lies of feminism. Scripture teaches that when husbands love their wives sacrificially, the end result is that the wives flourish in loveliness. The husband is the head, but the wife is the crown. But we do not believe that feminine loveliness is of the porcelain doll variety, but rather is a Christian version of the sort that knows how to “make a dress out of a feed bag, and make a man out of you.” It turns out that women are much happier striving to be first-rate women, rather than trying to struggle along as third-rate men. And the same truth, flipped around, applies to the men also.
--Douglas Wilson; American Conservative; What’s Going On in Moscow, Idaho? 10/16/23
Biblical absolutism: We have rejected the Enlightenment project, root and branch. We do not want the Bible to occupy a position of authority that is limited to some private devotional space. We want that at a minimum, of course, but we also believe that the Word brings everything under judgment, which means that we do not subject it to our judgments. Human reason is a gift from God, but reason has to be understood as the rods and cones of the eye, and not as the source of light. Reason sees light, but does not create it. Our reason enables us to search out what God is telling us through His Word, and through the way He created the world. Eyes can see a flashlight without aspiring to become a flashlight.
Chestertonian Calvinism: Our desire is to learn how to take the truth of God seriously without taking ourselves seriously. What we are after is historic Reformed theology, but with a crisp citrus-like aftertaste.
Not wilting under criticism: It probably does not come as a shock to discover that not everyone thinks we are wonderful. Some of what we get is good faith criticism, which we always want to welcome, and want to answer in kind. But many of the incoming attacks are bizarre, outlandish, off-the-chain, and slanderous. We welcome this kind also, but mostly because Jesus requires us to (Matt. 5:11-12). And what this has actually done is create a very robust immune system for us. As mentioned earlier, many people have decided to move here, and in order to do so now they almost always have to wade through a torrent of abuse that has been directed at us. That means that those who sign up have already seen all sorts of allegations. The fact that we have weathered this kind of hostility, and the fact that it is taken in high good humor, has been particularly attractive to those Christians who discovered over the last three years that their pastors and elders had the ecclesiastical equivalent of a glass jaw.
Practical Christian living: We have sought to imitate the pattern that the apostle Paul used in his epistle to the Ephesians. There are the first three chapters that are crammed full of indicative statements, which we believe embody the fullness of Reformed theology. What we find there is credenda—things to believe. But with that foundation poured, the apostle goes on to instruct the saints on how to live. The last three chapters of Ephesians provide the agenda—things to do. Pursue unity. Love one another. Husbands, love your wives. Wives, respect your husbands. Children, obey your parents. The end result is rich doctrinal teaching that has a very practical bent.
Emphasis on thoroughgoing Christian education: From the earliest days of our ministry here, we have emphasized the importance of Christian education for our covenant children. The result of this emphasis is that virtually no children in our community are in the government school system, and approximately 30 percent of the children in our entire town are receiving a private Christian education. One goal, and it is not an outlandish goal considering, is to see government education drop below 50 percent.
Worldview thinking: Owen Barfield once said of C.S. Lewis that what he thought about everything was contained within what he said about anything. That is as succinct a definition of worldview thinking as anyone could ask for. We believe that everything is connected under the Lordship of Christ, and we seek self-consciously to make those connections in our minds as we engage with the culture around us. We want people to remember that they are Christians all the time, and there is never an appropriate time to “switch it off.” As Abraham Kuyper once claimed, there is not one square inch of the universe over which the Lord Jesus does not lay authoritative claim.
Postmillennial optimism: One unique doctrinal characteristic of our community is the eschatological optimism. Most evangelicals in North America are premillennial in their convictions, which means that it is often assumed that when the surrounding culture goes to blazes, this is only to be expected, and is yet another sign that the end is near. But our understanding of scriptural prophecy is different, in that we expect that before the Lord returns, the world will be successfully evangelized, and that includes America. The earth will be as full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea (Is. 11:9; Hab. 2:14). This is the reason why clown world doesn’t have us quite as discouraged as it does some others.
A biblical aesthetic: We believe that Christians need to do better than to cultivate merely two-thirds of the triad of “truth, goodness, and beauty.” Christians historically have contributed a great deal to the treasury of the world’s aesthetic glories—from the music of Bach, to the lines of Salisbury cathedral, to the poetry of George Herbert—but we believe that for the last century or so, we have unfortunately started to mail it in. We believe that Christians need to be called back to their responsibility to see aesthetics as an essential part of our apologetic to the world. The reformation and revival we pray for will absolutely need to include a reformation of the arts. So much of the modern and postmodern world is just mud-fence ugly.
Masculine authority: Because we are not taking our cues from the world’s egalitarianism, but rather from Scripture, we believe that God’s pattern for life between the sexes is that men are to provide for and protect their wives and families. The husband is to serve as the head of his wife as Christ is the head of the church (Eph. 5:25). And in the church, the Bible absolutely forbids women to teach or to exercise authority over men (1 Tim. 2:12). Not only do we accept all of this on Scripture’s authority, we are also resolved not to feel the least bit sheepish about it. What this has resulted in is that our men are not made to feel ashamed of their masculinity, but rather are exhorted to pursue the honor of Christ with it, and to use it as an instrument with which they love their families.
Feminine glory: Far from this resulting in downtrodden women with exasperated looks on their faces, this has had the effect of liberating our women, not from the men, but from the lies of feminism. Scripture teaches that when husbands love their wives sacrificially, the end result is that the wives flourish in loveliness. The husband is the head, but the wife is the crown. But we do not believe that feminine loveliness is of the porcelain doll variety, but rather is a Christian version of the sort that knows how to “make a dress out of a feed bag, and make a man out of you.” It turns out that women are much happier striving to be first-rate women, rather than trying to struggle along as third-rate men. And the same truth, flipped around, applies to the men also.
--Douglas Wilson; American Conservative; What’s Going On in Moscow, Idaho? 10/16/23
November 11, 2023: Kevin DeYoung wrote: Wilson’s approach depends on a fundamentally oppositional framework. The Moscow mood provides a non-stop adversarial stance toward the world and toward other Christians who are deemed (or caricatured to be) too afraid to “tell it like it is.” Moscow cannot become the American Redoubt for conservative Christians if it is too similar to other places, with basically the same kinds of churches, schools, and institutions found in hundreds of other cities. Differentiation is key, and this can only be sustained by a mood of antagonism and sharp antithesis. In keeping with the spirit of the age, Wilson shares the rhetorical instinct that has come to dominate our politics and political punditry: a negative partisanship that builds a following by exposing the impurity of the other side, even if sometimes the other “side” shares almost all of your own positions. The strategy is not to link arms with other networks, but to punch hard and punch often, all the while forging an unbreakable loyalty to the one who is perceived as the Outsider-Disruptor. And that means always meme-ing his critics, always tweaking his opponents, and never (that I’ve seen) cultivating a broken-hearted and courageous contrition for the remaining sinfulness in our own hearts (Ps. 51:17). I’m a fan of good satire. John Witherspoon used it to great effect against eighteenth-century Moderates in the Church of Scotland. Sarcasm can be a holy weapon in the Lord’s army (see Elijah on Mount Carmel). But sarcasm and satire by the minister are best used sparingly and against those whose hearts are set against the truth. But Wilson makes fun of those who could be allies and loves to troll people who disagree with him. It’s as if all the world is a meme war to be won, and no publicity is bad publicity so long as people are paying attention to Wilson and Canon Press. I suppose I’ve taken the bait by writing this essay.
One of the sad realities is that Wilson could set a different mood—still full of Chestertonian mirth, but focused on better things and in a better way. After Rachel Held Evans—the progressive Christian writer and scathing critic of Wilson—sadly passed away at only 37 years old, Wilson wrote a moving article full of sympathy and grace. He showed genuine pastoral sensitivity, without giving away an inch of theological ground.
One of the sad realities is that Wilson could set a different mood—still full of Chestertonian mirth, but focused on better things and in a better way. After Rachel Held Evans—the progressive Christian writer and scathing critic of Wilson—sadly passed away at only 37 years old, Wilson wrote a moving article full of sympathy and grace. He showed genuine pastoral sensitivity, without giving away an inch of theological ground.
The Slate reported:
One unanticipated outcome of all the attention on Wilson is that Examining Doug Wilson and Moscow seems to finally be attracting awareness to the undercurrent of abuse within Wilson’s world. One admin, whom I referred to with the biblically inspired pseudonym “Priscilla and Aquila” in Disobedient Women due to safety concerns stemming from threats for EDWAM’s efforts, told me, “Really, I think I’ve felt all along that eventually enough data will be out there that people will have no choice but to get it.” Priscilla and Aquila added that they hoped “so many horrified, normal Christians will be looking in, that the ones who were kind of mesmerized by him will start to kind of wake up. And I think I’m seeing that.”