Ed. note: This is the third and final response in our symposium on Brandon McGinley’s book The Prodigal Church.
The American landscape has been a fertile seedbed historically for a very specific sort of Christianity. Methodism and Baptist expressions of the faith have thrived here for much of the past 200 years. Other more novel innovations in church history, such as the restorationists and dispensationalists, have also flourished here. Indeed, even more troubling theological innovators that simply depart from historic Christianity, such as the Mormons and Jehovah’s Witnesses, have managed to thrive in the American soil. The branches of Christianity capable of playing within the broadly open landscape afforded to us by the American project have thrived, in a certain way at least.
Want to keep reading?
Subscribe for free to access this article and all of our resources.
I’m very grateful for the work of MO and have really appreciated the things I’ve learned and the companion that it has been for me on my spiritual journey.
Mere Orthodoxy reader
Thank you for offering thoughtful, reasonable and decent commentary. It is a boon to my sanity at this stage of my life in this cultural moment.
Mere Orthodoxy reader
Mere Orthodoxy is (for me) a counterpoint to social media, a place of depth and critical thought.
Mere Orthodoxy reader
You're in. Check your inbox.
Something went wrong. Try again.
Jake Meador
Jake Meador is the editor-in-chief of Mere Orthodoxy. His writing has appeared in The Atlantic, Commonweal, First Things, Books & Culture, National Review, Comment, Books & Culture, and Christianity Today. He is a contributing editor with Plough and a contributing writer at the Dispatch. He lives in his hometown of Lincoln, NE with his wife and four children.
.png?width=5000&height=2188&name=Mere%20Orthodoxy%20-%20Banner.png%20(1).png)
