Discipleship Without Borders: Anabaptist Lessons for Baptists on Rejecting the Idea of a Christian Nation

Abstract

This article offers an Anabaptist-informed critique of the tendency in contemporary politics to conscript Christian identity into the service of nationalistic agendas. By drawing upon the historical witness of the Anabaptists, I argue that the idea of a ‘Christian Nation’, despite its seductive appeal, is not a sacred archetype, but a profane illusion and a self-contradiction. Instead, I will argue that Baptists today are called to a transformative engagement with the world that is grounded in radical discipleship and inspired by shared Baptist–Anabaptist convictions, such as freedom, dignity, and the importance of living out our faith as Baptists in a way that transcends political and national boundaries.