For years, J. K. Rowling stood nearly alone in the mainstream for her feminist rejection of transgender arguments. Since she previously wielded her literature to support gay rights, many fans felt betrayed when she didn’t take the next logical step in the sexual revolution.
The tide began to turn last year with the closing of the infamous Tavistock gender identity clinic. This year, the unequivocal statement of British prime minister Rishi Sunak ratified a new kind of hybrid support of same-sex marriage and rejection of transgender ideologies.
Then came October 7 and the Hamas attack on Israeli soldiers and civilians—young and old, male and female. To the surprise and horror of many, crowds gathered in major Western cities and on elite college campuses to support Hamas. Some protestors even touted themselves as “Queers for Palestine,” despite Hamas’s well-publicized opposition to LGBT+ identities. After all, Hamas aims to train and deploy Islamic extremists. Not that Hamas repudiated the liberal support. Some leaders recognized the claim to oppression is a powerful tool in justifying their actions to the watching West.
How did we get here? How does a group advocating for gay rights end up protesting in favor of terrorists who oppress gay people? And how do university presidents walk into a congressional hearing without being prepared to condemn speech that advocates genocide?
Call it the “identity synthesis,” described by political scientist and journalist Yascha Mounk from Johns Hopkins University. In his new book, The Identity Trap, Mounk describes increased opposition this year from the left wing against the excesses of critical race theory, intersectionality, and other doctrines that polarize identity groups based on sexuality, race, and gender. Interlocking oppressions produce such incoherent results as “Queers for Palestine” and feminists for men who take over female sports.
“If somebody wants to join a feminist movement committed to intersectionality,” Mounk writes, “these activists now also expect that person to agree with a set of specific positions about such varied topics as the nature of race discrimination, the injustices suffered by disabled people, and the conflict in Palestine.”
Sharing Mounk’s concerns is Northwestern University professor Gary Saul Morson, a leading expert in Russian literature. In his new magnum opus, Wonder Confronts Certainty, Morson writes, “Victimhood offers an alibi for evil because it allows one to regard the harm one inflicts as a form of justice.” His observation applies to Hamas’s attack and also offer a caution for Israel’s retaliation.
Morson argues that Dostoevsky showed the psychological truth of the gospel in his novel The Brothers Karamazov. Through memorable characters, Dostoevsky illustrated what Jesus taught in the Sermon on the Mount. Evil isn’t just bad actions but also unworthy desires. It’s not just the actions of the killer. It’s the intentions of the embittered heart—when the oppressed so often become the oppressors.
Jesus shows the way through our evil age. His death and resurrection drive a spoke into this cycle of oppression. “Greater love has no one than this,” we read in John 15:13, “that someone lay down his life for his friends.” Because Jesus has laid down his life, we can become friends with God. We can do good to those who hate us (Luke 6:27). We can escape the identity trap—and help others find eternal peace “in Christ.” The darker the days, the brighter the gospel shines.
The darker the days, the brighter the gospel shines.
As always in this annual retrospective, when I attempt to discern the top theology stories of the year, I write from the vantage point of an American who subscribes to The Gospel Coalition’s confessional statement. This is the view of God’s mysterious providence from my little corner of the world.
10. Southern Baptist Convention disfellowships Saddleback Church over female pastors.
When the largest Protestant denomination in the United States cuts ties with the church started by its most famous pastor, you expect a lot of media attention. Rick Warren raised the stakes in his appeal for the Southern Baptist Convention to change its views that restrict women from lead ministry positions. Even without Warren, the debate continues with a constitutional amendment that could lead to far more removals for churches that refer to women as pastors. Even Baptists who agree on nearly every theological point disagree about how confessions should function in this convention united around mission.
9. Pro-life movement regroups after electoral setbacks.
By many measures, the pro-life movement has never been stronger. In the first six months of 2023, the first year after Dobbs overturned Roe, about 32,000 children were born to mothers who would have previously elected to abort. Righteous, life-affirming laws do indeed change behavior. But during this fall’s elections, abortion advocates prevailed in Ohio and defeated pro-life candidates in Kentucky and across Virginia. This next phase of the pro-life movement will need to prioritize persuasion so every unborn child will be treated as bearing the image of God.
8. Timothy Keller dies.
Without Tim Keller, evangelicals lack an obvious successor who can speak with breadth of experience and depth of insight on the decline and renewal of the American church. We’re left wondering what else he might have written—about the Western obsession with identity, for example—with his unique combination of biblical exegesis and cultural analysis. But we know that just as Keller learned from previous generations of theologians, so will God prove faithful to the generation that looked up to Keller.
7. Fears of Christian nationalism focus on new Speaker.
Two years after the term “Christian nationalism” emerged in the aftermath of the U.S. Capitol attacks, definition remains elusive. The good, bad, and ugly have been combined under a term that only some bother to own. When the U.S. House elected Mike Johnson as Speaker in October, he quickly became linked with the movement as its most powerful representative. When critics lump together everything from the old Religious Right to resurgent theonomy under the banner of Christian nationalism, they obscure the fact that laws inevitably reflect morality. It’s only a question of whether the influence will come from Christianity, another religion, or some secular variant.
6. High-profile conversions suggest disenchantment with secularism.
Ayaan Hirsi Ali, Katherine von Drachenberg, and Molly Worthen came to Christianity from divergent backgrounds. Hirsi Ali had been a leading spokeswoman of the New Atheism. Von Drachenberg, who found fame as a tattoo artist on reality TV, pursued witchcraft and the occult. Worthen studied history and taught in the most prestigious American universities. Their stories remind us of the power of the gospel in a secular age that offers thin alternatives, perhaps especially for women. If Jesus changed everything for women, then secularism threatens a return to male dominance.
5. Dechurching trend defies expectations.
Not until this year did we fully comprehend the scale of departures from the church over the last 25 to 30 years. In the largest and fastest change of religious practice in U.S. history, some 40 million Americans have fled through the back door or simply failed to turn up any longer at the front door. Many had suspected partisan politics and abuse scandals as the primary culprits, given the anti-institutional spirit of our time. Theological downgrade has no doubt played a part as well. But the main reasons—such as not looking for a new church after moving towns—are more mundane. The good news is that we’re facing less of a challenge to our theology than to our practice of hospitality, where many churches can learn and improve.
4. Gen Z shows signs of spiritual revival.
Reading the surveys of America’s second-youngest generation will worry anyone due to that cohort’s widespread suffering from mental illness and confusion over gender and sexuality. Of course, optimism about youth couldn’t have been running high for many church leaders during the 1960s either, but now we look back and celebrate the Jesus Revolution. Theological assessment of this year’s Asbury Awakening found many encouraging signs of enthusiastic worship and genuine revival. Perhaps the Lord is singing a soft and sweet song of comfort for this young generation that has endured much tumult already.
3. Activists seek to change theology of sexuality from within Christian communities.
Andy Stanley didn’t shock anyone in the know when he began to suggest evangelicals should be open to blessing or at least accepting same-sex marriages. Nor did Pope Francis surprise many as he continued to nudge Roman Catholics toward lifting restrictions on sexual practice. Likewise, contemporary Christian music has often produced dissenters to biblical morality. And the Church of England has been shifting for years toward blessing same-sex unions and forcing a schism in the Anglican Communion. The overarching problem—whether for seeker-sensitive evangelicals, music moguls, Roman Catholics, or a state church—is the ministry philosophy that says theology must change to reach younger generations. History has shown that when you combine pragmatism with evangelism, you end up with theological liberalism. Wise seminary and college students are flocking to classes on Christian anthropology that reveal the beauty of God’s design for male and female.
2. ChatGPT thrills, frightens tech futurists.
Probably not since the release of the iPhone in 2007 has a new technology so captured public attention. The mysterious firing and then rehiring of OpenAI CEO Sam Altman only heightened the fascination with artificial intelligence (AI). This breakthrough technology could revolutionize church ministry and theological education—along with just about everything else—for better or worse. Embrace or evict—that’s the question for many church leaders trying to catch up with younger generations already experimenting with ways AI surpasses human ability to discover and organize information. ChatGPT could write your sermon—but not well, if we see homiletics as more than data transfer.
1. Hamas attack on Israeli military and civilians receives unexpected support.
The scale and devastation of the October 7 attack from Gaza shocked the world, not least Israeli and American intelligence and military leaders. Maybe the bigger surprise was the support shown for Hamas around the world, despite the moral clarity of their often brutal murder of innocent men, women, and children. Many Hamas backers claim Israel has colonized land that properly belongs to Palestinians. But this justification offers no clarity for land that has been contested for millennia. While Christians disagree about the nature of God’s ongoing promise to Israel, we can join together in praying for the peace of Jerusalem (Ps. 122:6).
Previous Top 10 Theology Stories:
2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022.
The Gospel Coalition