The Problem of Orthodoxy

This book examines the history and fallout of Christian orthodoxy, especially evangelical orthodoxy in the United States. It concludes that orthodoxy functions as an ideology of power as much as a barometer of “correct belief” and that understanding this dimension of orthodoxy can help inhibit its most dangerous outcomes.

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The Problem of Orthodoxy: Evangelicals at the Crossroads of Truth and Power reexamines Christian orthodoxy, especially contemporary evangelicalism in the United States, from the standpoint of structure instead of content. Rather than focus on which Christian doctrines are “correct”, Michael Blanco explores how orthodoxy functions to invite, cajole, warn, demonize, and perpetrate violence against those who are within and without its circle. The author is particularly interested in the nexus of power and orthodoxy, including violence, and many of his examples also touch on diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI). To the degree that orthodoxy acts to coerce viewpoints and actions, especially over doctrinal and moral peccadilloes, this fact constitutes “the problem of orthodoxy.”