The Politicization of Enchantment

Beware the Old Gods Appearing in Christian Dress

Readers of my books will know that I have a typical way of bringing them to a conclusion. I always end with love. 

Love is how I make a Christological move in my writing and arguments. For example, I end Hunting Magic Eels on love because I wanted to discuss spiritual discernment. How do you know when the enchantment you're chasing or experiencing is coming from God? I point toward love as the criterion of discernment. Cruciform, self-donating love is how we tell if it's God's voice we are hearing.

I bring this up because there's more and more conversation happening about enchantment and re-enchantment, and some of this discussion is being politicized and mobilized for the culture wars. If not directly, than indirectly. Enchantment is a huge topic right now, and much of that conversation is taking place in right-wing or right-wing adjacent spaces. Enchantment is being used as an argument for the West to return to Christendom. Enchantment as means to restore Christian "civilization." To put it plainly, a lot of those who write or talk about enchantment seem more in love with Christianity than with Christ. Just follow the talk about enchantment on outlets like The Daily Wire. Or observe the politics and political sympathies of prominent writers and thinkers discussing enchantment.

An exception to this trend is Paul Kingsnorth. If you have a chance, listen to his recent 2024 Erasmus Lecture "Against Christian Civilization." Given that the Erasmus Lectures are put on by First Things, I expect a lot of Catholic Integralists were in the room, a lot of "let's use enchantment to restore Christian civilization" sympathies. Which is why, I expect, Kingsnorth got the invitation to deliver the lecture in the first place. But Kingsnorth throws cold water on the integralist and Christian nationalist fever dream, and he does so by taking a hard Christological turn in his lecture. It's the same move I make at the end of Hunting Magic Eels. For example, Jordan Peterson is one of those thinkers whose work and conversation partners participates in the politicization of enchantment. Here's Jonathan Pageau, who has done a lot of work on enchantment, helping Peterson and The Daily Wire promote Christian civilization. By contrast, in pointedly titling his talk "Against Christian Civilization" Kingsnorth makes a sharp Christological contrast and says some pointed things about Peterson's politicization of Christian enchantment with his "War on the West" rhetoric. Here's a bit of Kingsworth's criticism: 

When I hear Steve Bannon talking about Christian nationalism as the spear point of his holy war against the globalists, I hear a faint echo of what is coming. Civilizational Christianity puts civilization first and Christianity second. Its proponents are less interested in whether the faith is actually true or transformative, then in what use it can be to them in their ongoing culture war. The best known current proponent of civilizational Christianity is the psychologist and pundit, professor Jordan Peterson. For Peterson, Christianity is a Joseph Campbell-style hero journey, one especially designed for young men. In his short film “Message to the Christian Churches” Peterson lays out his civilizational call and challenges the faith to keep up…Peterson goes on to lay out his case for the defense of civilization, which he defines as a society based on the "encouraging, adventurous masculine spirit." The Christian Church, it turns out, exists to encourage this spirit. It is, he states, there to remind people, young men included, and perhaps even first and foremost, that they have a woman to find, a garden to walk in, a family to nurture, an ark to build, a land to conquer, a ladder to heaven to build, and the utter terrible catastrophe of life to face stalwartly in truth, devoted to love, and without fear. Do you see anything missing in this list of what the church ought to be doing? It’s Christ. It's Jesus. He gets not one mention, not in the entire film. Neither does God the Father. Neither does the Holy Spirit. Instead, Peterson's civilizational church is to be a self-help club for young men. It's to be a cultural institution fighting back against the Woke and the bloody Gaia worshippers and the feminists and the life-sapping cultural Marxists. It sees life as a catastrophe, and the correct response to that catastrophe as masculine conquest. What Jordan Peterson wants, in other words, is a church that looks like Jordan Peterson.

In this vision of Christianity as masculine civilizational conquest, something else is also darkly afoot. Many of those on the political right using enchantment as a weapon in the culture wars frequently describe how the post-Christian West is repaganizing. The "old gods" and "strong gods" of paganism are returning. I make this same observation in Hunting Magic Eels, which is why I talk about the discernment of spirits. But again, I use love as the tool to resist these dark enchantments. But those on the Christian right decrying pagan enchantments display a blind spot when it comes to the return of the old gods. The strong gods of paganism valorized power and domination. Read Tom Holland's Dominion for the details. This is exactly why Nietzsche, as a student of classical antiquity, wanted a return to the pagan virtues. Christianity was a "slave morality," a religion for beta males. The strong gods, by contrast, would return us to a faith and culture suited for Alpha males. And that's what we are witnessing on the Christian right in their discourse on enchantment: the paganization of Christianity, the old gods being clothed in Christian dress. This is precisely the point Kingsnorth makes about Jordan Peterson in his lecture, fingering the Nietzschean, pagan core hidden within his treatment of Christianity. What we're seeing emerge on the political right is enchantment being used to promote a Nietzschean Christianity, a faith for Alpha males and a weapon to win "the war on the West."

All this to say: Discern the spirits! The devil will appear as an angel of light. A lot of the Christian discourse about enchantment happening on the political right, with its longing for Christendom, Christian civilization, authoritarianism, and a Christianity fit for Alpha males, are the strong gods of paganism reappearing in Christian dress. Enchantment is being used to disguise a will to power. 

So pay close attention to how enchantment is being politicized. Take a cue from Paul Kingsnorth. Don't look to Christian civilization to save us. Look to Christ. 

Let the cruciform love of Jesus show you the way.