As pastors, we must ask: How have we arrived at the place where millions of Christians have placed their faith in these theories, which have no grounding in reality? At the outset, let me say that I am not implying that all evangelicals will become conspiracy theorists. But in the last few months we have witnessed a disturbing number doing just that, and so it is important for us to understand this reality. In this essay, I offer thoughts on how this has happened. Inevitably, I can’t dig through all the layers, and there are many layers; other observers have additional insight to bring to the complex dynamics at work. But I want to draw a sketch of patterns that I propose have contributed to the vulnerability by tracing three interconnected themes, faith, apocalypse, and nationalism, that have made evangelicals vulnerable to conspiracy theories. My hope in writing this is that pastors and lay people will be equipped to better grasp what has taken root in too much of the evangelical world, and so be better prepared to engage these complex dynamics at work in the Church today.

As a Bonhoeffer scholar, I am often asked about how his life experiences can be instructive for us today. The question is usually focused on Bonhoeffer’s actions in the conspiracy to assassinate Hitler, and on the ethical question of whether Bonhoeffer did the right thing in his involvement as a double agent in that conspiracy.

I understand this question and why people ask it, as it is an interesting question to ponder. But I don’t think the focus on “Bonhoeffer as ethical case study” is the most fruitful way to approach his example for us today. Rather, I believe that the most instructive part of Bonhoeffer’s witness is his engagement with the German church in the mid-1930’s, when he challenged the church’s attempts to defend its own power in society.