When American Ideals Becomes American Idols: Thinking Christianly about Freedom – Book Talk with Brad Littlejohn

“For you were called to freedom, brothers,” writes St. Paul. “Only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another.” Today, we live in a time and place where “freedom” is constantly invoked as an opportunity for the flesh, where autonomy is prized above all and any exercise of moral judgment is dismissed even among Christians as “legalism.” And yet freedom is central to our heritage not only as Americans, but as Protestant Christians, as a people brought out of slavery to sin and set free to follow Christ.

What does it mean to be “free” and how can we use our freedom well? Does “gospel freedom” or “Christian liberty” have anything to do with political freedom? How do we distinguish “freedom of conscience” from mere relativism? Is the “free market” a Christian ideal or an American idol? And what about technology, which promises to free us from the constraints of nature but often shackles us in new forms of slavery?
In his new book, Called to Freedom: Retrieving Christian Liberty in an Age of License, scholar and writer Brad Littlejohn explores all these questions and more, distilling insights from a career at the intersection of the church, academy, and public policy.

Join us for an exploration of the true meaning of freedom as he shares key concepts from his book and answers your questions about Christian liberty.

Brad Littlejohn (Ph.D, University of Edinburgh) is a Fellow of the Ethics and Public Policy Center (EPPC), where he writes on technology policy and Protestant social ethics. He is also the founder and President Emeritus of The Davenant Institute, where for ten years he helped create resources and courses to form Christian leaders in wisdom to navigate our increasingly challenging cultural moment. A leading voice in Protestant ethics and political thought, he is the author or editor of
nineteen books, including The Peril and Promise of Christian Liberty (2017) and the forthcoming Called to Freedom: Retrieving Christian Liberty in an Age of License. He is a weekly columnist at WORLD Opinions, and publishes widely in other journals including First Things, National Affairs, American Affairs, Plough, Mere Orthodoxy, The American Conservative, Ad Fontes, and more. You can find all of his work and regular commentary at bradlittlejohn.substack.com.