Paleo Protestant Pudcast

The Lutheran, Reformed, and Anglican heirs of the Protestant Reformation continue to make news by not attracting attention from observers of American Protestantism.  The co-hosts, Korey Maas [https://www.hillsdale.edu/faculty/korey-maas/] (Lutheran), Miles Smith [https://www.hillsdale.edu/faculty/miles-smith-iv/] (Anglican), and D. G. Hart [https://www.hillsdale.edu/faculty/darryl-hart/] (Presbyterian), talk about two recent articles about traditional Protestantism that either imply or claim that such Christianity is down on the mat for the count (think boxing).  One is Brad East's "Goldilocks Protestantism [https://firstthings.com/goldilocks-protestantism/]" and the other is Casey Spinks "Does Traditional Protestantism Have a Future [https://currentpub.com/2025/02/27/long-form-does-traditional-protestantism-have-a-future/]?"  The conversation may not be as hopeful as some listeners want.  But along with the last episode [https://sites.libsyn.com/521368/confessional-protestantism-and-denominationalism] on non-denominational Protestantism, this one reveals further challenges that confessional Protestant communions face.   Follow some of us -- Miles Smith @ivmiles and D. G. Hart (for now) @reallyoldlife.

This time co-hosts  Korey Maas [https://www.hillsdale.edu/faculty/korey-maas/] (Lutheran), Miles Smith [https://www.hillsdale.edu/faculty/miles-smith-iv/] (Anglican), and D. G. Hart [https://www.hillsdale.edu/faculty/darryl-hart/] (Presbyterian) talk about whether non-denominational Christianity is the future of American Protestantism and what stake confessional Protestants have in denominational structures. The basis for discussion is  sociologist Ryan Burge's analysis of church statistics [https://www.graphsaboutreligion.com/p/the-future-of-american-christianity] whose numbers indicate the remarkable increase of non-denominational Protestantism.  Methodists, Lutherans, Baptists, Presbyterians, Anglicans, and Congregationalists may sound like the ecclesiastical equivalent of Ford, Lincoln, Chevrolet, and Buick, but institutions matter to Christian faith and practice as much as they do to the manufacturing and sale of automobiles.  Follow the Anglican co-host @ivmiles and the Presbyterian co-host @oldlife.

The Pudcast returns with co-hosts  Korey Maas [https://www.hillsdale.edu/faculty/korey-maas/] (Lutheran), Miles Smith [https://www.hillsdale.edu/faculty/miles-smith-iv/] (Anglican), and D. G. Hart [https://www.hillsdale.edu/faculty/darryl-hart/] (Presbyterian) in the after glow of a very long holiday season -- that seems to get longer the older the observer becomes.  The recording starts with question of whether the five to six weeks between Thanksgiving and New Years -- when everyone seems to return to pandemic levels of output in the workplace -- is too long.  Included is attention to the particular aspects of holiday observance among Lutherans and Anglicans (with Lutherans getting lots of credit for using the phrase, "The Divine Service" most often).  Material that stimulated the discussion was Ross Douthat's speculation [https://www.nytimes.com/2024/12/21/opinion/religion-christmas-revival.html] that secular liberalism has run out of steam and Eli Lake's report [https://www.thefp.com/p/eli-lake-jews-wrote-your-favorite-christmas-songs-irving-berlin] on the Jewish-Americans who wrote so many of the secular Christmas songs.  Listeners who have not seen Whit Stillman's movie, "Metropolitan [https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0100142/]" should do so asap even if it is no longer Christmas or Advent or Debutante Ball season.    Owing to the recent death of former POTUS, Jimmy Carter and Donald Trump's election victory, the co-hosts also speculated about the effects of past and future presidents on the religious [https://www.christianitytoday.com/2024/12/died-president-jimmy-carter-100-baptist-christian-politics/] vibe [https://newrepublic.com/article/188337/cultural-christianity-taking-conservative-movement] in the United States and elsewhere.  Bonus content: here [https://www.neh.gov/humanities/2016/fall/feature/how-washington-irving-shaped-christmas-in-america] is an introduction to Washington Irving's Old Christmas, a story that shaped American customs surrounding the holiday.

When most confessional Protestants are preparing for end-of-calendar-year holidays, they are likely thinking about Lutheran seminary education.  For that reason, this discussion with co-hosts  Korey Maas [https://www.hillsdale.edu/faculty/korey-maas/] (Lutheran), Miles Smith [https://www.hillsdale.edu/faculty/miles-smith-iv/] (Anglican), and D. G. Hart [https://www.hillsdale.edu/faculty/darryl-hart/] (Presbyterian) will be a treat.  The basis for discussion is an article that Korey Maas wrote for the Acton Institute publication, Religion and Liberty, on the late 1960s controversy at Concordia Seminary, St. Louis which led to the exodus of confessionally liberal Lutherans not only from the seminary but also from the LCMS altogether.  Among the points of controversy was the doctrine of inerrancy, which gave the conflict a certain resemblance to the Presbyterian controversy of the 1920s.  Spoiler alert: the co-hosts never mention beer and only bring up Presbyterianism at the end of the episode.  So you have to listen to the end (at least it's not behind a paywall).   The article by Korey Maas who is still not on Twitter (formerly called Twitter) is here [https://www.acton.org/religion-liberty/volume-34-number-4/discordia-lutheran-seminary-wrecked-and-reborn].  The LCMS statement on the authority and infallibility of the Bible is here [https://www.lcms.org/about/beliefs/doctrine/statement-of-scriptural-and-confessional-principles].   Miles Smith is still @ivmiles and D. G. Hart is still @oldlife.   As is always the case, the pudcast would not exist without the incomparable assistance of @presbycast.

The vibe for this recording was solemn even if the co-hosts  Korey Maas [https://www.hillsdale.edu/faculty/korey-maas/] (Lutheran), Miles Smith [https://www.hillsdale.edu/faculty/miles-smith-iv/] (Anglican), and D. G. Hart [https://www.hillsdale.edu/faculty/darryl-hart/] (Presbyterian) were also excited for the upcoming marriage of our only confessional Protestant bachelor (sorry ladies). The reason for the somber mood was Miles Smith's piece at MereOrthodoxy [https://mereorthodoxy.com/perdition] on evangelicals and politics.  There he suggests that American Protestants have lost a sense of nations sitting under God's judgment. In which case, the presidential campaign and the results could be less a story of redemption than they reveal God's rebuke of an errant society.    From that starting point, conversation ranged to the degree to which confessional Protestants suffer from viewing the United States as a redeemer nation, how millennialism affects nationalism, differing estimates (Augustinian or Eusebian) of Christian government, and even whether Christians can learn a tragic sense of politics from H. L. Mencken.  No sponsors, but it should have been Joy dishwashing detergent.