Thread by @TaylorMatthewD

Those who follow intellectual/coalitional developments on the Religious Right should pay close attn to this strange essay by feminist Naomi Wolf brownstone.org/articles/have-… in which she endorses the worldview & teaching of Messianic rabbi/pastor Jonathan Cahn. Let me explain... 1/

If Jonathan Cahn isn’t on your radar, he should be. He is a leading “thinker” in the Independent Charismatic space, writing bestseller books interpolating Hebrew Bible narratives & prophecy into elaborate readings of contemporary American politics bethisraelworshipcenter.org/about%20Us/Abo…. 2/

In 2015, Charisma Magazine named Cahn one of the “40 Christian Leaders Who Radically Changed Our World.” charismanews.com/40-year-annive… Other named luminaries included Cindy Jacobs, Bill Hamon, (both key #NewApostolicReformation leaders), Pat Robertson, & Billy Graham. 3/

Cahn’s star has continued to rise since then. He was one of the co-leaders of The Return, a Sept 2020 DC gathering that segued into the post-election #JerichoMarch phenomena. He was then the keynote speaker at the major DC Jericho March on 12/12/20. facebook.com/watch/live/?re… 4/

Which brings us to Naomi Wolf’s essay. She is specifically endorsing Cahn’s most recent book christianbook.com/return-of-the-… where he argues a “Dark Trinity” of pagan gods from Canaan/Mesopotamia has reappeared recently leading to more occult practices, wokism, gender confusion, etc. 5/

Wolf, who has a long history with conspiracy theories spectator.org/naomi-wolf-wen…, has gone deep on COVID denialism & anti-vaxxism, which seems to have been the instigating circumstances for her to start reading & resonating with Cahn’s thesis. 6/

She writes that she cannot “explain the way the Western world simply switched” away from its values starting in 2020 “without resorting to reference to some metaphysical evil that goes above and beyond fallible, blundering human agency.” 6/

Her discovery of metaphysical evil (in the form of some ill-defined complaints about COVID & Biden Administration), led to Wolf “starting to believe in God in more literal terms than I had before.” She proceeds to offer a *very Christian* interpretation of the “Old Testament.” 7/

Wolf embraces Cahn’s idea that the demon gods had been held in abeyance for 1000s of years “by the Western Judeo-Christian covenant,” but now that people are questioning the tenets of (Judeo-)Christian nationalism, the old gods “have ‘returned,’ without restraint, since 2020.” 8/

By the end of the essay, Naomi Wolf is full-on apocalyptically quoting Ephesians - “this is, indeed what the realms of pagan darkness; or of Principalities and Powers - look like.” There you have the cryptographic key of the essay: more #SpiritualWarfare in American politics. 9/

This reinforces a point that @BradleyOnishi and I have tried to make before podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/nar… - that Indep. Charismatic spirituality, symbology, & spiritual warfare paradigms are increasingly the lingua franca of the contemporary Religious Right in the post-Trump era. 10/

Conspiracy theorists, whether Naomi Wolf, Anti-Vaxxers, QAnoners or Alex Jones, can plug their conspiracy inputs into Independent Charismaticism & get out a robust theological framework of demons & how to *fight back* through spir. warfare campaigns & political mobilization. 11/

Even more interesting is that Wolf’s essay (and Cahn’s book) was then heartily endorsed by Rod Dreher, the despairing post-Obergefell conservative Amer. journalist who was red-pilled by Victor Orbán into espousing post-liberal authoritarianism. theamericanconservative.com/naomi-wolf-the… 12/

This is especially notable, bc Dreher famously live-tweeted & mocked the Dec 2020 Jericho March:

“This is how you fight for righteousness?

No. No, no, no. No!…

it is bonkers. All of it.” theamericanconservative.com/what-i-saw-at-…

Well, I guess old Rod’s had a change of mind about Cahn. 13/

Searching for intellectual coherence in the Religious Right today is a fool's errand, because the coherence isn't intellectual - it's spiritual. And that spirituality is, by and large, emerging out of the innovative & transgressive Independent Charismatic sector. 14/

@kathsstewart @ellehardy @Jonward11 @skestenbaum @GorskiPhilip @7im @anelsona @rickpidcock @juliaduin @Philvischer @petemont @DaleMCoulter