Jared Stacy | Conspiracy Thinking in American Evangelicalism

About this episode

Kate Boyd discusses the rise of conspiracy thinking in evangelical Christianity with Jared Stacy.

In this episode of the Untidy Faith Podcast, Kate Boyd sits down with Jared Stacy, author of the forthcoming book Reality in Ruins , for a nuanced conversation about why conspiracy theories have become so pervasive in evangelical Christianity and what the church can do about it. This isn’t just about QAnon or stolen elections—it’s about understanding how evangelicalism’s theology of persecution, end-times anxiety, and individualism creates fertile ground for conspiracism, and how reclaiming the whole story of Jesus offers a way forward that doesn’t require us to become fact-checkers but truth-tellers in our own key. Topics Covered * Understanding conspiracy theory as “functional reality” that provides people not just a lens for interpreting the world but prescribes specific actions—like how belief in a stolen election motivated the January 6th Capitol attack * Why evangelicals are particularly susceptible to conspiracy thinking: the combination of persecution complex, end-times theology giving conspiracies a “theological charge,” and modern individualism that seeks control through claiming secret knowledge * How evangelicalism’s witness to the gospel grants conspiracy theories…

People in this episode

Host: Kate Boyd

Guest: Jared Stacy

Topics covered

• conspiracy theories
• evangelical Christianity
• theology of persecution
• end-times anxiety
• individualism
• cultural anxieties

Keywords

• conspiracy thinking
• evangelicalism
• theology
• persecution complex
• end-times
• individualism
• truth-tellers
• cultural anxieties

Mentioned in this episode

Books & works: Reality in Ruins

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