James Talrico is currently a Democrat state lawmaker in Texas, and is now running for a seat in the U.S. Senate. Besides his political career, he is currently attending Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary and is studying to become a minister. He is also an active member of St. Andrew's Presbyterian Church in Austin, Texas. While not the permanent pastor, he often serves as a guest preacher in his church, and also has frequent opportunities in other churches because of his high profile.
It should be carefully noted, however, that he is a progressive Christian and adheres to Progressive Christian theology. He specifically does not believe that Jesus is the unique son of God who died as an atoning sacrifice for the sins of mankind. Rather, his focus is on:
- The primacy of love and social justice
- Economic justice over sexual ethics
- Progressive and liberation hermeneutics
- Theological pluralism and humility
- Sacred separation of church and state
In 2021, Talrico did an interview with Roberto Che Espinoza, a transgender “Latinx” theologian. In that interview, Talrico stated that, “I always think of myself as a Christian who hates Christianity.” (You can read about this at https://www.foxnews.com/politics/talarico-says-hates-christianity-unearthed-interview-transgender-latinx-theologian)
That is quite a provocative statement, and a lot of people have jumped on it as a way to discredit him politically – and perhaps rightly so. However, the reason this should discredit him is not what most people think.
His explanation of what he meant by that was that he does not literally hate the Christian faith, but rather hates how the institution has been weaponized. In fact, he actually uses the criticism of his critics as evidence of that weaponization. However, in criticizing how people are using Christianity for political purposes, he tends to ignore how he himself is weaponizing it to suit his own purposes.
More specifically, he is critical of an evangelical understanding of Jesus, and even considers that to be a political construct. From his perspective, when the church fuses with political power (meaning when a Christian disagrees with his politics), it loses its prophetic, loving voice. According to his point of view, Jesus was a “socialist anarchist from ancient Palestine." So as a "Christian who hates Christianity" he considers himself to be someone who rejects the exclusionary dogmas and political demands of the religious establishment so that he can remain focused purely on the radical love and social justice modeled by Christ. That is, it is his progressive theology that really expresses the teachings of Jesus as opposed to evangelical Christianity.
Talrico’s problem is that his liberal theological understanding of Jesus is not the Jesus of the Bible. It is a made up construct based on his own personal preference as to who he thinks Jesus ought to be.
So, what do we have here? What we have is a person who loves the concept of Christianity as he has created it in his own mind, and hates Christianity as it is expressed in the Bible.
Jesus was not a “socialist anarchist from ancient Palestine.” He certainly had an interest in meeting peoples’ felt material needs, but meeting them was an expression of his real purpose, not the purpose itself. Talrico and his ilk try to proclaim a gospel where meeting material needs is the ultimate purpose.
No, Jesus’ ultimate purpose was to point people to a personal relationship with God. He preached it, then became the substitutionary sacrifice on the cross that provided the means by which that kind of personal relationship could happen.
Without a doubt, Christians should be helping those who have various needs – and we see those needs all around. But helping people physically is not the goal, it is one instrument that can be used to accomplish the goal. Helping people should be accompanied by pointing them to Jesus.
But it goes even deeper than that. Helping people is not only a tool to be used to point people to God. It is also an expression of a changed heart. God wants to help people because He genuinely loves them, and when a person’s heart is synced with His, that person will also have a genuine love that wants to help people. But physical help alone is shallow. Along with the physical help, Christians should also be focused on sharing the kind of help that points beyond the physical to the eternal. Talrico doesn’t believe in that. The beliefs underlying his theology is only interested in the physical.
Of course, Talrico is not alone. He is part of an entire movement that puts a Christian veneer over naturalistic philosophy to make it seem Christian when it is not. Christians need to be up to speed on this not only to prevent a political outcome that will damage the nation, but to have the ability to effectively share the most important thing with people – the ability to express Christ in a world that hates Him.
Freddy Davis is the president of MarketFaith Ministries. He is the author of numerous books entitled The Truth Mirage, Rules for Christians Radicals, Liberalism vs. Conservatism, and his latest book Shattering the Truth Mirage and has a background as an international missionary, pastor, radio host, worldview trainer, and entrepreneur. Freddy is a graduate of Florida State University with a BS in Communication, and holds MDiv and DMin degrees from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. He is a popular speaker, particularly on the topic of worldview and its practical implications for the Christian life. He lives in Tallahassee, FL, with his wife Deborah.
You may also contact Freddy at Leadership Speakers Bureau to schedule him for speaking or leadership engagements.
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