Home
/
RELIGION & LIBERTY ONLINE
/
Food for Thought: Andrew Sullivan and Retrofitted Christianity
Food for Thought: Andrew Sullivan and Retrofitted Christianity
Dec 1, 2025 12:11 PM

The Hugh Hewitt/Andrew Sullivan kerfuffle has been mentioned a few times on the PowerBlog (here and here, for example), and while the dust has largely settled from that event, the issues that it raised continue to be addressed in various corners of the blogosphere. The most interesting (and mentary that I’ve read on Sullivan and his new book is by the Rev. Dr. Mark Roberts, who serves as Senior Pastor of Irvine Presbyterian Church in Irvine, California. Roberts’ critique is well worth a read in full, but here’s a sample to get you going:

I find Sullivan’s thoughts about Christianity fascinating for several reasons. One is that he epitomizes something I’d call “Retrofitted Christianity.” What do I mean by this? If you look up “retrofit” in the dictionary, one definition reads: “To provide with parts, devices, or equipment not in existence or available at the time of original manufacture.” If you retrofit a classic car, for example, you might give it a new engine that wasn’t available when the car was first built. So retrofitted Christianity is a version of classic faith that includes new parts that weren’t there at first. Some people, like Andrew Sullivan, think this is a better or even more authentic version of the faith. Others, like me, for example, are concerned that the retrofitted version of Christianity exemplified by Sullivan lacks some essential parts, even though it gets some things right.

Comments
Welcome to mreligion comments! Please keep conversations courteous and on-topic. To fosterproductive and respectful conversations, you may see comments from our Community Managers.
Sign up to post
Sort by
Show More Comments
RELIGION & LIBERTY ONLINE
The board gaming boom: Reviving face-to-face play in a digital age
The rise of board games is making headlines (just check out some of the stories here, here, here, here, and here). Despite massive disruption by online- and mobile-based gaming, many consumers seem to still enjoy the face-to-face interaction and experience of tabletop games. As the market responds, and as technology and globalization continue to open the playing field to petitors and genres, what might we learn about the prospects munity in an otherwise digital age? There are many theories about...
A European social democrat critiques Bernie Sanders’ ’21st Century Bill of Rights’
Senator Bernie Sanders has refused to grapple with the fact that socialist governments regularly suppress human rights and devolve into despotism, according to a social democrat from Germany. Even as Sanders proposed an economic “Bill of Rights” this week, he ignored the fact that civil liberties depend on preserving “private economic initiative,” the political scientist said. In a major speech on Wednesday afternoon, Sanders invited his audience to “ask yourself: what does it actually mean to be free?” Then he...
What’s missing from the UK prime minister’s race? A British view
The 313 Conservative MPs held the second round of voting to elect the new leader of the Conservative Party and prime minister of the United Kingdom. Each of the six remaining candidates – Boris Johnson, Jeremy Hunt, Michael Gove, Dominic Raab, Sajid Javid, and Rory Stewart – had to receive at least 33 votes to advance to the next round. The results, which were announced around 6 p.m. London time, were as follows: Johnson: 126;Hunt: 46;Gove: 41;Stewart: 37;Javid: 33; andRaab:...
Fiscal policy: The best case scenario
Note: This is post #125 in a weekly video series on basic economics. When and why does the government might engage in expansionary fiscal policy? When does the government increase spending, or decrease taxes, bat a recession? In this video by Marginal Revolution University, Tyler Cowen examines some of the government’s options, from doing nothing to taking steps to increase thevelocity of moneyand thereby increase aggregate demand. (If you find the pace of the videos too slow, I’d mend watching...
Beyond Bolsonaro: A freedom surge in Brazil
Those who argue that the recent victory of President Jair Bolsonaro in the 2018 Brazilian presidential elections represent an authoritarian shift are highly mistaken. On the contrary, liberalism has never been as strong and vibrant in Brazil as it is in the present moment. While some “intellectuals” and most of the media — in Brazil and internationally — keep characterizing Bolsonaro’s victory as a sign of increasing intolerance and alt-right politics (because of a few unfortunate declarations during his campaign)...
Business is bad. Can it also be good?
There are many reasons to critique business these days. From crony capitalist practices to surveillance capitalism and data collection, from abuse of the environment for short term profits to siding with the fashionable for short term praise at the expense of religious freedom and long term cultural health. Business and corporations deserve much of the condemnation they receive. As Adam Smith wrote in The Wealth of Nations People of the same trade seldom meet together, even for merriment and diversion,...
Acton Line podcast: Why Marxism is still alive; The legacy of Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn
On this episode of Acton Line, Romanian author and public intellectual, Mihail Neamtu, joins the show to talk about what he calls the “ghost” of Marxism. What defines Marxism and what remnants of the ideology are we seeing today? After that, Daniel J. Mahoney, writer and professor of politics at Assumption College, speaks with Acton’s Director of Communications, John Couretas, about the legacy of the 20th century Russian writer, Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn. Solzhenitsyn’s writings are said to have contributed greatly in...
New York’s rent regulations: people over profit?
Last week, the New York State Legislature arranged a series of regulations designed to protect tenants and control rents. This action was quickly repeated by the California Assembly, which passed a rent-cap bill, both following in the footsteps of Oregon’s statewide rent control law enacted this past February. Landlords in New York City were quick to argue that the new legislation would cost local construction jobs and prevent owners from making needed repairs, leading to buildings in disrepair. Nevertheless, these...
Philip K. Dick, Lord Acton, and the nineteenth century that never ended
The American science fiction author Philip K. Dick was a strange guy. In addition to being a prolific author of many science fiction classics like The Man in the High Castle, Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, and Minority Report (All these and many more adapted for film and television) he was also a prolific diarist. Many of these diary entries were edited and published as The Exegesis of Philip K. Dick in 2011. A recurring theme in these diary...
Why the national debt is an intergenerational injustice
Note:This article is part of the ‘Principles Project,’ a list of principles, axioms, and beliefs that undergirda Christian view of economics, liberty, and virtue. Clickhereto read the introduction and other posts in this series. The Principle: #21A – National debt is almost always an unjust form of an intergenerational wealth transfer. The Definitions: National Debt — The federal or national debt is the net accumulation of the federal government’s annual budget deficits; the total amount of money that the U.S....
Related Classification
Copyright 2023-2025 - www.mreligion.com All Rights Reserved