Called to Freedom: Retrieving Christian Liberty in an Age of License

Christ in Everything

by W. Bradford Littlejohn, Benjamin T. Quinn (editor)

Christians in the modern West hear a lot about—and talk a lot about—“freedom.” The word has taken on so many meanings that Christians often fail to realize how much our contemporary ideals of freedom stray from what freedom has meant in Scripture and the Christian tradition.

Called to Retrieving Christian Liberty in an Age of License by Bradford Littlejohn seeks to define and disentangle theological, moral, and political concepts of freedom and provide a deeper understanding of what true Christian freedom is—liberation from the bondage of fear and sin.

Littlejohn builds his argument from the Protestant doctrine of Christian liberty anchored in Martin Luther’s Reformation classic The Freedom of a Christian. He then looks at conflicts over technology, the market, and religious liberty as case studies of how a full-orbed Christian idea of freedom helps us respond faithfully to these challenges in our spiritual lives, our churches, and our civic engagement.

Littlejohn argues that a great source on contemporary social problems and trends towards illiberalism derive from a faulty understanding of human freedom which places individuality and authenticity as the highest good for society. Littlejohn argues that the Christian tradition presents a much more compelling vision, namely that freedom cannot lead to flourishing for everyone unless it is rightly ordered to God’s moral commands and divinely ordained sources of authority in our lives. As such, he presents a case against modern secularism and charts a vision for what Christian faith actually has to say to our political and social lives.

Genres: Theology, Nonfiction, Christian

192 pages, Paperback

Published January 15, 2025

Reviews

[Paul · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the best books on the topic of freedom you could read. Spiritual, moral, political, social, economic freedoms, they're all covered. Littlejohn has done us all a favor.

[Jake · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fantastic read. Every chapter was packed with insight. Helpful and illuminating.

[Shandon Mullet]

Excellent. In addition to having an incredible last name, Littlejohn is a model of an author who can write concisely about something he has studied extensively. This short little book is a great introduction to the classic Protestant position on (and difficulty with) liberty in three areas: spiritual, moral, and political. Those areas are explored in three applications: technology, markets, and religious liberty. It's a broad set of themes, but well-handled; there is no fluff and every short section could inspire many chapters on its own. Or rather, each section was inspired by many other chapters and books; an extensive bibliography proves the breadth of this ongoing conversation around the bounds of liberty. Two notes of interest:

1) Among strongest and at the same time weakest (i.e., most interesting) chapter was Chapter 7, on the question of freedom of religion. Littlejohn looks to the magisterial reformers as a guide. It is an insightful observation that Protestant notions of the importance of grace over works is directly responsible for the Western practice of tolerance. Because my perspective on religious liberty has its roots in the radical reformers rather than the magisterial reformers, this chapter feels to me weaker than the others because it is so bounded by the magisterial tradition. Even the practical examples Littlejohn gives show how easily the polis can turn from punishing evil and defending good according to common morality and divine law to defining "evil" and "good" only according to itself. For instance, he gives the example of America facing an existential threat as an example of the polis having to override the conscience of objectors. But he has not defended America's existence in terms of moral and divine good, only in terms of its own need to continue its existence. Perhaps its existence is a moral and divine good, and to pursue its existence is filling out the command of Romans 13. But so often that is just assumed, as it seems to be here.

2) The conclusion of this book is a wonderful exploration of our divided selves on the matter of freedom. As Christians, we live out freedom by subjecting ourselves to the ultimate good of Christ's rule. But in a world where not all agree on what the ultimate good is and where we understand that we can only see through a glass dimly, we allow and treasure freedom and tolerance (within bounds that nobody quite agrees upon) to make that world livable. Though as an Anabaptist I have a more idealistic (some would say naive) view of what is possible in an already-but-not-yet world than Littlejohn, that tension is a part of all of our lives, and as such the truths in this book are worth wrestling with. I highly recommend it.

[Phil Cotnoir · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have a review of this in the pipeline for publication elsewhere, but here are a couple snippets from that review:

Coming in under 200 pages, this narrow volume punches well above its weight, perhaps because it contains the distillation of over fifteen years of reflection on this expansive topic, including a focus on the intellectual contribution of the Protestant reformers. Indeed the book manages to touch upon and make connections between numerous aspects of freedom: spiritual freedom, moral freedom, political freedom, technology and freedom, economic freedom, and religious liberty. This broad scope is one of the things I most appreciated about the book. Littlejohn seeks to orient thoughtful Christians to the realities and tensions of freedom in the modern world.

My conclusion? This book is tremendously helpful for Christians trying to make sense of liberty in all its forms. No, the reader is not handed pre-packaged answers to be deployed in the next public outrage about this or that infringed freedom. Rather, we are taught to think more carefully about how freedom works, what its truest sources are, why different freedoms are so often in conflict with one another. “Freedom is not merely a spiritual reality or a worldly ideal; it is not merely inward or outward,” writes Littlejohn in the conclusion. “Freedom, rather, is experienced above all in the conformity of the soul to reality.”

I am convinced that the insights from Called to Freedom will help any Christian navigate the maelstrom of modern life, from pandemics and internet pornography to religious freedom and technology. I hope it gets a wide reading.

[Patience · Rating 4 out of 5]

“When it comes to “freedom,” many American Christians inhabit two parallel worlds of discourse,” writes Littlejohn. Exploring these two parallel worlds, he invites readers to ask what freedom is. From spiritual and moral freedom, to political, economic, and religious freedom, and even the “freedom” promised by advances in technology, Littlejohn’s analysis is clear-thinking, insightful, and challenges readers to reconsider ways in which their notions of freedom may be shaped by the assumptions of the culture around them in ways that miss true freedom.

I especially appreciated his discussion of tolerance in the religious freedom chapter and his point that toleration assumes disagreement and disapproval and that religious liberty needs a society that is rooted in Christian principles, particularly a commitment to salvation by faith alone.

While I found his treatment of COVID-related restrictions in his chapter on spiritual freedom to be balanced and well-reasoned, I did find myself questioning the choice to use a recent and emotionally charged example, especially in the second chapter. That said, his argument in this section was robust and well articulated, and I would hope, not a reason for one who disagrees with his analysis to put down the book.

[David Pulliam · Rating 3 out of 5]

I appreciate thinkers like Littlejohn who are attempting to bring traditional protestant thought to our current cultural situation. He's somewhat clunky in the way he does it. His main claim is that Spiritual freedom brings moral freedom, which brings political freedom. This is nice in theory, but he doesn't engage with data (for example, when you encourage and support people in the LGBTQ+ community, suicide rates go down within the LGBTQ+ community. We all agree this is objectively a good consequence though some of us say to affirm a person's sexual identity that breaks God's law is wrong.) or work hard to engage with catholic thought. And this is a problem for thinkers like Littlejohn. They are well-versed in Protestant thought, which requires considerable time and energy to grasp, but does not effectively engage with our current cultural situation.

For instance, Roman Catholics and Protestants are more than ever aligned on cultural issues in America, yet still very spread apart theologically. When a protestant uses theology to project a cultural vision for America, he automatically leaves out an important ally, and that is a faulty vision.

[Zak Schmoll · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an important book. We all talk about freedom, but freedom seems to be a loaded term. Am I free to do whatever I want, whenever I want, without regard to how it impacts other people? Are there limits? Can we determine what those limits are? What do we do when my freedom impinges on your freedom? This book does a good job discussing the different types of freedom such internal versus external freedom, and then it includes several chapters on practical applications related to economics, politics, and technology. Personally, I wish that more space was given to issues of Christian conscience, just because that interests me most and I have been talking to people about that a lot lately, but I imagine most people will prefer the broader scope of this investigation. This is a quick read and very worthwhile.

[Ben Gregg · Rating 3 out of 5]

It does not introduce much that is original (but is that the aim of Christian teaching?), rather it states old truths in insightful and articulate ways. While I might have small quibbles about some of his examples - I am not American, after all, and some a culturally specific - I agreed with the broad thrust of his argument. I found it genuinely encouraging and helpful.

(Should note that I consider a three stars a good book. Four stars is for a great one. Five is for something either truly enrapturing, for fiction, or formative on my thought, for non-fiction.)

[Lianna Davis · Rating 3 out of 5]

I appreciated this book’s emphasis on true human freedom being found in obedience to the ways of God. Still, I was disconcerted to find that the book seemed to call for more government law/ regulation of our activities (without defining what that control should be). It seemed to discount the truth that God does not want believers coercing people into subjection to Him; He desires free worship from the heart. Overall, I was underwhelmed by the book.

[Dennis]

I have not read the book yet. This is a great critical summary of the details of the book.
https://www.thepublicdiscourse.com/20...

[Amanda · Rating 5 out of 5]

Clear, concise, challenging