January 6, 2021

The January 6, 2021 assault on the United States Capitol bore the unmistakable markings of the Christian nationalist infrastructure this map traces. Participants carried Christian nationalist flags alongside Confederate ones. Jericho Marches — prayer rallies invoking the biblical siege of Jericho — preceded the attack, organized by figures in the New Apostolic Reformation network. Critics, including Matthew D. Taylor, argue that the spiritual-warfare language used at these events drew directly on NAR theology and was meant literally. The intellectual architecture had been built over decades: Francis Schaeffer's doctrine of 'lesser magistrates' and Christian civil disobedience; Rushdoony's theonomy insisting civil law must conform to biblical law; the New Apostolic Reformation's Seven Mountains Mandate commanding Christians to take dominion over government; the Flight 93 Election framework that cast political defeat as civilizational death. Gorski and Perry find such ideas widespread among Americans who strongly embrace Christian nationalism. Researchers Andrew Whitehead, Samuel Perry, and Philip Gorski documented extensively that Christian nationalist identity was the strongest predictor of support for the events of January 6, stronger than partisan identity alone. The Capitol assault was the moment when the rhetoric of spiritual warfare — developed in seminaries, disseminated through media empires, and amplified by a generation of dominionist theology — became kinetic.

Themes this entry appears in

• Christian Nationalism
• Dominionism
• Anti-Democratic
• Political Strategy

Connections to January 6, 2021

• New Apostolic Reformation (NAR) / Seven Mountains Mandate influenced (2021) — Scholars including Matthew D. Taylor document the New Apostolic Reformation's role in the theological framing of January 6. The Jericho Marches preceding the assault were organized by figures within the NAR network, invoking the biblical siege of Jericho as their explicit template. Lou Engle, Dutch Sheets, and other NAR apostles and prophets had spent months declaring prophetically that Trump would retain the presidency and calling for prayer warfare against demonic forces stealing the election. The Seven Mountains Mandate — NAR's theological claim that Christians must take dominion over government — was not background theology on January 6.
• Steve Bannon influenced (2021) — Steve Bannon was one of the loudest promoters of stolen-election claims in the weeks before January 6. His 'War Room' podcast was a major outlet amplifying those claims, coordinating messaging across the MAGA media ecosystem, and building the audience that would converge on Washington on January 6. Bannon's explicit framing — that the certification of Biden's electors was the moment of civilizational crisis — gave the date its urgency. He was later convicted of contempt of Congress for defying the January 6 Committee's subpoena.
• Trump Evangelical Advisory Board (2016) influenced (2021) — Multiple members of the Trump Evangelical Advisory Board amplified the stolen-election narrative in the weeks between November 2020 and January 6, 2021, providing it with theological legitimacy. Paula White led prayer calls for God to 'overturn' the election results. Eric Metaxas, a prominent Trump-supporting evangelical broadcaster (not a board member), told Trump on air that he would be happy to die in the fight over the result.

Sources

• The Flag and the Cross: White Christian Nationalism and the Threat to American Democracy — Philip Gorski and Samuel Perry (2022)
• Taking America Back for God — Andrew Whitehead and Samuel Perry (2020)
• The Power Worshippers: Inside the Dangerous Rise of Religious Nationalism — Katherine Stewart (2019)