John Mac Ghlionn at WORLD recently reviewed Stockholm Syndrome Christianity:
The term Stockholm syndrome entered the public consciousness after a strange bank robbery decades ago. In 1973, in Stockholm, Sweden, the hostages, who had spent days under threat, shocked the world when they began sympathizing with their captors and even defended them to the police. Psychologists came to see this as a survival strategy. When escape seems out of reach, identifying with the person who holds power feels safer. It’s a coping mechanism, an emotional pivot away from fear and toward anything that promises security—even if it means embracing the very forces that endanger you.
John G. West’s new book, Stockholm Syndrome Christianity: Why America’s Christian Leaders Are Failing—and What We Can Do About It (Discovery Institute, 358 pp.), argues that a similar dynamic has taken root among many American Christians, especially those in influential positions. It’s not a case of literal captivity with locked doors and armed guards. Instead, it’s a cultural captivity, where believers find themselves in a society that sees traditional Christian teachings as backward, divisive, or even hateful. Rather than face scorn or rejection, some Christian leaders have begun to take on the attitudes and beliefs of the broader culture. They call it relevance or open-mindedness, but West suggests that it is more like spiritual surrender. Instead of engaging with the culture, they are being swallowed by it.