Mere Conservatism Is Not Christian by S. M. Hutchens

Quodlibet

Mere Conservatism Is Not Christian

by S. M. Hutchens

"In vain do they worship me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men." (Matt. 15:9)

Wherever orthodoxy struggles for life, Mere Conservatism appears to bind its arms, denature it, and make it look foolish. The good teachers of the Church must face the wrath both of those who would, through natural but depraved predisposition, alter ancient Truth, and of those who, on the other hand, will insist on mistaking for it what is no more than comfortably old.

S. M. Hutchens is a senior editor and longtime writer for Touchstone.

A Journal of Mere Christianity—Delivered to Your Door with Full Online Access

  • Essays on theology, culture, and the Church
  • Contributors from across the Christian traditions
  • Six print issues per year
  • Full digital archive access
Subscribe (Print + Online)

Get six issues (one year) of Touchstone PLUS full online access including pdf downloads for only $39.95.

Subscribe (Online Only)

Get a one-year full-access subscription to the Touchstone online archives for only $19.95.

bulk subscriptions

Order Touchstone subscriptions in bulk and save $10 per sub! Each subscription includes 6 issues of Touchstone plus full online access to touchstonemag.com—including archives, videos, and pdf downloads of recent issues for only $29.95 each! Great for churches or study groups.

Transactions will be processed on a secure server.


more on culture from the online archives

31.2—March/April 2018

Millennial Mission

The Transmission of Christianity Is Not a New Task by Nathanael Devlin

18.2—March 2005

Long Shadows of Eden

On Conservatism as Vexation, Vanity & Near Impossibility by Graeme Hunter

33.1—January/February 2020

Do You Know Your Child’s Doctor?

The Politicization of Pediatrics in America by Alexander F. C. Webster


more from the online archives

28.2—March/April 2015

Facing God

on Divine Worship & the Natural Limits of Community by David Mills

18.3—April 2005

Book Worms

on Textbook Publishers Who Lie About Islam by Terry Graves

25.3—May/Jun 2012

The Soul of Liberty

Calls for Freedom, Democracy & Secularism End Up with None of the Above by Hunter Baker

calling all readers

Please Donate

"There are magazines worth reading but few worth saving . . . Touchstone is just such a magazine."
—Alice von Hildebrand

"Here we do not concede one square millimeter of territory to falsehood, folly, contemporary sentimentality, or fashion. We speak the truth, and let God be our judge. . . . Touchstone is the one committedly Christian conservative journal."
—Anthony Esolen, Touchstone senior editor

Support Touchstone

00