Fight Like Hell: Generating A Praxis of Non-Violence By Contesting White Evangelical Doctrines of Hell As A Site of Violence on January 6

This paper examines how evangelical doctrines of hell and the demonic, embedded in conspiracy theories and expressed in prayer, fostered Christian extremist violence on January 6. By this approach, the paper aims to contest the doctrine of hell, common to white evangleicalism, as a rogue theological element with political import towards violence. By this theological approach, the paper challenges accounts of evangelical identity in the US which are organized by the claim it has abandoned theology for partisanship. More essentially, this analysis of hell as a site for violence on January 6 foregrounds a constructive reorientation towards non-violent praxis. By engaging the evangelical apocalyptic theology of Philip Ziegler, the paper offers a theological constellation of Christ, Church, and the Last Day, into which rogue doctrinal elements of hell become reoriented. This reorientation generates a praxis of non-violence, countermanding assumptive evangelical claims to enact divine judgment in social & political worlds.