FEBRUARY 2026 NEWSLETTER

Although spring is only a month away, this winter in southern Ontario has seen more snow and colder temperatures than in previous years, prompting many of us to flee to the great indoors, where a variety of satisfying pursuits await us. In my case, these consist primarily of reading, writing, mentoring, in-person and online interviews, music, and art appreciation. For my wife, there is ongoing research into late 17th-century and early 18th-century English and American colonial history for a book she is writing. When the weather turns warmer, some of these activities will move out of doors. In the meantime, here is a short list of what I've been up over the past month.

Christian Nationalism has been much in the news of late. A year and a half ago I wrote an article for Canadian periodical Faith Today, What is Christian Nationalism?, in which I concluded that it doesn't fit well into the Canadian context, which lacks the historical preconditions of New England Puritanism, with its biblical notion of a city on a hill (Matthew 5:14). After that article was published, I received criticism from those who see trends similar to the American variety of nationalism in this country as well. In response, I will admit that Canadian Christians are by no means exempt from the allure of the political ideologies, including nationalism. In fact, nationalism is present wherever people are tempted to make too much of their national communities, however we might define them.

Some weeks ago I was interviewed by Jairo Mendoza for the Spanish-language Cápsulas de Teología podcast. Although I understand quite a bit of the language, my command is not good enough for an interview. Thus we had a translator for the event. The subject of our discussion was, once more, Christian Nationalism. You can listen to the interview here: ¿Puede el NACIONALISMO CRISTIANO considerarse bíblico? I might add that the people responsible for this podcast posted an AI version of yours truly which, much to my amusement, shaved a few decades from my age, shortened and darkened my beard, and eliminated my widow's peak hairline.

Then in June I will be participating in a conference at Toronto's Wycliffe College devoted to "Reckoning with Christian Nationalism," sponsored by the Reformed House of Studies. I will be a respondent to one of the principal speakers. I look forward to this event and anticipate learning more about a subject that is gaining increasing attention from Christian and secular media alike.

I discovered that First Things' daily newsletter recently referred and linked to an online article I wrote for the periodical in 2014: The death of the parish. My thesis: the invention of the automobile has wrought one of the greatest changes in ecclesiology in history, replacing the territorial parish with a market model that sees congregations competing with each other for members and adherents.

Many of us are profoundly disturbed by developments in the United States perpetrated by the current administration. The recent ICE shootings in Minneapolis brought back memories of my time half a century ago in the Twin Cities where I was pursuing my undergraduate studies, prompting an article to which I have linked here: Sowing chaos for no good reason. Although I have not lived in the US for four decades, we have family and friends there, and we continue to care that justice be done there.

Finally, Philosophia Reformata just published my review of Simon Polinder’s new book, Towards a New Christian Political Realism. Two more book reviews are forthcoming in other periodicals.

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Yours in God's service,

David Koyzis, Global Scholar