Skip to content
What Do We Mean By 'Progressive' or 'Conservative'?

What Do We Mean By ‘Progressive’ or ‘Conservative’?

The moral and pragmatic case for pluralism.

We toss around words like “conservative” and “progressive” without really understanding – or agreeing on – the meaning of these terms.  

This week, David and Curtis discuss how these labels simply don’t work when applied across both theology and politics.

How is the equivocation surrounding these terms misleading and therefore damaging to Christian discourse? Can politics be used as a proxy for faithfulness? If so, when?

Join David and Curtis as they dive deeper into the word “progressive” and “conservative” and attempt to provide clarity on this common, important conversational terminology.

Show Notes:

Check out Curtis’s course on the theology of institutions, called God’s Purpose for Your Organizational Life (free to Good Faith listeners).

Follow Curtis’ work at RedeemingBabel.org

David French is a columnist for the New York Times. He’s a former senior editor of The Dispatch. He’s the author most recently of Divided We Fall: America's Secession Threat and How to Restore Our Nation.

Please note that we at The Dispatch hold ourselves, our work, and our commenters to a higher standard than other places on the internet. We welcome comments that foster genuine debate or discussion—including comments critical of us or our work—but responses that include ad hominem attacks on fellow Dispatch members or are intended to stoke fear and anger may be moderated.