Christian Politics! Yes, But Which Kind?: Talking Past Each Other Without Asking Theological Questions.

Christian Politics! Yes, But Which Kind?:
Talking Past Each Other Without Asking Theological Questions.

I was raised in an unChurched home with parents that were very politically active. They were both Liberals/Progressives, and I inherited their justifications for why they did the political work they did. I absorbed their ethics and eventually, thanks to Punk Rock, leaned even further Left politically, and socially as well.

And then! Dum Dum DAH!... I converted to Christianity in my early 30s (Oops, sawee). Through my studies in Theology I slowly adjusted my politics to move toward the Right. It was Theology that propelled that move. It was thoughtful, and quite honestly, painful. I challenged all sorts of previously assumed questions. And I moved Right because I was exposed to theological traditions that justified their conservative politics via their theology.

As I ran across Progressive Christians I assumed they somehow didn’t do their homework. And to be honest, some of them hadn’t. They were allowing secular morals and politics to shape their Christianity. They were idol worshippers. Little did I know that many also had indeed done their homework. They just were reading different theologians that intellectually shaped their politics. It was only after years of stereotyping 20th century theology did I take the time to actually read it. And once I did, I came full circle toward my Prog roots. 

This was an important lesson. If indeed we are brothers and sisters in Christ, we need to trust that we’ve done our theological homework. Even if most haven’t. We need to give our spiritual family the benefit of the doubt. Otherwise, we end up in our theological and political bubbles that resort to stereotyping to squelch the discussion. If we are in the Progressive camp, we should assume that our nazi nut job brother in Christ has done his theological homework to come to his conclusions. We should press him on it, for sure, but the assumption shouldn’t be that he’s never read his NT. He may have philosophically, theologically, and biblically sound reasons for believing what he believes. And similarly, we need to assume that our hippie communist sister in Christ ALSO did her homework. That she is grounded in scripture, tradition, and reason.

If we can do this, we can get to a more informed understanding of what Christian Politics can look like. And we can learn to love each other more, despite what our theology and politics say. Our membership in the Body transcends our current theological and political thinking. We can see each other as grounded in the truth and trying (through a glass darkly) to work out our salvation in fear and trembling. And if the world can see this love and acceptance and intellectual inclusion, then they will see the light of Christ. 

Being theologically and politically inclusive is super hard to do, but we can either give it lip service or we can actually do it. As someone who has lived on a variety of political and theological perspectives, I suggest we do. We are citizens of a Kingdom not of this world. We don’t have to mirror the world’s divisiveness, no matter how distasteful or sick someone’s theology or politics might be. In being more intellectually inclusive, we will help each other grow and develop and change from one Body part to another. It won’t be comfortable, but we aren’t called to be comfortable, are we?




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