Christianity and politics

Review: The Problem and Promise of Freedom

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Cover image of "The Problem and Promise of Freedom" by Steven Félix-Jäger

The Problem and Promise of Freedom, Steven Félix-Jäger. Baker Academic (ISBN: 9781540968142) 2025.

Summary: A critical and constructive theology of freedom, basing true freedom in covenantal relationship with God.

Steven Félix-Jäger describes this work as an effort in public theology. However, in his Prologue, he contrasts traditional “culture war” approaches that seek to make the world different with his. Rather, he writes to call “the church to be different in the world.” The particular theme on which he writes is how the Western church understands (or misunderstands) the idea of freedom.

In the book, he seeks to make a two-part argument. The first is a critical argument that our liberal notion of freedom, both in its voluntarist and free-market forms, is a “golden calf” or idol which the church must resist. The second is a constructive argument for a freedom of grace and generosity rooted in a covenantal relationship of abundance between God and his people.

In his Introduction, Félix-Jäger outlines the biblical basis for both his critical and constructive arguments. Then he devotes three chapters to elaborate each argument, ending with a brief conclusion.

For the critical argument, he likens the voluntarist and free-market forms of freedom to Israel’s golden calf. The golden calf represented a syncretic religion, and these do the same, seeking to wed faith in God and self-sufficiency, and worship of both God and mammon. Such syncretism may manifest in forms of assimilation or in religious nationalism. He also observes dualism in the church’s economic practices, consulting with God spiritually but adopting marketing in its material expression. Then the critical argument explores the origins of voluntarist freedom and shows how market logics invade our churches. It concludes by asking whether and how we can live as “dual citizens” He explores how covenantal life works in relation to civil and pluralistic society, persuading through generosity and grace for the common good.

This sets the stage for his constructive argument. He argues that each of the biblical covenants is about a relationship with God that liberates out of some form of slavery or want into an abundance resulting in flourishing. God’s commands instruct his people how to live in and sustain that abundance. Instead of individualistic freedom, we belong to a community. Instead of a commodified life and self, we enjoy life as whole persons under God’s shalom that begins not with what we do but God’s rest, his sabbath. In the next chapter, Félix-Jäger expands the sabbath principle in terms of laws of gleaning and generosity, culminating in Jubilee. He highlights the outpouring of the Spirit at Pentecost forming the grace-filled and generous community. Finally, he works out the social implications of covenantal abundance in our sense of communal responsibility for one another, including the disenfranchised.

He concludes by returning to the idea of the church as a different people in the world. We will not fit conservative or progressive labels in our witness to God’s gracious abundance. We are both holy, filled with the Spirit, and generous. Rather than trying to coerce, we inspire change.

One of the subtexts of this work is Pentecostal theology. Félix-Jäger draws from diverse streams, including covenantal theology. However, inclusion of the lavish work of God’s Spirit all of us is one of the most winsome aspects of this work. What is most significant in all this is his focus on how God would deliver us from idols of freedom. Instead, God gives something far better. God’s covenantal love transforms the church into a gracious and generous place.

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Disclosure of Material Connection: I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher for review.

Finally, thanks for visiting Bob on Books. People aren’t reading blogs like they used to, so I appreciate that you spent time here. Feel to “look around” – see the tabs at the top of the website, and the right hand column. And use the buttons below to share this post. Blessings! [Adapted from Enough Light, a blog I follow.]

Review: Citizenship Without Illusions

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Cover image of "Citizenship Without Illusions" by David T. Koyzis

Citizenship Without Illusions, David T. Koyzis. IVP Academic (ISBN: 9781514008621) 2024.

Summary: How Christians may engage politically without giving idolatrous devotion to parties or ideologies.

For years I’ve found myself in this place. I recognize that we need good governance from the officials we elect. But I cannot fully endorse what either of our parties propound nor give unquestioning allegiance to person or party. What is difficult is that I have friends on both sides of the partisan divide who seem to give unflinching allegiance to their party and the people they have elected or want to elect. Often, I find conversations with such individuals futile. There is no questioning allowed and only one side is right on everything. It is particularly disconcerting when my friends resort to lies and character assassination to buttress their political allegiance. I grope for a different kind of political engagement or want to just withdraw.

Citizenship Without Illusions is written for people like me. In his introductory chapter, David T. Koyzis identifies the illusion of political idolatries yet refuses the route of disengagement. He believes we are called to active citizenship as Christians in society. But first, he focuses on the nature of citizenship. Koyzis argues that political rule has always existed but not citizenship. Citizenship arises with the idea of “the state as a public legal community of people led by a government.”

Koyzis then turns in Chapter 3 to a delineation of the responsibilities of citizenship. He maintains that citizens are part of a community whose first task is to do justice in all areas of public life. This includes obedience to the rule of law, including the payment of taxes, staying informed, thinking locally, where all politics begins, and answering the call of service, including both jury and military service. Koyzis explores the challenges of living out the call to citizenship when the opportunities for participation are limited. But sometimes the requirements of citizenship and Christian faithfulness may collide. Chapter 4 explores these conflicts, including the possibility of civil disobedience and what principles ought inform us should we choose this route.

Voting is an expression of our citizenship but what does one do when none of the alternatives are good? Koyzis talks about different systems and shows a preference for proportional representation rather than single member plurality, where only the winning votes are represented. But sometimes the only way to pursue change is through political mobilization. Chapter 6 introduces political mobilization and points to models like Voice of Calvary Ministries.

But what about our political divides? Chapter 7 analyzes our political divides and advocates for a kind of principled pluralism. Then Chapter 8 turns to our global context and explores the tension between our citizenship and love for our global neighbors and God’s world. Finally, Chapter 9 concludes with a focus on the importance of prayer and the place of the church in shaping us. He advocates for the church to be the church, and not aligned to any particular political ideology.

Koyzis offers a model of political engagement that is an alternative to becoming a devotee of a political cult. He articulates for churches being the church. His analysis of voting raises a question many struggle with–why vote in situations where a vote doesn’t matter? Proportional representation would require constitutional changes. This is not an easy fix. I particularly appreciate his focus on the local as well as his recommendations for political mobilization. There are some things we can’t change alone. I did wonder whether the author might have written any of this differently after January 2025. His section on citizenship under less than ideal circumstances may be more relevant than ever.

In all, Koyzis offers a clear-eyed guide for redemptive political engagement rooted in a commitment for public justice for all. It’s not the route to power but the long road of service. It’s just being a citizen.

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Disclosure of Material Connection: I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher for review.

Review: Faithful Politics

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Cover image of "Faithful Politics by Miranda Zapor Cruz

Faithful Politics, Miranda Zapor Cruz. IVP Academic/Missio Alliance (ISBN: 9781514007495) 2024.

Summary: Ten ways of approaching the relationship between pursuing God’s kingdom and engaging in politics.

What does it mean to be a Christian citizen? Is it possible to participate in politics while remaining faithful to pursuing God’s kingdom? And to what degree ought one try to realize the vision and values of God’s kingdom in the laws, policies, and practices of one’s country? These are some of the questions Miranda Zapor Cruz unpacks in Faithful Politics. However, if you are looking for the approach to Christian politics or a recommendation on choosing between political parties, you won’t find that here.

In all, the author considers ten approaches Christians have taken toward political engagement. Before considering these, she makes a clear distinction between the United States and the kingdom of God. Specifically, she argues one cannot conflate kingdom and country. Then she observes how Christians have always understood themselves as dual citizens, although what that meant in the first century under imperial Rome is very different from our geopolitical context. Finally, she argues that clearly recognizing these distinctions and having a clear vision of the kingdom allows us to be “salty” Christians in society.

With this in mind, she turns to different approaches Christians have taken to politics. First she considers separatist approaches that keep kingdom out of country. She distinguishes between isolationist separatism and prophetic separatism. One just keeps its distance while the other keeps distance but also speaks truth to political reality. Churches (like mine) in the Anabaptist tradition have taken this approach. The next approaches keep country out of the kingdom. This includes the Baptist separation of church and state and the two kingdoms separation of Martin Luther. Both have helped frame the historic separation of church and state in the United States.

Then we turn to the approach of “Bringing kingdom into the Country” reflected in the nineteenth century social gospel approach. This approach sought through social and moral reform to transform the country into a Christian society, an approach reflected in the civil rights movement. One thing I missed in her treatment, which includes direct action, is the role of non-violent civil disobedience. Discussion of the question of when Christians should resist unjust laws would have been helpful. Next, the author outlines two Calvinist approaches to “Keeping the Country Under the Kingdom.” One is the principled pluralist approach emphasizing God’s sovereignty over different spheres of life. The other is the direct Christian influence approach, which seeks to bring the country in line with certain Christian values and convictions.

For each of the above approaches, the author outlines strengths and shortcomings for each approach. Her next two chapters considers approaches contemporary Christians have adopted she argues are incompatible with Christian faith. The first of these is dominionism both in its Christian Reconstruction and New Apostolic Reformation (NAR) forms. She critiques the biblicism of Christian Reconstruction and the gnostic and Montanist tendencies of NAR. She notes how both apply messianic language to earthly political figures. Finally, she notes the unhealthy fruit of these movements including vigilantism and political violence.

Turning to Christian nationalism, she notes its “closed American exceptionalism,” its equation of America with Christian nationhood, and the privileging of Christianity above other beliefs. Very simply, one cannot be a faithful citizen of the Kingdom of God that breaks down every dividing boundary and be a Christian nationalist. And like Reconstruction and NAR, the endemic physical and rhetorical violence of Christian nationalism is incompatible with the way of Christ.

Cruz concludes that Christian political engagement at its best draws on the first eight approaches at their best. That is, it is salty, prophetic, separationist, social and principled pluralist. Above all, it centers faithfulness to Christ. I appreciate the historical treatment of different traditions, particularly because many Christians are unaware of the good political thought of those who have gone before them. And I appreciate her efforts to synthesize the best of these different approaches and to learn from them all. Still, I wonder if this would have been a different book if written post-January 20, 2025. Cruz notes the differences of political engagement with imperial Rome from our present day. I cannot help but wonder if there is less of a difference, and whether there might be more to learn from the first Christians.

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Disclosure of Material Connection: I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher for review.

Resolutions for the Next Presidential Election

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Photo by Brett Sayles on Pexels.com

With all the announcements of people who are running for president in 2024. As of this writing, fifteen people have announced candidacies (11 Republicans, 3 Democrats, and 1 third party). The rhetoric is already rancorous and plays on dividing “us” from “them.” I have resolved that I will in no way be a part of this game. I’ve watched friends and families separate. I’ve witnessed the “othering” of various groups–creating “them” versus “us” rather than just “us.” Too many friends, and to be honest, too many fellow followers of Christ are in groups that some would want me to fear or sanction or oppose. I’m not going there. These are family. So here are some things I’ve resolved:

  1. To remind myself daily that Jesus is Lord, and far more important to me than any politician or political party or agenda.
  2. To equally remind myself daily that the global family of God whose first allegiance is to God’s rule is my family and takes precedence over my earthly citizenship, party affiliation, or any other membership. The latter are not unimportant but of lesser importance, penultimate.
  3. I will not discuss political candidates or who I am voting for (and I do believe votes matter) in public, and especially on social media.
  4. I will discuss issues that I care about, and that I think should unite us, even if politicians are trying to use them as a wedge to divide us. To do so means I won’t fit in any of the partisan categories. For example, no party that I know of is consistently pro-life. I believe you cannot be for the lives of some and not for others. Dealing with and limiting the effects of climate change is another. The weather affects all of us.
  5. I will not share memes or stories about politicians and exercise care to ascertain the truthfulness of anything I do share. I will focus on what builds bridges of understanding and work for the common good, not what builds walls.
  6. I will keep scripture and prayer before and above news and monitor the impact of news media on my spirit.
  7. I will remember that politics is “just politics.” Necessary but not the only or most important thing in life. I will not let it take my life captive and as a leader in my congregation, I will resist any attempts to take the church captive to politics.
  8. I will not forget the axiom that “all politics are local.” In our obsession with national politics, we forget that important matters are being weighed by our local school board, our local city council or county commissioners, at our state house.
  9. I will listen to friends who differ with me to understand why other valuable human beings see things so differently. I’ll be glad to talk with others who are similarly curious about me, but not otherwise.
  10. I will focus my life on the Creation Mandates of Genesis 1 and 2, the Great Commandment (Matthew 22:37-40) and the Great Commission (Matthew 28:16-20) and I will work in solidarity with all who share these life-framing commitments of the Christian.

I’ve written here openly about my faith and I realize that not all of you share that faith and that some who share my faith will not share my convictions about how faith should shape one’s approach to the elections. I share this because I don’t want to be caught unawares by another election. If it is helpful for you, all the better. And if not, that’s OK. You are a fellow human being, which is of infinitely greater worth than any political difference.

Review: How to Be a Patriotic Christian

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How to Be a Patriotic Christian, Richard J. Mouw. Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 2022.

Summary: Navigating the space between Christian nationalism and national cynicism, explores how Christians might properly love country within their primary allegiance to Christ, focused around civic kinship and responsibility.

At least in the U.S. setting in which Richard Mouw writes, there often seems to be no middle ground between some form of Christian nationalism and a deep cynicism about any national loyalty. Mouw has navigated this ground over the course of his life, from his days as an “angry young man” protesting Vietnam and racial injustice up to the present, including experiences of tears while touring the American cemetery in Normandy and being present at a Holiday Bowl concert a few days after 9/11. He has wrestled with what the Christian’s primary allegiance to the global kingdom of Jesus means in the context of being a citizen, He invites us to wrestle with him as we consider the possibility and character of being a patriotic Christian.

He describes the basic character of this patriotism early in the book when he writes:

“But patriotism is not just about our relationship to specific government policies and practices. It is about belonging to a community of citizens with whom we share our political allegiances–and even more important, our common humanness. Patriotism is in an important sense more about our participation in a nation than it is about loving a state” (p. 14).

What Mouw argues for is our “civic kinship,” our sense of peoplehood with those who constitute our nation. He proposes that the Boy Scouts are an example of a program in civic kinship, cultivating the kind of character required in our public life with a concern for the place and the people with whom we live. He notes the evidence of the decline in the societal bonds among us and our increasing isolation from each other, and the necessity, in our season of tribalism, to cultivate room in our hearts for those with whom we differ. He appropriates John Calvin’s language of contemplating our fellow human beings in God, not in themselves.

Mouw’s focus on peoplehood and civic kinship calls into question what Mouw considers to be the role of the state. He contends that the preamble of our Constitution actually offers a good delineation of the primary tasks of government: 1) to establish justice, 2) to ensure domestic tranquility, 3) to provide for the common defense, and 4) to promote the general welfare and to secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity. He notes the parallel with Psalm 72 in these four tasks. He cites the Catholic idea of subsidiarity, that higher authorities should not undertake what lower authorities, or even private associations or individual citizens can accomplish, which requires civic responsibility rather than dependence on government authority.

Against some who either implicitly or explicitly believe Christians ought to pursue a theocracy, Mouw supports the idea of our democratic republic, with its protections of differing beliefs rather than compelling uniformity. He believes this creates the space for people to change beliefs of their own, respecting the image of God in human beings. How then do we disagree in a plural society? Mouw encourages active patience (as God has acted toward us), genuine engagement with those with whom we disagree, and an openness that believes all truth is God’s truth, to receive that truth from wherever it appears.

How then should we think of expressions of patriotism within the confines of our church buildings, everything from the presence of flags to the recognition of national holidays? Some would see this as a form of idolatry, or perhaps offensive to those visiting from other countries. Mouw recounts such a conversation where he pushes back, contending that symbols like the flag can remind believers of their Christian calling as citizens, and that Christians in other countries may understand this because of their love for their own countries. Remember, he invited us to wrestle together–there is wrestling going on here! Likewise, there is the need to do careful pastoral teaching–what does it mean to seek the peace and prosperity of the people among whom we live (Jeremiah 29:7) while recognizing our primary allegiance to Christ and that we are part of a global people?

This leads him to consider our patriotic songs, many which invoke the blessing of God, and other civic observances with religious overtones, such as our various pledges and oaths. Is this just an invidious form of civil religion or something the Christian can embrace. Mouw notes the good of an acknowledgment of the transcendent, to which the nation is both accountable and on which it depends.

He concludes this work with four guidelines: 1) to do the work of contemplation to see people in the light of God, 2) to cultivate compassion, 3) to go deep in our quest for rootedness, in Christ, in our place, with our people, and 4) to trust Jesus, in whom are met “the hopes and fears of all the years.”

This is not a massive treatise on Christian political philosophy but a concise work of pastoral theology on what it means to love Jesus and love one’s country, particularly the United States. I affirm his restrained view of the role of the state, an absence of any language of getting the “right” people in office, and his focus on our own civic kinship and responsibility as citizens to pursue the shalom and prosperity of the place where we make our earthly home. His own unashamed expressions of his love of country and solidarity with its people reminded me of similar experiences. Most of all, I appreciate Mouw’s articulation of this rich third way of being patriotic Christians that offers an alternative to the unsatisfying and miserly binary on offer in so much of our national discourse.

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Disclosure of Material Connection: I received a complimentary review copy of this book from the publisher.

Review: What Are Christians For?

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What Are Christians For?, Jake Meador. Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 2022.

Summary: An argument for a Christian politics that recognizes the goodness of all creation including all peoples, that rejects the manipulation of people and places and our own bodies that disregards their nature.

Jake Meador begins this work with the story of Father Ted, who helped a journalist covering apartheid South Africa, escape house arrest and the country. He represents to Meador a kingdom politics committed to life for the whole of life. Meador argues that much of American Christianity divorces faith from creation, from our embodied life, and other human beings, all for our own political and economic ends.

Drawing on the work of Herman Bavinck and Willie Jennings, he describes the immense inheritance we have inherited in the creation and one another. We repudiate this in our Western disregard of both the places we inhabit, living in accord with the particular character of that place, and in our colonization, in our disregard the peoples there before us. The particular expression of our alienation from God for those in the West is the exaltation of whiteness, and the oppression of others. Our reductionist education results in a loss of wonder.

Another reformer points the way back. Martin Bucer taught that the renewal of our relationship with God in Christ renews our relationship to neighbor, to proper governance, and to the care of the land. We learn again to accept the givenness of nature and our place in it. We embrace the household, marriage, and sexuality lived within that relationship, and lives of faithfulness to one another in sickness and health. And we embrace the larger community of God’s people in a particular place. Meador upholds the model of the Bruderhof, who renounce private ownership of material possessions. He advocates for the more challenging work of being this community in one’s own city and neighborhood.

I’m wrestling with my reaction to this book. Meador has great facility for drawing together the work of various theologians, philosophers, and writers, along with some great personal stories. Yet I found the thread of this argument not easy to follow, and a more prolix statement of what Wendell Berry articulates so straightforwardly in What Are People For? and other essays. But it is an important and perceptive argument. The gospel not only restores us to God but to our embodied existence, each other as families and communities, states and the world, and to God’s good earth. It is apparent that our politically and economically captive churches have not heard this enough and this message is so urgent that it cannot be spoken and written and lived enough, until we recover a sense of what Christians are for.

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Disclosure of Material Connection: I received a complimentary review copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. The opinions I have expressed are my own.

Review: Faithful Presence

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Faithful Presence, Bill Haslam. Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 2021.

Summary: The former governor of Tennessee makes the case for Christian engagement in politics, using the model of faithful presence.

Bill Haslam sees a country deeply divided by political issues. We face government gridlock in any attempt to address important issues along partisan lines. But the country itself is divided. Cities versus rural areas. Sometimes even within families. Bill Haslam also believes there has never been a time when it is vital for thoughtful, committed Christians to engage in politics. To bring hope amid despair. To build bridges across divides.

Haslam, a former mayor and then governor of Tennessee, invokes James Davidson Hunter’s idea of “faithful presence” to frame his vision for what Christians ought to strive for in politics. It won’t be easy because of the complexity of the problems, the divides that exist, and the media that feeds on such division. (He tells a story of building merit-based promotion and pay into civil service, and having a very short media interview, because he had worked with unions and opposition early, developing proposals meeting concerns of various stakeholders. There was no ongoing conflict!) Through story and biblical principle, he elaborates both what “faithful” and “presence” in political office might look like.

Faithfulness means attempting to “think biblically about our politics rather than thinking politically about our faith.” For example, he advocated for (and lost) the expansion of Medicaid–an unpopular act for a Republican that was rebuffed by his legislature–because he was convinced it would serve “the least of these.” It means caring for the public good even when it others play dirty. He contends for the unpopular quality of meekness, of allowing that others might have good ideas, and sometimes we might be wrong. He cites Jim Collins From Good to Great that the most effective leaders often combined humility with professional will. He contends that belief in the image of God even in those who oppose one or who are different is crucial to serve the public good–otherwise, one comes to objectify people.

“Presence” is the other part of this calling. The idea of separation of church and state does not preclude Christians from politics. One may advance legislation that reflects Christian commitments when it neither establishes religion nor impairs anyone’s right of free exercise. By the same token, some issues that reflect one’s values may be contrary to constitutional protections. Haslam shares examples of each during his tenure.

He also talks about the joy of his work. He writes, “But there was never a day as mayor or governor when I did not feel honored to get to do my job. Every day, as I walked up the steps of the state capitol, I thought to myself, I can’t believe I get to do this.” Nowhere was this more apparent than when he had the opportunity to pardon Cyntoia Brown, convicted of murder as a juvenile and not eligible for parole until she was 68. She was being trafficked. He felt that he had the chance to use his role as governor to bring gospel justice and mercy together. He concludes the book by sharing other examples both of what faithful presence looks like and the difference it can make. And in the end, it is not only the difference we can make, but how public service can be used of God to form us in Christ-likeness.

While I appreciate Haslam’s account, I found myself wondering whether what he is proposing can go very far in the hyper-partisan atmosphere of party-base politics and gerrymandered electorates. The only thing that occurs to me is that this also might be part of faithfulness–to not swerve from biblical integrity, humility, and a commitment to see all as made in the imago dei no matter how vicious it gets. Perhaps in a personal memoir it is not appropriate to speak too much about Christian courage, but this also seems to be an aspect of faithfulness.

Haslam’s book also serves as a benchmark for candidates professing Christian belief, no matter the party. His challenge of thinking biblically about politics rather than conforming our beliefs to our politics could transform politics tomorrow. The fact that it doesn’t tells us how deeply the “Christianity” of many of our politicians go, and the contempt they show for the electorate. Haslam speaks of political office as a “noble calling,” no less so than the ministry that Haslam had at one time considered. In a time when neither profession garner the respect they once did, this book is both a breath of fresh air and a prophetic word for a country and often a church consumed with our political divisions. There is a better way.

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Disclosure of Material Connection: I received a complimentary review copy of this book from the publisher via Netgalley. The opinions I have expressed are my own.

Review: The Liturgy of Politics

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The Liturgy of Politics, Kaitlyn Schiess (Foreword by Michael Wear). Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 2020.

Summary: Drawing on the thought of James K. A. Smith, explores how the liturgies of our lives shape our political engagement and the gospel-shaped formative practices our Christian communities may embrace.

You don’t have to go any further than the recent elections to illustrate the messiness of our politics. Some of us are tempted to have nothing to do with it. Yet much of life is political–from the allocation of local school buildings to Supreme Court picks. Alternatively, we look for candidates who embrace “biblical” positions on what we consider vital issues and support them regardless of the character of the candidate, or stances on other issues that also have biblical implications. Furthermore, among certain Christian communities, one’s political affiliation is treated as an article of faith. I’ve seen Christians say “if you don’t support ______, you are not a Christian.”

Kaitlyn Schiess grew up in one such community and attended one of the colleges notable for its alignment with conservative politics, witnessing and experiencing everything I’ve described. She began groping for a different way to imagine political involvement as a Christian. As she read the work of James K. A. Smith she applied his thinking about how the “liturgies,” the thick formative practices of our lives, shape how we engage in our politics.

She begins by looking at the shaping liturgies of our political life, the liturgies of loyalty (“us” versus “them”), of fear (whether it is climate change or immigrants), and idolatry (political influence). These liturgies are informed by counterfeit forms of the gospel: prosperity, patriotism (American exceptionalism), security, and sadly, white supremacy. Schiess contends these are framed as compelling narratives, sometimes in our churches, more often in online media, talk radio and television.

As an alternative, Schiess begins by asking for what are we saved? Her answer is we are saved for the life of the world. The political realm is not the place where we realize the kingdom of God on earth but rather where we steward our calling to care for the creation and pursue the flourishing of other creatures created in God’s image. We our “border stalkers,” involved in our communities and formed in the polis of the church, shaped by the story of scripture heard in a community that transcends our cultural, racial, and national divisions. The church is the community that practices hospitality to the stranger, and in baptism and the Lord’s table transforms the stranger to “one of us.” We learn to shape the rhythms of our lives by the church calendar of feasting and fasting, of waiting and celebrating, of working and resting, and living out our faith in “ordinary time.” The disciplines of prayer and hospitality further shape us.

All this looks forward to the coming kingdom. Drawing on Augustine, Schiess explore life lived between the city of man and the city of God. We live in a space between lament and longing that she refers to as “confession.” We are aware of the limitations of sin as well as our longings for redemption. We live toward the vision of the new Jerusalem, bringing an anticipation and a witness of the future into the present. Yet how do we do so? Some is to listen to how communities on the margins read the story of kingdom come. As we live toward the kingdom, our resistance to earthly powers may put us there.

This is an important first work in political formation by Schiess. It addresses how we might form a Christian political imagination and engagement, something desperately needed in a Christian landscape dominated more by online and media pundits than formative Christian communities. I hope Schiess will keep writing on this subject, perhaps going deeper in describing how real communities are implementing redemptive political liturgies in their formative practices. We need narratives of Christian communities who are doing this and how this transforms their political engagements.

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Disclosure of Material Connection: I received a complimentary review copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. The opinions I have expressed are my own.

Review: Choosing Donald Trump

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Choosing Donald Trump

Choosing Donald Trump, Stephen Mansfield. Grand Rapids: Baker Books, 2017.

Summary: Written just after the election of Donald J. Trump to the presidency, this book explores his character and formative influences, what his appeal was to the voters who elected him, and a call for the church to exercise “prophetic distance” in its relationship with this and all presidents.

I think it is safe to say that the United States has never seen a president like Donald J. Trump. That may be the one thing both those who support him and those who oppose him agree upon. When I came across Mansfield’s book, I wasn’t sure what I would encounter. However, I had read his fascinating narrative (reviewed here) of the Guinness family and the beer that bears their name, and so I thought I would take a chance on this book. There are several reasons I’m glad I did.

But first for an overview of the book. Mansfield begins with the unlikely rise of Trump, and the puzzling phenomenon of his defeat of a huge Republican field, with many candidates of accomplishment, character and religious faith, and then his defeat of a Democratic candidate who had probably spoken of her own religious faith more extensively and thoughtfully than most candidates. Though apparently religiously illiterate while claiming faith, known for sharp business practices, serial marriages, and sexually crude language about women and allegations of sexual impropriety, he managed to get elected with 81 percent of whites identifying as “evangelical” voting for him. Mansfield explores his background, and particularly the profound influence his father had upon his boy, who he nicknamed both “King” and “Killer,” raising a young man who always believed he must win, and for whom ruthlessness toward that end was warranted. Both military academy and early business associations with lawyer Roy Cohn deepened the killer instinct of this man who thought he must be king.

Oddly, this utterly secular, ruthless young man nevertheless had religious influences. The pastor who most influenced him was Norman Vincent Peale, with his theology of positive thought. For a young man relentlessly driven to pursue success to win the father approval he never knew, this was the ideal “theology,” one that brooked no possibility of failure or defeat, but believed that you could eventually do what you dream. Peale’s death left a religious vacuum in his life filled by evangelical prosperity televangelist Paula White, who Trump first met around 2000, who helped gather a group of pastors to pray for him in 2011, as he was grappling with a decision to run, counseling him that the time was not yet, and who now chairs his evangelical advisory council. She prayed at his inauguration, vigorously defends him as a born-again Christian, and has helped gather support of key evangelical leaders.

In the third part of the book, Mansfield turns from the formative influences in Trump’s life, past and present, to the factors, that propelled Trump into the White House. He speaks of the growing concern of evangelical leaders of Obama administration decisions that both violated moral convictions and policies that were encroaching on religious liberties. A pivotal point for Trump was when he realized the role the Johnson Amendment played in silencing evangelicals in the pulpit who wanted to speak out against these policies and support those who opposed them. He made overturning this amendment his rallying cry in support of religious liberty. He also offered an alternative to a candidate on one hand far more religious, and yet one whose statements about gay rights, in support of Planned Parenthood, and lack of engagement with evangelicals suggest to these evangelical leaders that things would only get worse in her administration. The result was support of Trump, likened to King Cyrus, a pagan king who yet accomplishes God’s purposes in liberating the Jews from exile. Finally, Mansfield briefly discusses how Trump proclaimed himself the “voice” of white working-class people struggling in the Obama economy, saying things people only felt free to say at dinner tables and working class bars.

The last part of the book discusses the relationship of religious leaders around the presidency and advocates a stance Mansfield calls “prophetic distance.” He describes how in the early years Billy Graham was seduced by presidential access and the decisions he later made:

“Graham’s conclusion about his ministry was telling. After all of his years of friendships with presidents and being asked to comment on politics, he finally realized, ‘I have one message” — the gospel. He decided in his later years that he could have done more good by speaking his truth to presidents and politicians than by allowing himself to be pulled into their orbits, thus dissipating his message” (p. 137).

He then highlights the example of Paul Marc Goulet’s International Church of Las Vegas, and his Latino co-pastor Pasqual Urrabazo, who met Trump at a meeting at Trump Tower and told Trump of how offended he was about the things said of Hispanics and how wrong he was on immigration policy. Trump asked to meet his people and attend his church. Goulet did not give him the pulpit but allowed him to visit the church’s school, where he met former Vegas gang members. Goulet later said, “I won’t endorse candidates. But I will give them a chance to hear truth and see it in action. I will show them a picture of what, with God’s help, they might be.” This is what Mansfield believes the religious leaders who have gained access to Trump must do, or they will pay a great price.

As I mentioned, I liked this book for several reasons. One was that it was neither a hagiography or a screed, but a nuanced treatment of Trump, although I would have appreciated a stronger treatment of the element of racism in Trump’s appeal. The background of Trump’s life helped me realize this is both an extraordinarily driven, and yet wounded individual, that even at his father’s funeral had to talk about what his father would have thought of him. I also appreciated the chapters on the religious influences in his life. In particular, I had not appreciated the role Paula White has and continues to play in his life (see this recent story in the Washington Post). Finally, his advocacy of a role of “prophetic distance” for religious leaders who have access to the president is one I think important.

What the book doesn’t answer is whether those around the president have the breadth of vision that addresses the prophetic concerns of the Old Testament prophets for the poor, the stranger, and the marginalized of all ethnicities, and warns against the idolatry and materialism of the rich as well as advocating for a pro-life ethic and other concerns most popular among conservative evangelicals, including concerns for sexual morality in word and action.  What those who do enjoy this access to the president must consider, as Mansfield notes, is that they will face a great reckoning for how they have used this access. For the rest of us, whatever we think of the evangelical advisers around the president, it suggests they are worthy of our prayers, and perhaps our own prophetic engagement as their brothers and sisters.

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Disclosure of Material Connection: I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own.