In his book Political Gospel, Patrick Schreiner helps pastors answer the question: What does a faithful Christian public witness look like?
By Daniel Darling
What does faithful Christian witness look like for an American Christian? This is the topic many believers are grappling with as we head toward the November presidential election. Patrick Schreiner, associate professor of New Testament at Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, offers his thesis in a provocatively titled book, Political Gospel.
Schriener, a prolific New Testament scholar, persuasively argues there is no way to avoid politics. In fact, he says, “Christianity is political.” In the opening pages, he writes, “It has become a truism to state that Jesus didn’t come with a political message. As the common trope goes, though Israel expected a warrior-king to come riding on a white horse to overthrow Rome, He came with a spiritual message about their hearts. Jesus simply wants a relationship with you. The problem is, this is a half truth.”
Political Gospel then walks through key New Testament texts to show readers how the announcement of the gospel and the kingdom of God was a political statement in Jesus’s day. This does not, Schriener asserts, imply that Christians should be excessively partisan, nor does it require a state church.
“‘Political Gospel’ walks through key New Testament texts to show readers how the announcement of the gospel and the kingdom of God was a political statement in Jesus’s day.” — @dandarling Share on XThe New Testament and politics
Yet, he insists the New Testament should guide Christians to avoid two extremes. The first temptation is to place all our faith in politics and white knuckle every election season without faith in Christ, who has “conquered the world (John 16:33).” But the other temptation is to withdraw from the process out of a misguided understanding of a Christian’s place in the world and the kingdom of God. “I’m not merely suggesting that Christianity has political implications. Christianity itself is a politic,” Schreiner asserts.
What makes Political Gospel a welcome resource for political theology is Schreiner’s role as a New Testament scholar. He dives into the history and background of the gospels and helps readers understand the political symbolism of Jesus’s life, death, and resurrection in ways that aren’t often immediately recognized by Bible readers. In other words, he’s not a pundit trying to proof-text verses to match his political instincts; he’s a New Testament scholar applying the Scripture to our current political moment.
Assessing allegiances
One of the most helpful sections in Political Gospel is the discussion about the ordering of allegiances. Too often, Christian leaders use clichéd phrases that pit allegiance to the kingdom of God with our responsibilities as American citizens.
But applying 1 Peter 2:17, Schreiner echoes the thinking of writers such as C.S. Lewis and G.K. Chesterton to resist this false dichotomy and instead seek to order our commitments properly. Speaking of first-century Christians and believers today, he says, “They are to honor all (even the emperor) but reserve a special place in their hearts for God and His people. They have dual loyalties. But these loyalties don’t always have to compete. There is an order.” Echoing Augustine, he continues, “One citizenship does not cancel out the other, though one is primary. As Augustine argued, we live in the city of man and the city of God. Two political entities exist at the same time. They are interconnected, but not identical.”
“As Augustine argued, we live in the city of man and the city of God. Two political entities exist at the same time. They are interconnected, but not identical.” — @pj_schreiner Share on XPastors and public witness
Pastors seeking guidance for the current political moment will not find analysis of the marginal tax rates or a primer on foreign policy in Political Gospel. But they will find a helpful guide to the bigger question at stake: How should I steward my American citizenship as a faithful citizen of the kingdom of God?
Political Gospel urges contemporary believers to avoid both triumphalism, which always leads to disappointment, and cynicism and escapism, which neglects the opportunity to care for our neighbors. Instead, it urges what Schriener calls “mindful activism,” which is active engagement with an understanding of the limits of politics and the realization that even as we can do some good, we’ll never achieve what is promised only in that blessed world to come.
“Political Gospel urges contemporary believers to avoid both triumphalism, which always leads to disappointment, and cynicism and escapism, which neglects the opportunity to care for our neighbors.” — @dandarling Share on XI highly recommend pastors read this book and perhaps offer it as a resource to help their members understand key New Testament passages that relate to the church and the state and to help form the political theology of their people. It avoids excessive partisanship, yet goes beyond the bland clichés that have many Christians retreating from politics and engagement in the first place. And what better place for the people of God to get equipped for live as a participant in this earthly democracy than with the gathering of their local members of that heavenly kingdom?
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Dan Darling
Dan is the director of the Land Center for Cultural Engagement at Southwestern Seminary. He is the bestselling author of several books, including Agents of Grace.
