A Different Sort of Ink
Press ink! Something to read rather than wear....
The bible's account of the last week of Jesus life, portrayed from four perspectives, is a great read for this time of the year. And it also should be a must read for all those espousing a faith based politics. My faith deeply informs my politics, but I have always been wary of the Religious Right. But that doesn't mean I'm at all comfortable with the left's newfound discovery of faith as a motivating factor for political action. Here are two essays as to why, even though it is a shrewd move politically on the part of the Democrats, that a politicized Jesus does not fit with the biblical picture of Jesus. In each of the Gospel accounts he specifically refuses to be co-opted by any of the political partisans of his day. The essay by Wills is from the last few days. The one on Reinhold Neibuhr is from last Fall.
Neibuhr was the one who developed five typologies for the way Christians interact with culture: Christ of culture, Christ against culture, Christ above culture, Christ and culture, Christ transforming culture. When Christ is brought into politics as a partisan force it is typically either as Christ against culture or Christ of culture. Often a group will be espousing both, as seen in the RR's claim of a Christian America and the rant that society has fallen from our Christian heritage. But a politicized Jesus can never encompass the full range of the biblical witness to the reality of Jesus. So if you want Jesus 100% behind your party platform you get stuck with a cardboard Jesus. But isn't that appropriate. All they really wanted was a campaign poster!
One can acknowledge the religious roots of our country's founding and still not be a proponent of a shift back toward a theocracy. But that doesn't mean support for the separation of church and state as it's currently professed by the left either. Their concept with it's high wall creates as much of a theocracy as the Religious Right seeks -- it's just the god that's served is different, and the religion has different doctrines and precepts. For more on this one should read Stephen L. Carter's The Culture of Disbelief. It's an older book, but still valid in it's arguments.
A different bit of ink for y'all after Kurt's Inked adventures.
The bible's account of the last week of Jesus life, portrayed from four perspectives, is a great read for this time of the year. And it also should be a must read for all those espousing a faith based politics. My faith deeply informs my politics, but I have always been wary of the Religious Right. But that doesn't mean I'm at all comfortable with the left's newfound discovery of faith as a motivating factor for political action. Here are two essays as to why, even though it is a shrewd move politically on the part of the Democrats, that a politicized Jesus does not fit with the biblical picture of Jesus. In each of the Gospel accounts he specifically refuses to be co-opted by any of the political partisans of his day. The essay by Wills is from the last few days. The one on Reinhold Neibuhr is from last Fall.
Neibuhr was the one who developed five typologies for the way Christians interact with culture: Christ of culture, Christ against culture, Christ above culture, Christ and culture, Christ transforming culture. When Christ is brought into politics as a partisan force it is typically either as Christ against culture or Christ of culture. Often a group will be espousing both, as seen in the RR's claim of a Christian America and the rant that society has fallen from our Christian heritage. But a politicized Jesus can never encompass the full range of the biblical witness to the reality of Jesus. So if you want Jesus 100% behind your party platform you get stuck with a cardboard Jesus. But isn't that appropriate. All they really wanted was a campaign poster!
One can acknowledge the religious roots of our country's founding and still not be a proponent of a shift back toward a theocracy. But that doesn't mean support for the separation of church and state as it's currently professed by the left either. Their concept with it's high wall creates as much of a theocracy as the Religious Right seeks -- it's just the god that's served is different, and the religion has different doctrines and precepts. For more on this one should read Stephen L. Carter's The Culture of Disbelief. It's an older book, but still valid in it's arguments.
A different bit of ink for y'all after Kurt's Inked adventures.
posted by Wake of the Flood at 1:04 PM
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