what is your take on church and politics?
2 September 2008 12 Comments
Yes, I asked it… What is your approach to church and politics?
A serious reading of Scripture—all of it really, but in reference to Jesus’ life and ministry, the New Testament and Gospels in particular are instructive for us—shows that Christian faith has political implications. “Jesus is Lord” is a political statement, after all, since it was a rejection of the claim that “Caesar is Lord.”
And yet there is much difference of opinion concerning how we Christians should live out the political nature of our faith in the public sphere—I speak of America in particular, since this is where I live.
I’ve got more thoughts on this topic that I’m trying to bring together, but for now, I’d like to share this quiz from Leadership Journal that I came across recently that helps get at the major stances toward the church and politics, regardless of one’s beliefs about particular issues. It maps one on a grid according to two axes: politically engaged or politically disengaged, and the church as prophet or the church as chaplain.
Enjoy, and leave your results in the comments…if you dare! (I will)
About guy m williams
I turned out to be a “quiet critic.”
I scored as a “radical reformer.” But not so radical in relative terms: medium high on the prophetic side, moderate on the politically engaged side.
BULLSEYE!!
Is that too non-committal?
yes, Jay. I’ve actually been concerned lately about how non-committal you are to a position ;)
Scored 42 on part 1 and 31 on part 2 which makes me a Radical Reformer… interesting since Guy and I are very different theologicall but landed in the same place, I am guessing that if the answers were fill in the blank there would have been much different results!
Ah, as for scores, I had a 38 on part 1 and a 23 on part 2. Hmm, Stacy…I’m curious too.
One thing I’ve noticed in recent years–maybe its a Gen-X thing, I don’t know–is that people can have different theological starting points but end up in similar places on social justice issues, which, it seems to me, is mostly what we’re dealing with when we land on the prophetic end of that axis.
It’s also the case that the quiz doesn’t measure any particular issues but how you approach any issue you focus on. Therefore it slices the population differently than most of our usual slicings.
I scored 37 and 20 – within the “radical Reformer” quadrant.
Thanks for the find!
Private Patriot!
Richard H #7: I think that’s one of this quizzes best contributions.
Radical Reformer – not surprised by that, but I hope I am living it out, by the grace of God.
Tommy
Quiet Critic. Not surprising to me. :-)
Rick