The Politics of the Cross: A Christian Alternative to Partisanship
Overview
Where do Christians fit in a two-party political system?
The partisan divide that is rending the nation is now tearing apart American churches. On one side are Christian Right activists and other conservatives who believe that a vote for a Democratic presidential candidate is a vote for abortion, sexual immorality, gender confusion, and the loss of religious liberty for Christians. On the other side are politically progressive Christians who are considering leaving the institutional church because of white evangelicalism’s alliance with a Republican Party that they believe is racist, hateful toward immigrants, scornful of the poor, and directly opposed to the principles that Jesus taught. Even while sharing the same pew, these two sides often see the views of the other as hopelessly wrongheaded—even evil. Is there a way to transcend this deep-seated division?
The Politics of the Cross draws on history, policy analysis, and biblically centered theology to show how Christians can protect the unborn, defend marriage, promote racial justice, care for the poor, and, above all, honor the gospel by adopting a cross-focused ethic instead of the idolatrous politics of power, fear, or partisanship. As Daniel K. Williams illustrates, both the Republican and Democratic parties are grounded in Christian principles, but both have distorted those principles and mixed them with assumptions that are antithetical to biblical truth. Williams explains how Christians can renounce partisanship and pursue policies that show love for our neighbors to achieve a biblical vision of justice.
Nuanced, detailed, and even-handed, The Politics of the Cross tackles the thorny issues that divide Christians politically and offers a path forward for innovative, biblically minded political approaches that might surprise Christians on both the left and the right.
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- Draws on history, policy analysis, and biblically centered theology
- Promotes a cross-focused ethic instead of the idolatrous politics of power, fear, or partisanship
- Explores issues that divide Christians politically
- Introduction: A Different Kind of Politics
- The Protestant Moralism of the Republican Party
- The Secularized Liberal Protestantism of the Democratic Party
- Abortion
- Marriage and Sexuality
- Race
- Wealth and Poverty
- Afterword: Cross-Centered Politics and the Preservation of the Nation
Top Highlights
“There are limits to what a law can do if it is out of step with prevailing cultural norms, and Christians need to be aware of this. One of our goals in the voting booth should be to reduce immorality—but that may or may not take place through a legal prohibition.” (Page 14)
“What is the purpose of Christian engagement in the political system? Is it to save the nation from immorality? Is it to protect the rights of Christians? Is it to bring civil law into closer conformity with the laws of God?” (Page 7)
“As the opening line of the Westminster Shorter Catechism declares, our” (Page 7)
“In assuming that the United States was a Christian nation that could repent through political change and therefore receive God’s blessing, the Christian Right confused theological, national, and political categories and demonstrated a distorted understanding of the nature of God’s covenants.” (Page 50)
“Christian Right activists are mistaken to think that the passage of legislation can be a primary means of averting national judgment, since there is no indication that righteous laws alone can protect a nation of people whose hearts are wicked.” (Page 51)
- Title: The Politics of the Cross: A Christian Alternative to Partisanship
- Author: Daniel Williams
- Publisher: Eerdmans
- Print Publication Date: 2021
- Logos Release Date: 2021
- Pages: 326
- Era: era:contemporary
- Language: English
- Resources: 1
- Format: Digital › Logos Reader Edition
- Subject: Christianity and politics
- ISBNs: 9780802878519, 0802878512
- Resource ID: LLS:PLTCSCRPRTSNSHP
- Resource Type: Monograph
- Metadata Last Updated: 2022-09-30T02:15:53Z