The Fourfold Office of Christ: A New Typology for Relating Church and World
Ebook
How should the church relate to the world?
For over seven decades, the classic categories of Christ and Culture have monopolized Christian answers to this question. Nearly everyone bought into H. Richard Niebuhr's lofty, world-transforming vision. And now that everyone's trying to make the world better, we keep clashing about how to do so.
We all want God's will to be done on earth as in heaven, but deep disagreements about how to get there keep fracturing Christ's body and subverting our testimony. Jesus was right: our witness to the world depends on our unity and our love for one another. In recent years, we've been failing at both. Political partisanship and constant infighting have wounded the vulnerable and driven countless people from the pews.
It's time to revisit church-world relations with fresh eyes and a stubborn commitment to God's revelation in Scripture. Offering a new typology for the twenty-first century, The Fourfold Office of Christ lucidly examines the most common ways of relating church and world. John C. Nugent employs the memorable categories of prophet, priest, king, and servant to showcase the strengths and weaknesses of various approaches. He then charts a rigorously scriptural and surprisingly hopeful path forward.
“The news media surround-sounds us with politics and elections, 24/7. It has become impossible not to take a stand, not to develop a view, not to form a politics. It’s also possible to do all this without solid footings in the gospel or the design of God for his people to be witnesses in the world. John Nugent’s very clever, but compelling model of the fourfold offices of Christ as the Christian posture toward politics will prove to be useful to all who listen carefully.”
—Scot McKnight, professor of New Testament, Northern Seminary
“What is the fundamental function and mission of the people of God? How do disciples of Jesus envision their role in the world? Rulers (sharing dominion)? Servants (social change agents)? Prophets (speaking truth to power)? Priests (mediating salvation and praise)? Hybrid (some sort of combination)? Employing a historical, narratival, and Christocentric reading of Scripture, John Nugent explores the promise and peril of each option. Poking the bear at almost every turn, his engagement is worth vigorous discussion in every local church.”
—John Mark Hicks, professor of theology, Lipscomb University
“For Christians who are engaged in social, political, and cultural issues, this book is a must-read. John Nugent provides a much-needed update and alternative to Niebuhr’s Christ and culture typology and guides us through the landscape of contemporary models of relating church and world. Nugent charitably tests these models by Scripture and puts forth a constructive proposal that is both compelling and timely.”
—Branson Parler, professor of theology, The Foundry
- Title: The Fourfold Office of Christ: A New Typology for Relating Church and World
- Author: John C. Nugent
- Publisher: Cascade Books
- Print Publication Date: 2024
- Logos Release Date: 2024
- Language: English
- Resources: 1
- Format: Digital › Ebook
- ISBNs: 9781666770827, 9781666770803, 1666770809, 9781666770810, 1666770817, 1666770825
- Resource ID: LLS:9781666770827
- Resource Type: Monograph
- Metadata Last Updated: 2024-01-08T21:46:07Z
John C. Nugent serves as VPAA and professor of Bible and theology at Great Lakes Christian College. He has cohosted the Bible-focused After Class Podcast every week since 2018. He is the author of Politics of Yahweh (2011), Endangered Gospel (2016), Genesis 1–11 (2019), and Priestly Presence (2024).