"Change the World"?
I'm sitting in my office at the church, so this will be brief.
I've ruminated a lot lately on politics, transformation, and Christian discipleship. Just a few weeks ago I completed (it's a pretty quick read) Electing Not to Vote: Christian Reflections on Reasons for Not Voting. I have recognized for some time now that the ritual of voting in American democracy, and the infrastructure supporting it, are both deeply problematic. From a variety of perspectives (black, white, and naturalized; Mennonite, Pentecostal, Baptist, and Catholic) the contributors of this volume have demythologized voting as "the solution" or as "speaking your voice" and have raised a series of important questions that the people in the pews should hear and consider.
I want to be a part of real solutions, however, and not just a self-righteous megaphone or a muttering cynic. With that in mind, I have spent part of this Election Day reading Romand Coles and Stanley Hauerwas' Christianity, Democracy, and the Radical Ordinary: Conversations between a Radical Democrat and a Christian. Hauerwas, as most visitors of this blog are aware, is Duke's infamous and iconoclastic Christian ethicist. Rom Coles, formerly of Duke as well, is a political scientist and community activist. Through the agency of their students they became friends and then began a conversation and co-taught a class which served as the basis for this book. Together, they invite us to consider a politics of radical receptivity that will challenge our current deficient system, which they identify as a "politics of death." I hope to learn much from their conversation on radical democracy and radical ecclesia.
In the meantime, I may have to settle today for pointing out the bold and ultimately blasphemous claims made by the idolaters who bow before the altar of the political process as it currently brokers power relationships. It seems that voting has become, for Americans, a modern Pelagian soteriology and eschatology. What will our collective "efforts" (pushing a button or filling in an oval is the barest of political acts) accomplish? Why, they will change the world. It's not just reporter Christiane Amanpour who is breathless with anticipation over the redemption of Zion. Spend some time scrolling down and read the messianic theologies contained in the readers' comments. "We wait for the new dawn!" writes one.
Not that I dispute there are notable differences between the candidates. Nor do I pretend that the winner will surely make significant decisions as president. And, finally, while I wince at Obama-worship, I am even more disgusted with the (implied or explicit) racist imprecations hurled against him.
But God help Christians, whether their conscience led them to vote or abstain, to soundly declare our faith and confidence that the dawn has come, the world is changing, and it's because we submit to the King who reigned from a tree. How pitiful it will be if Christians in America invest more emotional and spiritual energy into this day than they will twenty-six days from now, the beginning of Advent. The light has come into the world. Thanks be to God!
I've ruminated a lot lately on politics, transformation, and Christian discipleship. Just a few weeks ago I completed (it's a pretty quick read) Electing Not to Vote: Christian Reflections on Reasons for Not Voting. I have recognized for some time now that the ritual of voting in American democracy, and the infrastructure supporting it, are both deeply problematic. From a variety of perspectives (black, white, and naturalized; Mennonite, Pentecostal, Baptist, and Catholic) the contributors of this volume have demythologized voting as "the solution" or as "speaking your voice" and have raised a series of important questions that the people in the pews should hear and consider.
I want to be a part of real solutions, however, and not just a self-righteous megaphone or a muttering cynic. With that in mind, I have spent part of this Election Day reading Romand Coles and Stanley Hauerwas' Christianity, Democracy, and the Radical Ordinary: Conversations between a Radical Democrat and a Christian. Hauerwas, as most visitors of this blog are aware, is Duke's infamous and iconoclastic Christian ethicist. Rom Coles, formerly of Duke as well, is a political scientist and community activist. Through the agency of their students they became friends and then began a conversation and co-taught a class which served as the basis for this book. Together, they invite us to consider a politics of radical receptivity that will challenge our current deficient system, which they identify as a "politics of death." I hope to learn much from their conversation on radical democracy and radical ecclesia.
In the meantime, I may have to settle today for pointing out the bold and ultimately blasphemous claims made by the idolaters who bow before the altar of the political process as it currently brokers power relationships. It seems that voting has become, for Americans, a modern Pelagian soteriology and eschatology. What will our collective "efforts" (pushing a button or filling in an oval is the barest of political acts) accomplish? Why, they will change the world. It's not just reporter Christiane Amanpour who is breathless with anticipation over the redemption of Zion. Spend some time scrolling down and read the messianic theologies contained in the readers' comments. "We wait for the new dawn!" writes one.
Not that I dispute there are notable differences between the candidates. Nor do I pretend that the winner will surely make significant decisions as president. And, finally, while I wince at Obama-worship, I am even more disgusted with the (implied or explicit) racist imprecations hurled against him.
But God help Christians, whether their conscience led them to vote or abstain, to soundly declare our faith and confidence that the dawn has come, the world is changing, and it's because we submit to the King who reigned from a tree. How pitiful it will be if Christians in America invest more emotional and spiritual energy into this day than they will twenty-six days from now, the beginning of Advent. The light has come into the world. Thanks be to God!
The people who walked in darkness
have seen a great light;
those who dwelt in a land of deep darkness,
on them a light has shined.
Isaiah 9:2
Labels: Discipleship
I agree. Good post. I, too, did not vote, albeit for different reasons. I am a monarchist. Remember the Simpsons' episode where Sideshow Bob tried to get rid of television while appearing on television to do so? Well, it would be odd for me, a monarchist, to "vote" for a leader.
PS: I used to know Hauerwas' positions on democratic capitalisms, etc. But I forgot them. I used to listen to as much of his audio as possible.
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Jacob |
Tuesday, November 04, 2008 9:37:00 PM
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