“A misunderstanding of how our faith should function can provide fertile ground both for the lure of temptation and the power of systems.” —Miroslav Volf

As Miroslav Volf’snew book argues, the Christian faith is intrinsically a public, prophetic faith. Any attempt to deny this injures not only the Church but also the “City of Man” as well. But as Volf also argues, the “proper functioning” of Christian faith in public life is a profound challenge. As American Christians become increasingly involved in public life, one area in particular that we must all be watchful of is the proper functioning of those who are both ordained ministers and active political voices.

My own writing has led me to analyze these “dual role” activists—people like Rev. Jim Wallis, Rev. Samuel Rodriguez, Fr.Robert Sirico, Bishop Harry Jackson, and Rev. Fred Shuttlesworth. While not prescribing any one method for how individuals with dual roles in both ecclesial and civic life should function, I think there are at least four good reasons, each consistent with Volf’s book, why Christian individuals and institutions should be especially mindful of those who hold dual roles:

1) Dual role leaders are subject to heightened levels of what Volf calls “the lure of temptation.” The intoxicating power of media attention, for instance, is a challenge for religious leaders and political leaders, and it is all the more enticing to those who are both. This does not mean that leaders of religious communities should not necessarily be leaders of political constituencies, but it means that their fellow Christians owe it to them to be aware of the extraordinary temptations that these individuals face.

2) Dual role leaders are particularly susceptible to what Volf calls “the power of systems”, which is to say that they are vulnerable to manipulation by other religious and/or political organizations precisely because of the power those organizations perceive dual leaders having. On the positive side, this can lead to effective coalition building; on the negative side, it can weaken the prophetic voice we expect to hear from religious leaders because they are forced to weigh the effect their words will have on the powers that they have come to represent.

3) When ordained Christian ministers enter into the messy realm of secular political affairs, their actions will affect how the wider Christianity community is perceived in a way that is different from the impact of a lay Christian political activist or commentator. This is particularly true of Christian ministers who claim to represent denominations, large coalitions, and/or specific ethnic groups—they gain political access precisely because of those claims, so how they represent themselves is rightly seen as a representation of those communities. Their integrity level affects the integrity level of the individuals and institutions they claim to represent.

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