During the past week there were two brief blog entries on the Reformation 21 blog that provide some interesting (and humorous) information for our more ‘politically active’ readers.

Question Posed by Blogger Paul Levy
(Paul Levy is pastor of the International Presbyterian Church of Ealing, London, UK.)

I go away to the Algarve for a week of sunshine and tennis only to stumble back to Ref 21 and find that the whole thing has gone politics mad.

Talk of the left and the right, Trueman trying to sell his new book on his third way. Derek’s off to the Kremlin.

The issue for me is why are so many reformed Christians in the US seemingly obsessed with politics? I just don’t get it; I don’t mean that in a critical way, I just don’t understand it. Derek alludes to it in his post but the issues across the pond here are just not so clear cut.

One of the joys of ministering in the congregation where I serve is that politically all of life is here from the loony left to those who are just to the right of Genghis Khan. I would have it no other way.

I enjoy politics in the UK though at the moment the political scene looks more like the seven dwarfs with no snow white. I’m conscious that Christians are to play an active role in the world where they live; we’re to engage and get stuck in. We’re to pray for leaders of our governments, we are to lobby and exert influence where we can. There is not one inch of life that Christ does not rule over. Of course, of course, of course.

British evangelicalism has wrongly often retreated into pietism. Dr Lloyd Jones is a great hero of mine but as far as I can see makes no mention in his writings or made no public stand on abortion. In 1967 when it would have been being debated in parliament and the Dr was at the height of his powers, if he would have lent his weight to the campaign it would have had a significant galvanising effect on reformed Christians but it seems he remained pretty much silent at least in public.

On the other hand I’ve been to America 3 times, as you can imagine the invitations have been flooding in since joining Ref21. (I’ve been asked to host the reformed dyslexics’ awards ceremony; Christian Focus will sponsor the event!) But each time I’ve preached in the US apart from people commenting about my accent on the door, most of the questions have been about politics.

When I said I was a big fan of the West Wing my hosts teeth nearly fell out and I was told whatever you do don’t mention that in your sermon.

It’s an honest question from a simple seeker in the UK, why the big fuss over politics? It may well be that I’m missing something. I’m sure Carl may address it in his book but unless a free copy arrives in the post there’s no chance of me reading it so tell me fellow bloggers!

An Answer to Levy by Carl Trueman
(Carl Trueman is Departmental Chair of Church History at Westminster Theological Seminary in Philadelphia)

Good to see that Paul is back from `the Algarve.’ Clearly the word has become a euphemism for a short term of solitary confinement for those who have corrupted the nation’s youth and committed crimes too numerous to mention against the English language.

To answer Paul on politics in brief points, the passions here would seem to have a number of origins:

1. A deeper cultural suspicion of government than is typical in Europe, thanks to very different national histories.

2. A politics where economic arguments are by-and-large over peripheral issues (marginal tax rates etc.) and thus the party-political focus has come to rest on social and cultural matters (typically identity politics of some kind).These are often issues where Christians have strong (appropriately strong) feelings.

3. A confusion over the role of the church where many see it as having a more-or-less direct role to play in speaking to political matters. This is a position which marks both the left and the right of the American Christian spectrum, both of which, in practice, have their own forms of theonomy.

I am all for Christians, left and right, having strong, informed opinions, and voting their consciences; but the church’s job is not to engage directly in the process, nor to make political positions normative for church members.

It is interesting that Christ, on the road to Emmaus, does not spend any time whining about the parlous state of Palestine under the Roman occupation but rather focuses on how the scriptures speak of him. Nor does Paul waste a lot of time on civil government, for that matter; and Rom. 13 is surely the great political statement of the New Testament, a text on which all Christians should reflect at election time.

Christians fight in the army as soldiers, but the church does not do so; Christians work in the tax office as civil servants, but the church does not do so; Christians should be involved in the political process as citizens (and, as with soldiers and civil servants, their behaviour there is shaped by their Christianity), but the church is not to be so engaged. The church is rather to preach the good news of Christ’s death and resurrection.

As for my book: buy your own copy, you cheapskate. The present Mrs. T depends on my annual royalty check to buy a take-away pizza once a year.

Source: http://www.reformation21.org/blog/