“The fundamental political question of our day is not, cannot, be a partisan one. The fundamental political question of our day is whether Christians will live in such a way as to exemplify the kingdom come and the kingdom coming.”
Two years ago, I read a provocative little book by Lee Camp entitled Scandalous Witness: A Little Political Manifesto for Christians (Eerdmans, 2020).
Over the course of his book, Camp argues that a “renewed Christian politic is more essential than ever,” a politic that is “neither left nor right nor religious,” but prophetic in essence and modeled after the life and vision of Jesus Christ.
Given that tomorrow is election day, I thought I would present just a few snippets from Camp’s manifesto.
My hope is that through such snippets you would glean a sense of the book’s vision and grasp the true nature of our Christian witness in the world.
“Large portions of the Christian Church in America appear to have destroyed their own witness, lacking the ability to speak truthfully or prophetically or even carefully. At the core of this disheartening development is our failure to rightly understand what Christianity is.”
“Christianity is not a religion, it is a politic. By politic I mean an all-encompassing manner of life that grapples with all the questions the art of politics has always asked: How do we live together? How do we deal with offenses? How do we deal with money? How do we deal with enemies and violence?”
“The question before us is whether we can begin to articulate a vision of Christianity that is ‘neither right nor left nor religious’, or a Christianity that is a sort of ‘radical conservatism or liberal orthodoxy.’”
“This manifesto is a syllabus for a study which Christians in the West must do to reconfigure their faith as good news to the world, instead of the paltry, partisan, privatized matter too often preferred.”
“Some believe history has no meaning, no direction or goal, no ultimate purpose. Some Christians even think this: “It’s all going to burn and none of this matters. What matters is human souls going to heaven when they die. There’s no need to concern ourselves with troubling social or political matters because God’s got this.”
“Human history, however, is not meaningless. Christians throughout the ages have insisted that history has an intrinsic and inescapable importance in the purposes of God the Creator.”
“Christianity also proclaims that Jesus has inaugurated the end of history. Therefore, we might better understand Christianity by calling it ‘an interpretation of history’ rather than a religion.”
“For Christians, the resurrection of the crucified Christ is the central historical claim on which we stake their lives. It ushers in the end of history and inaugurates a new political possibility in the world.”
“This inaugurated Kingdom of God provides a proleptic political stance. Proleptic is a term in which a future event is so sure to come that it is spoken of in the present tense. Christianity calls us to a proleptic stance in which we embody and bear witness to the world that is coming.”
“The American myth, however, has used Christianity, and Christianity has too often been willingly used, or has blessed the imperialist exploits of the American Empire.”
“Christianity, however, shall not bless the ways of empire, nation states, kings, or presidents as they march off to destroy, slaughter, burn, or live in luxury while others live in deep need.”
“Christianity shall not reduce itself by worshiping the flag, pledging allegiance, or singing the glories of war. Neither shall it give sanction to the deeds and practices which their God has condemned.”
“Because Christianity pledges allegiance to an alternative politic, it shall be a citizen more faithful than the panoply of patriots. It shall be a citizen who speaks the truth in love because it knows that lies and deceit are an acid destroying the bonds of community.”
“The Church must tell the truth and make clear the implications of the gospel that the United States of America, even with all its beauties, is not the hope of the world.”
“The hope of the world is not dependent on any geographically bounded nation, nor on any king, prime minister, or president. It is dependent, rather, on a God who has revealed the ways of suffering love and calls together a people who will sow seeds of hope and life into the soil of this world.”
“There are some who stake the relevance of Christianity on the claim that America was once a Christian nation, and that we must work diligently to restore the Christian status of our nation.”
“That claim, however, is historically false, theologically false, and strategically alienating. To conflate love of country with the myth of a Christian nation is bad for both the country and Christianity.”
“America cannot be a Christian nation because no nation can be a Christian nation. This is a matter of understanding what a nation is and what Christianity is. The two cannot be conjoined.”
“Christianity was birthed into history as a minority report, not as a state sanctioned religion. In attempt to make others live like Christians, we subvert our attempt at being Christian ourselves.”
“History makes it plain that all empires will fall. To take seriously this fact allows Christians to identify the correct target of their labors. To make such observations provides a more fruitful, nimble, and constructive ground from which to contribute to the good of the world.”
“Given that all empires will fall, the hostile and fierce partisanship among American Christians might be compared to a fistfight over table manners on the sinking Titanic.”
“The fundamental identity of American Christians is in being Christian, not in being American. To the degree that we fall prey to such partisanship, we have lost our way as a Christian community.”
“To be wildly partisan about elections in the late days of an empire, to be hostile regarding small versus big government, to be belligerent regarding capitalism versus socialism, to cast aside all other concerns in favor of a government-mandated pro-life policy versus the rhetoric of pro-choice, all of this represents the failure of Christianity in America.”
“Social policy is not unimportant, but such policies and the arguments over them, must be seen in a broad and relativizing context. We must ask ourselves, in other words, what it might look like to first and foremost be Christians rather than Americans.”
“The primary task of the Christian community is not to be a so-called religious gathering concerned with souls floating off into the afterlife, nor is it to be a sort of spiritualized yoga class helping individuals find peace within themselves. The primary task of the Church is to embody and bear witness to the end of history, an all-encompassing reality that has already broken into the world.”
“We should not take lightly the political gift that we may give the world by simply being able to model humility and love.”
“The primary task of the Christian community is not to dominate the debates between liberals and conservatives, or impose some redacted form of Christian values on a world that knows not Christ. Any morality, practice, or conviction imposed through force or violence cannot be, by definition, Christian.”
“Our task is to display for the world what the world was in fact intended to be, and what it indeed shall be when the consummation of the end of history finally comes.”
“We are called to percipient cultural discernment, that is a deep capacity to understand culture in its many facets and implications, and with such understanding to discern a path forward which bears witness to the good news of the Kingdom of God.”
“Christian social engagement must always be ad hoc. Once one injustice is corrected with some new practice of equity, the new practice will struggle with its own infidelities. Then a new corrective must be sought and then again yet another, etc., etc.”
“To continue ever to seek such new correctives, gracious and fair and equitable social practices, with patience and peaceableness and truth-telling, without coercion or violence or disdain, this is what it means to live as a Christian in America today.”
And lastly: “The fundamental political question of our day is not, cannot, be a partisan one. The fundamental political question of our day is whether Christians will live in such a way as to exemplify the kingdom come and the kingdom coming.”
My hope is that these snippets will help re-orient you as you approach the ballot box tomorrow. Let us close then with the words of Camp, a prayer he wrote to conclude his book:
“May we become a new sort of scandal in the world, marked by the courage made possible by cross and resurrection, sowing the seeds of the peaceable reign of God, already come and still coming. Amen.”
Jonah Bissell
Pastor