It’s becoming abundantly clear that in the coming electoral season in the United States, Christians regardless of their political inclinations will have to double down on our commitment as people of the Truth. And yet at the same time, I am being reminded at every turn that truth is always more complicated than we want it to be, not fitting neatly into a soundbite or political platform.
I once heard Stanley Hauerwas say that all of Christian ethics can be boiled down to two words: “Don’t lie.” And yet certainty evades us, and the best we can do is to bear witness with our lives to the one who called himself Truth, despite our struggles to understand what he was about.
I’ve been wrestling with these questions recently, and offer here the stack of books that are serving as guides on this journey.
The People of the Truth: The Power of the Worshipping Community in the Modern WorldRobert Webber /
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Robert E. Webber and Rodney Clapp examine the dilemma so many Christians face–what to do if you are an enthusiast for neither the New Right nor the Old Left but still take seriously the church’s social and political responsibility. ‘People of the Truth’ offers a biblical solution to this perplexing question. The authors show how American Christians have come to depend on the nation, rather than the church, as their primary instrument of social change and communal influence. They call for the church to move beyond the dead end of civil religion to affirm the authentic role of the worshiping community in effecting social change. The church should dare to lay down its life, the authors write, to give up its ill-begotten political leverage; to turn aside from success and stop counting heads (or dollars); to stand at the side of forgotten poor and oppressed; to be a sign and a witness of humanity’s insufficiency and God’s all-sufficiency. ^^^ Excerpt not readable on your device? |
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