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The Politics of Christianity

Filed under God Type Things, Grown Up Stuff, Politics

Tony Campolo was the speaker at this year’s Yearly Meeting for the Northwest Yearly Meeting of Friends, and I happened to be the one responsible for the live streaming of it (you can still go watch the video on the site). He spoke three times, but there was one topic that has stuck with me — he talked about the distinction between power and authority. The origins of the topic come from Max Weber’s The Theory of Social and Economic Organization.

He defines power as the ability to coerce, to use force, even if you don’t use coercion. He uses the example of nuclear weapons, or even a traffic cop. Even though we haven’t nuclear bombs since WWII, they serve as a coercive deterrent. Even though he hasn’t pulled his weapon, I know the cop has some beyond the sidearm on his belt.

With power, you obey me because you have to. With authority, you obey me because you want to. Authority is gained by loving sacrifice. Tony goes on to share a story about Mother Theresa, as an example of one with authority.

All of this preface leads up to this quote from Tuesday evening. He leads into this by talking about the three temptations that Jesus faced.

Jesus rejected economic power [turning stones into bread], religious power [throwing himself off the temple], and certainly political power [lands promised by Satan].  That’s very important right now, because we’re facing an election. And Christians are easily diluted into thinking they can create the Kingdom of God through a political process. “If we could just elect our people to office. Godly people to office. Then we can make America a great country again.”

Knock it off. I mean, the reality is, if getting political power would be the way to change the world into what God wants it to be, Jesus would have come as a Caesar instead of a baby in a manger. You feel like thinking, saying to these people who say “If we just have enough power we could straighten out America. If we just have enough power we can get rid of all the evils!” Geez. Why didn’t Jesus think of that.

I’ve been trying to unpack and digest this for three months now, and I’m still working the big bites out, so getting to the smaller, more detailed pieces is still a ways off. I’m trying to re-learn what it means politically to be a Christian, and it’s not easy. Shocker, I know.

Tags: authority, NWYM, power, Tony Campolo