The always thought provoking Evangelical blog Mere Orthodoxy hosted a discussion between Ken Myers, Matt Lee Anderson, and Anglican Theologian Oliver O’Donovan on “The Gospel and Public Life.” If you were unfortunate enough to have missed it, a recording is to be published through Mars Hill Audio and it is strongly recommended material. For those of you who may not have the time to spare, however, some of my favorite points discussed are here.
First, O’Donovan reminds us as Christians that we must begin at the beginning. Christ is the perfect model of a life we are called to live and he never shied away from engaging in the public sphere or with the public rulers. He did at one point retreat into the wilderness and often went up into secluded areas to pray, but he did not remain there. He engaged the people and the rulers, and indeed, was crucified by them.
Next, we must recognize that government is part of the divine order, and is a mediating institution of God’s grace regardless of how awful certain people in power may be. Mr. O’Donovan points to the example of France, a country that the English and Americans have a history of mocking, as the example of this. O’Donovan says that regardless of how awful we may think the current French President and his policies to be, there is still that small town in the southwest of France where a kindly old police-man has become a binding figure in the community, and as such, we see God’s grace mediated through government despite the secularists at the top. This point brings to mind the wisdom of that other great Anglican political thinker, Edmund Burke, who reminded us that “wise men will apply their remedies to vices, not to names; to the causes of evil which are permanent, not to occasional organs by which they act.”
Third, O’Donovan said that the Church must hold up both a memory and an anticipation of how relationships are to be. In this role it is distinct from the state, and he uses as an example the fact that the State sends people to prison, but the Church visits those who are in prison. This is not because the Church is in opposition to the state, but because the Church serves to remind us that our current state of affairs is a temporary one. The fact of God’s saving grace anticipates a time when even the lowly prisoner may be redeemed.
Fourth, the panel had an excellent discussion on the Church’s collective identity. O’Donovan, an ordained minister himself, claimed that every-time a minister takes the pulpit “he must ask how he can make the congregation understand their corporate witness.” For this, the example of Dietrich Bonhoeffer was raised, who acted as an individual, but not individualistically. All of his actions were informed by the teachings and beliefs of the Church. “An individual moment in a collective experience,” as O’Donovan described it. This brought to mind the teaching that God can only be enjoyed as a common good as He and His Church are social in nature. If you seek God as a personal good, you will not find Him.
Lastly, the panelists engaged in a fruitful discussion on the nature of rights and what that means for the current political battles many American Christians find themselves in. O’Donovan humorously mused that “there has never been a time when I’ve visited the United States and it didn’t seem to be on the brink of Revolution.” In discussing the question of marriage, the question was raised if the Church could maintain its belief and accept that the state may adopt a separate definition. O’Donovan responded by pointing out that eventually we will have people who the state says are married and who the Church says are not, and this is something from which the Church cannot run away. If the Church teaches that something is an objective good, then it is also a good for those outside of the Church. It cannot kick the can down the road. Listening to this discussion I was reminded that there was, after all, a certain ruler in the New Testament who attempted to kick the can down the road on a pressing moral issue. However, washing his hands and asking “what is truth?” did not absolve him of his responsibility. To this day the creeds tell us who Christ was crucified under.
Do take time the time to read books written by Matt Lee Anderson and Oliver O’Donovan.
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