{"id":35336,"date":"2024-01-29T15:34:41","date_gmt":"2024-01-29T23:34:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/?p=35336"},"modified":"2024-01-30T21:23:20","modified_gmt":"2024-01-31T05:23:20","slug":"render-unto-caesar","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/render-unto-caesar\/","title":{"rendered":"Render unto Caesar…"},"content":{"rendered":"

In his recent book Evangelization and Ideology: How to Understand and Respond to the Political Culture <\/em>Matthew Petrusek uses the foundation of Catholic Social Thought to offer keys for arguing against dominant political ideologies that are at work in our culture.<\/p>\n

During an interview about the book, he admits he wrote it after spending ten years in academia surrounded by \u201cwokeism\u201d, and he wanted an opportunity to offer a robust response.[1]<\/a> And robust it is. The philosophical approach and intellectual arguments in this book are strongly constructed, and I am sure to some, compelling.<\/p>\n

However, although I found myself in agreement to some of his solutions, it was the underlying \u201cwhy\u201d that I struggled with. His stated core purpose for his book for is what I want to engage with in this post.<\/p>\n

But first, the problem he brings up is very real. In short, we live in a fallen world that is becoming more and more broken because of the way we have shaped it. Ideologies have consequences, and the hyperpolitical environment those in the US find ourselves in is largely a result of a culture that has turned ideology into idolatry. As Petrusek points out, worshipping the false gods of pleasure (found in the ideology of utilitarianism), of self (in classical liberalism), of tribe (in progressivism) and fortune (in non-theistic conservatism) only widens the gap between people and God.<\/p>\n

So far, so good. All Idolatry, whether ideological, political, materialistic, relational, or in any other manifestation, will drive us from God. The refutation of idolatry is \u201cthe central theological principle in the Bible\u201d[2]<\/a> because idolatry is the rebellion that replaces worship of the true God with a false god of our own making. I think we should<\/em> be aware of whatever cultural and political ideologies set themselves up in opposition to God\u2019s ways, and we should<\/em> equip the church to address the dangers that could draw us away from God.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s not as much the personal implications I struggle with here, but the social-political ones. Petrusek suggests in a number of places that the core reason he wrote this book was to change the political landscape in a way that he believes will build a bridge for personal evangelism. For instance, in the closing words of the book he writes:<\/p>\n

\n

\u201cYet all this work has one final purpose and one final purpose alone: To enable individuals to hear the good news of the Gospel and to facilitate an encounter with Jesus Christ and His Church. The dominant political ideologies of today are blocking wide swaths of the culture from receiving this invitation and all of its blessings. Evangelizing the political culture is thus ultimately not about ideology and even less about politics. It is about opening the widest and straightest path possible for making the pilgrimage to the Lord\u201d[3]<\/strong><\/a><\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

After reading this book I\u2019m left with this question: Are we living in Israel or Babylon? In Jerusalem or Rome?<\/p>\n

Petrusek and others (including, unfortunately many Christian Nationalists with whom I would imagine Petrusek disagreeing) seem to be suggesting we are like Israel\u2014A people who need to structure our government systems with God\u2019s clear rules. Not everyone will have a relationship with God, but they argue that if we set up society based on God\u2019s natural and universal laws, it will create a context to help get people closer to God. In fact, Petrusek urges us to seek to change our political environment to invite the entire culture<\/em> to come closer to Christ. He believes better politics and laws will make the narrow path to Jesus just a little bit wider. This seems to be the foundational motivation of this book.<\/p>\n

Others (recently Preston Sprinkle[4]<\/a>, and David Kinnaman[5]<\/a>) suggest that Christians today are like exiles living in Babylon, or perhaps like Christians in first-century Rome. The rich biblical history of people like Joseph, Daniel, Esther, Nehemiah, and others points to the possibility of believers who both serve the godless empire and shape conditions for God\u2019s will to be done despite the brokenness of the political systems \u00a0in which they operated.<\/p>\n

The New Testament seems to continue this theme. Nowhere does Jesus suggest that a tax collector or Roman centurion try to influence the bankrupt political culture to change. Paul does not talk to the Philippian jailer (Acts 16) or write to those who are part of the household of Caesar (Phil 4:22) giving them instructions about how to contend for political transformation. When Peter tells early Christians to \u201csubmit to and honor the emperor\u201d (1 Peter 2) he was talking about a really bad person leading an even worse system.<\/p>\n

Jesus, when the right and<\/em> left tried to sucker him into a political argument, answered \u201cRender unto Caesar what is Caesars\u201d (Matthew 22:22). Petrusek himself points to this story at the end of his book when suggesting that not everything<\/em> should be about politics, but he then co-ops that story to essentially say \u201cyeah but ultimately good politics is what will pave the way for evangelism.\u201d<\/p>\n

After reading his arguments and considering the good and (mostly) bad governments and political systems throughout history in relation to the strength of the church, I come away not convinced of his thesis.<\/p>\n

Despite my concerns, however, I think this book is important and worth reading precisely because<\/em> it challenges my deeply held beliefs about why<\/em> we would engage the political sector and what we would hope to expect. Reading Evangelization and Ideology<\/em> forces me to think more deeply about the reasons I would disagree with it, and to work to better formulate a robust but gracious and biblical response to those like Petrusek who think differently.<\/p>\n

[1]<\/a> https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=2zlDXJ8A5Rs<\/a><\/p>\n

[2]<\/a> https:\/\/www.thegospelcoalition.org\/themelios\/article\/the-concept-of-idolatry\/<\/p>\n

[3]<\/a> Matthew R. Petrusek, Evangelization and Ideology: How to Understand and Respond to the Political Culture<\/em>, Park Ridge, IL: Word On Fire, 2023, 463.<\/p>\n

[4]<\/a> Preston M. Sprinkle, Exiles: The Church in the Shadow of Empire, <\/em>Colorado Springs, Co: David C. Cook, 2024.<\/p>\n

[5]<\/a> David Kinnaman & Mark Matlock, Faith for Exiles: 5 Ways for a New Generation to Follow Jesus in Digital Babylon, Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books, 2019. <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In his recent book Evangelization and Ideology: How to Understand and Respond to the Political Culture Matthew Petrusek uses the foundation of Catholic Social Thought to offer keys for arguing against dominant political ideologies that are at work in our culture. During an interview about the book, he admits he wrote it after spending ten […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":169,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[2489,2997],"class_list":["post-35336","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-dlgp02","tag-petrusek","cohort-dlgp02"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35336","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/169"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=35336"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35336\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":35365,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35336\/revisions\/35365"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=35336"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=35336"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=35336"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}