A "Public" Theology

As a church, I believe we need to think about appropriate involvement for the church and its members in the "public" sphere. For example, take Jesus' words on tax policy, "Render unto Caesar what is Caesar's and unto God what is God's."

I use the term "public" sphere as I learned about it in Political Science, that there is a distinction in American politics of the public and the private spheres. I do not wish to debate the merits of this dichotomy, but simply to use it as a starting point for a theological consideration of church involvement in public matters.

I think this theology must contain very strong language that the church is not to be involved in fomenting war in the name of Jesus. This kind of war theology existed during the times of the Crusades. Our Middle Eastern brothers and sisters continue to have a long historical memory of the West and religious involvement in politics. Even when Jesus said, "I come with a sword", it was not a warrior call. It was a recognition that the faith he preached was going to cause division in the world around him. Sin was going to react with violence.

On Sunday, I can preach against the evils of war. On Monday, I can support our government's decision to commit American troops to a battle somewhere in the world. That can be confusing to consider.

I think the first step in our "public" theology is to define "Kingdom of God" work, work designed to reproduce the Kingdom of God here on earth over and against "World" work, a world where we recognize that we are in it with people of many different religions and ethnicities and that we must go with some level of respect for them, even as we consider in our Kingdom work that the Spirit may bring their hearts to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ.