Myth of a Christian Nation How the Quest for Political Power Is Destroying the Church

The Myth of a Christian Nation Copyright © 2005 by Gregory A. Boyd Requests for information should be addressed to: Zondervan, Grand Rapids, Michigan 49530 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Boyd, Gregory A. The myth of a Christian nation : how the quest for political power is destroying the church / Gregory A. Boyd. - 1st ed. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references. ISBN-13: 978-0-310-26730-0 ISBN-10: 0-310-26730-7 1. Evangelicalism - United States. 2. Christianity and politics - United States. 3. Conservatism - Religious aspects - Christianity. 4. Kingdom of God. I. Title. BR1642.U5B69 2006 322'.10973 - dc22 2005030108 All Scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the New Revised Standard Version of the Bible, copyrighted 1989 by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America, and are used by permission. All rights reserved. The website addresses recommended throughout this book are offered as a resource to you. These websites are not intended in any way to be or imply an endorsement on the part of Zondervan, nor do we vouch for their content for the life of this book. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means - electronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, or any other - except for brief quotations in printed reviews, without the prior permission of the publisher. Interior design by Beth Shagene Printed in the United States of America 06 07 08 09 10 11 12 - 19 18 17 16 15 14 13 12 11 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 C h a p t e r 1 The Kingdom of the Sword My kingdom is not from this world. John 18:36 The kings of the Gentiles lord it over them; and those in authority over them are called benefactors. But not so with you. Luke 22:25 - 26 For the church to be a community that does not need war in order to give itself purpose and virtue puts the church at odds with nations. . . . The battle is one we fight with the gospel weapons of witness and love, not violence and coercion. Hauerwas and Will imon1 Shortly after Jesus' arrest, Pilate asked him, "Are you the King of the Jews?" (John 18:33). To be a king, one must have a kingdom - a king's domain - and Pilate wanted to know if Jesus thought the Jews were his domain. It was a straightforward question, requiring a simple yes or no. But Jesus, typically, did not give the expected response. Rather, he told Pilate that his kingdom "is not from this world" (John 18:36). Pilate assumed Jesus' kingdom could be understood on the same terms as every other earthly kingdom - along geographical, ethnic, nationalistic, and ideological lines. But he was mistaken. Jesus' kingdom is radically unlike any kingdom, government, or political ideology in the world. To appreciate Jesus' radically unique kingdom, we need to know about the worldly kingdoms it stands in contrast to. 18 / The Myth of a Christian Nation The "Power Over" Kingdom Wherever a person or group exercises power over others - or tries to - there is a version of the kingdom of the world. While it comes in many forms, the kingdom of the world is in essence a "power over" kingdom. In some versions - such as America - subjects have a say in who their rulers will be, while in others they have none. In some versions, subjects may influence how their rulers exercise power over them - for example, what laws they will live by - while in others they do not. There have been democratic, socialist, communist, fascist, and totalitarian versions of the kingdom of the world, but they all share this distinctive characteristic: they exercise "power over" people. I refBoyd, Gregory A. is the author of 'Myth of a Christian Nation How the Quest for Political Power Is Destroying the Church', published 2006 under ISBN 9780310267300 and ISBN 0310267307.