What Is The Real Conflict Between Politics and Religion?

Shayna returns for the second half of our conversation with Gordon Graham, most recently the Henry Luce Professor of Philosophy and the Arts at Princeton Theological Seminary.

Show dog Arlo remains on vacation.

We continue our conversation about the prospects for public theology in our culture. How do Christian advocacy and Christian witness differ? Finally, what is the real conflict between religion and politics?

Join us in conversation.

“What In God’s Name” will be going on the road, making a community-sourced show in Pembroke, New Hampshire, on February 23rd.

If you like today’s show, leave a review for us on Apple Podcasts (or Stitcher, or Spotify).

Our email: whatingods@ribeye-media.com.

Our website: www.whatingods.com

Here are timecodes to help you navigate through today’s show:

01:03    Are shih-tzu owners part of a cult?

03:39    How can Christian churches be faithful in not collapsing what is genuinely theological, into the realm of the political? Gordon covers 3 possibilities: quietism; advocacy; and witness. What distinguishes these 3 possibilities?

09:30    Rowan Williams’ distinction between procedural and programmatic secularism: is this a helpful distinction?

11:37    Gordon talks about what he sees as the real conflict between the political and the genuinely theological/religious: where is your ultimate allegiance? Who will speak up when a society is wrongly worshiping something as god which is not God? This leads to a reflection on the veneration of the military in American society, which Chris and Shayna take up in their commentary.

14:39    Chris and Shayna reflect on the distinction between advocacy and witness. Why is there aversion to including political considerations in some religious communities? What are the mistakes that the “left” and the “right” make?

21:05    Shayna and Chris respond to Gordon’s reflections about the excessive veneration of the military in the United States today: what are the theological issues at stake? What do we make of the political dimensions of Jesus’ death on a cross, at the hands of the Roman Empire, within the larger story of God’s redemptive work in the world?