EP 19: A KINGDOM PERSPECTIVE OF POLITICS
Christine chats with author & scholar Kaitlyn Schiess about faithfully (and theologically) engaging with politics and power. They discuss the formational force of fear and lament over how it has divided families, churches, and communities. Kaitlyn also shares the four false political gospels she believes plague the modern evangelical American church, then suggests practices for staying sane this next election season and engaging respectfully with people who hold differing viewpoints.
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Our Guest
KAITLYN SCHIESS
Kaitlyn is a Writer, Speaker, and a Perpetual Theology Student. First graduating from Dallas Theological Seminary in 2021 with a ThM in systematic theology, Kaitlyn is now a doctoral student at Duke Divinity School studying political theology, ethics, and biblical interpretation. Kaitlyn is passionate about the intersection of spiritual formation and political engagement: she believes how we worship and how we vote are both part of how we holistically witness to the world of the inbreaking Kingdom of God.
She is the author of The Liturgy of Politics: Spiritual Formation for the Sake of Our Neighbor (IVP, 2020,) and her forthcoming book, The Ballot and the Bible: How Scripture Has Been Used and Abused in American Politics and Where We Go from Here, will be released with Brazos Press in August.
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We’ve highlighted some key points from this episode below. Feel free to share these on your blogs/feeds with proper attribution to the writer/speaker/podcast. Or stay tuned—we will be posting several of these verses and quotes, along with clips from this episode, on our IG page and you can save/share from there.
Scripture
GENESIS 1
27So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them. 28God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky and over every living creature that moves on the ground.”
Psalm 46
1God is our refuge and strength, a helper who is always found in times of trouble. 2Therefore we will not be afraid, though the earth trembles and the mountains topple into the depths of the seas, 3though its water roars and foams and the mountains quake with its turmoil. 4There is a river — its streams delight the city of God, the holy dwelling place of the Most High. 5God is within her; she will not be toppled. God will help her when the morning dawns. 6Nations rage, kingdoms topple; the earth melts when he lifts his voice. 7The Lord of Armies is with us; the God of Jacob is our stronghold. 8Come, see the works of the Lord, who brings devastation on the earth. 9He makes wars cease throughout the earth. He shatters bows and cuts spears to pieces; he sets wagons ablaze. 10“Stop fighting, and know that I am God, exalted among the nations, exalted on the earth.”
Matthew 6:33
Seek the Kingdom of God above all else, and live righteously, and he will give you everything you need.
jeremiah 29
5Build houses and settle down; plant gardens and eat what they produce. 6Marry and have sons and daughters; find wives for your sons and give your daughters in marriage, so that they too may have sons and daughters. Increase in number there; do not decrease. 7Also, seek the peace and prosperity of the city to which I have carried you into exile. Pray to the Lord for it, because if it prospers, you too will prosper.
ROMANS 12-13
12:9Love must be sincere. Hate what is evil; cling to what is good. 10Be devoted to one another in love. Honor one another above yourselves. 13Share with the Lord’s people who are in need. Practice hospitality. 14Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse. 16Live in harmony with one another. Do not be proud, but be willing to associate with people of low position. Do not be conceited. 17Do not repay anyone evil for evil. Be careful to do what is right in the eyes of everyone. 18If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone. 21Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good. 13:1Let everyone be subject to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established. The authorities that exist have been established by God. 2Consequently, whoever rebels against the authority is rebelling against what God has instituted, and those who do so will bring judgment on themselves.
Quotes
- We are supposed to have our wayward loves and loyalties confronted, examined, and changed into love for God and his coming kingdom. –Kaitlyn Schiess
- If we come to the Bible wanting things from it that it is not trying to give us or wanting to kind of twist it to support what we already believe, we will find a way to do that. So it’s both a hermeneutics question and a question of how we’re reading, how we’re being spiritually formed, the community we’re a part of. –Kaitlyn Schiess
- Don’t mistake building empire for building Kingdom. –CCP
- There are false gospels everywhere. Politics is a realm that is especially powerful when it comes to false gospels because we do want things like community and identity to be a part of our understanding of the world. And politics offers a version of here’s the community you belong to. Here’s who you, at your deepest root are. Here’s what’s ultimately wrong with the world and here’s how we fix it… No one is asking for your vote because of a list of information that you can intellectually agree with. They’re asking for your vote because you want to belong to the story that they are telling. –Kaitlyn Schiess
- We are addicted–especially Americans today–to this idea that if you work hard and you’re a good person, you deserve a good, happy life. You deserve health and wealth and success. And maybe God gives it to you, maybe you think the all-powerful market is just going to give it to you, maybe the universe is going to give it to you, but we kind of think that’s just what you’re owed. And that’s not what scripture says about wealth and poverty and health at all. –Kaitlyn Schiess
From Kaitlyn
A generation of young Christians are weary of the political legacy they’ve inherited and hungry for a better approach.
They’re tired of seeing their faith tied to political battles they didn’t start, and they’re frustrated by the failures of leaders they thought they could trust. Kaitlyn Schiess grew up in this landscape and understands it from the inside. Spiritual formation, and particularly a focus on formative practices, are experiencing a renaissance in Christian thinking―but these ideas are not often applied to the political sphere. In The Liturgy of Politics, Schiess shows that the church’s politics are shaped by its habits and practices even when it’s unaware of them.
Related Inspiration
SEEKING GOD’S KINGDOM FIRST + nOW
We learn how to seek the Kingdom of God when we choose to enter the unique story of God, which has a lot to do with exposing the deception used to build human empires, lies that end up justifying neglectful or violent actions toward others. We learn to trust that God is not lying when he promises that his Kingdom is the world we’re built for and that he will bring it into our world. By trusting that promise (more than fearing what our human empires tell us to fear), we can slowly begin to see how we are already free from any ultimate danger.
Other Resources
Special thanks to my production team!
- Podcast Editor: Tammy Munson
- Video Editor: Alyssa Bruce
What false political gospel do you find yourself wrestling against? How will you practice SHIFTing your perspective to a more kingdom-centered view of politics?
