AAs a new election year begins and Americans prepare for what will undoubtedly be another contentious presidential race, Michael Wear’s new book, The spirit of our policy: spiritual formation and renovation of public lifehas an important message for us: If politics trips you up, don’t worry about it.
It’s an intriguing message from a political consultant who now runs The Center for Christianity and Public Life, a nonprofit organization dedicated to bringing a stronger Christian presence and resources to political life in America. After all, politics has defined Wear’s career, ever since he somehow managed to finish his undergraduate degree while working for President Barack Obama (first as as an intern during his presidential campaign, then at the White House Office of Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships).
One might expect, in an election year, to hear calls for greater fervor because the stakes are so high. But Wear has written a book that insists exactly the opposite. If there is ever a conflict between political victory and moral fidelity, he argues, we should choose fidelity every time.
Reject silence and submission
Indeed, the central assertion of The spirit of our policy it is that undisciplined political fervor and a desire to defeat our political enemies are poison to our spiritual health. One must first seek the kingdom of God before aspiring to participate in political action.
Wear is deeply concerned that the toxicity and rancor of American politics is seeping into American churches, leading to the use and abuse of Christianity as a blunt instrument of political discourse and fostering a massive epidemic of faith superficial defined less by trust in God than by trust in God. political affiliation. At the same time, there is a strong counter-current of opinion that wants to reject the role of Christian teaching and faith in politics, thereby depriving Christians of a political voice. as Christians.
The theme that unites these dangerous developments is the idea that politics is an area in which Christian discipleship and personal moral development do not apply. Wear describes this as “a fatal choice between Christian silence in politics and Christian submission to political agendas, ideologies and aspirations.”
Some Christians argue that politics is a turbulent world of brute force and power plays, so trying to apply the principles of the Sermon on the Mount is like trying to enforce tea party etiquette at a football game. rugby. Other Christians, like many non-Christians, view the moral strictures of Christianity as irrelevant to politics, because faith is simply a personal choice akin to one’s opinion on the color of the Senate carpet.
Both perspectives involve separating spiritual formation from political life; Wear’s argument is that good spiritual formation will make us better participants in political life and that American political life needs well-trained Christians more than ever.
Wear draws heavily on the work of Dallas Willard, author of numerous books on spiritual formation and philosophy, to present these closely related arguments. Willard has written about what he calls “the disappearance of moral knowledge”, that is, the cultural transformation of moral truths into a set of personalized beliefs that have no basis beyond the faith of the person. the individual who affirms them. This has made politics an area in which Christian teaching is considered irrelevant and even harmful.
Today’s politicians say they separate their “personal beliefs” from their political actions, as if there were a neutral, impersonal body of knowledge that would guide them outside of religious commitments. However, life without moral knowledge is impossible, and Wear sees a natural thirst for moral knowledge that is experiencing the kind of resurgence that opens new avenues for Christian influence.
Willard has also been highly critical of what he called the “gospel of sin management”, which leads Christians to view their faith as simply a set of beliefs that gets them out of hell and go to heaven. From this perspective, Jesus is a “fixer” who deals with our “sin problem,” a perspective that tends to produce a weak sense of discipleship.
While Willard certainly seems accurate in his assessment, Wear’s attempt to bring him into politics seems a bit confusing and difficult to follow. He argues that Christians often view Christian faith and politics with a “fixer” mentality, but his primary examples are Christians who absolutize political principles as tests of Christian faithfulness.
I had a hard time seeing the connection between these two points, but the examples were disturbing enough in themselves. Take, for example, a progressive preacher who incites his congregation to shout, “The filibuster is a sin!” » Or a Conservative minister telling his supporters that if they “don’t vote, or if they vote wrongly, they are unfaithful”.
Both warnings struck me as both absurd and discouraging. Wear describes this approach as spiritually corrupting, saying it is “a form of blasphemy to casually ascribe to our favorite political instruments and political judgments the weight of religious dogma.” What Wear recommends instead is making political commitments informed by our faith rather than allowing our faith to be driven by political commitments.
Much of the book is simply devoted to biblical thoughts on developing the type of character we want, which, of course, is about much more than politics. Inspired by that of Willard The allure of gentleness to describe an ideal of loving service and emphasis on “vision, intention and means” as the path to achieving our spiritual vision, Wear wants us to see that a healthy relationship with politics in the life of a Christian should naturally result from a strong relationship. with God.
If we believe that God’s moral commandments apply to all areas of life, we will not treat politics as a place where we can abandon these commandments in favor of fear, anger, vulgarity and false confidence. If we trust in God’s power to bring about the kingdom he has promised us, we will not view every election as an apocalyptic spectacle. If we are grounded in theological conviction about the nature of our relationship with God, we will not anathema our fellow believers over our voting choices.
Besides the more obvious habits of prayer, scripture reading, fasting, and worship that should characterize the life of every believer (and, let’s face it, these are probably some of the first things we overlook when we take instinctively our phone every morning), carry suggests other spiritual disciplines essential to political engagement.
He recommends serving others rather than “othering” people, telling the story of a pastor who changed his political views after spending time serving people he had only known through reports and opinion articles. He advises us to criticize those we support and affirm those we oppose, practices that prevent our minds from being distorted by polarization.
He asks a critical question about solitude and silence: “Different noises make us feel fun, productive, in control, alive. What do we hear in the silence? Who are we here?
Something worth saying
Wear concludes with a word to parents and pastors, who in many ways have borne the brunt of political polarization. He gives pastors permission to ignore political concerns in almost every aspect of their church’s liturgy except prayer, and he urges them to use any political topics that arise to connect the faithful to God’s love for them and for all. As important as politics is, what comes first is getting people to worship God and letting all political applications flow.
For parents, Wear wants them to make sure their faith and political judgments avoid hypocrisy. And he encourages parents concerned about their children’s political development to involve them in some kind of real-world activism rather than just letting them absorb information through a screen.
Wear’s first book, Reclaiming Hope: Lessons Learned in the Obama White House on the Future of Faith in Americawas an honest look about what politics can and cannot accomplish, informed by his successes and failures in the White House. In many ways, his new book offers a natural continuation of these stories by depicting politics as an important part of life but not the primary or most critical means of effecting change.
If you or someone you love is trapped in a world that only thinks in terms of political activism, even to the point of destroying relationships, this book is a helpful antidote. I suspect, however, that some have gone so far down this road that they will dismiss what Wear has to say. Yet for people who have been turned off by politics in recent years, Wear’s vision of a political life grounded in Christian discipleship may provide valuable hope and a compelling reason to engage in a process that seems hopelessly corrupt .
Even though we won’t cast our final vote for almost a year, I’m already seeing friends on social media expressing their anxieties and hatred. The spirit of our policy is not only a necessary corrective to these trends; This is a strong argument for a much healthier lifestyle.
Dallas Willard’s work is worth revisiting these days, even if Wear’s reading of Willard doesn’t always line up well with what he wants to say about politics. Honestly, it’s refreshing to read a book about politics and faith that only mentions Donald Trump in passing, that doesn’t play on vague tropes about the “common good” or “moral values,” and that doesn’t isn’t obsessed with Christian nationalism (while still talking about the issues it raises).
Wear wants Christians to walk closer to Jesus so that when we engage in politics, we have something worth saying. In 2024, more than ever, we need to practice what he preaches.
Matthew Loftus lives with his family in Kenya, where he teaches and practices family medicine. You can learn more about his work and writings at matthewandmaggie.org.
