Political Theology

As we remember Archbishop Desmond Tutu, we should, amongst many others, also remember the great Reverend Beyers Naudé.

Either Catholics consider the genius and limits of both Charles De Koninck and Jacques Maritain, or they disregard them both. The latter is unacceptable, given that surrendering the genius is too high a cost.

“As one might expect, for some, MacIntyre’s proposition to retire the concept of human dignity rang some alarm bells.”

Melissa Florer-Bixler is angry, and she wants her fellow Mennonites to get angry, too. At least, that is the professed premise of her book, “How to Have an Enemy: Righteous Anger and the Work of Peace.”

In religion, to which we want to direct our attention, the growth of the utilitarian spirit is an alarming phenomenon. Utilitarianism seems to mark not only the attitude of the political powers that use religion for the sake of social control and transform it to suit their purposes, but also the attitude of many who oppose them.

It is childish to demand the real world conform to one’s fancy; it is childlike to learn about the real world by playing in an imaginary one. Both the idealist and the cynical realist are childish. The Christian realist, by contrast, should be childlike.

I want to illuminate this conspiratorial approach, which I term “Christian Virtual Reality Politics,” by contrasting it with a more familiar approach, which I call “Christian Religious Politics.”

While I am in large agreement with Shadi Hamid’s essay, I find myself a bit underwhelmed for a few reasons.

Mitchell’s contrast of wokeism with Christianity not only explains our confused and confusing times, but also showcases the truth, beauty, and freeing peace of the true Christian Gospel.