Rupert Balint-Smith
28 July 2024
NT Wright and Michael F Bird. Jesus and the Powers: Christian Political Witness in an Age of Totalitarian Terror and Dysfunctional Democracies. Zondervan, 2024.
As George Lucas reminds us in his Star Wars prequels, global progress towards greater democracy amongst all nations, alas, is not inevitable. Indeed, since 2008 there has been a significant decline in global democracy.
It is in this context and more recent political turmoil, the 2024 publication, Jesus and the Powers, is a timely exploration. The text emphasises the “wisdom and discernment” and “freedom of conscience” required in this time of divisive public debate and partisan political pressures.
The text is co-authored by the prolific United Kingdom professor and author NT Wright, as well as local Ridley College deputy principal, New Testament lecturer and theologian, Michael F Bird.
Wright and Bird are in their element using historically informed biblical scholarship to place key questions within a larger historical context. Both wisely avoid specific wedge issues, emphasising the kingdom of God as something built upon earth, and questioning the Neoplatonic influence on Christianity. It is a wide-ranging discussion travelling from Old Testament understandings of power through to the compromises of Christendom, from explorations of civil disobedience through to the case for liberal democracy.
Read more: An honest look at a Christian navigating politics: Plans for Your Good
One strength is the authors establishing the significance of Jesus’ mission, death and resurrection, transforming broader political culture over 2000 years. To emphasise the legacy of Jesus’ countercultural “revolution”, the text opens by placing Jesus’ kingdom in direct contrast to the world of empires. They frame the significance of how Jesus, as a member of a colonised community, was executed by an instrument of “state terror”, reduced to suffering the “punishment of a slave”. They perceptively observe the significance of the timing of Jesus’ mission, when the Roman occupiers in Israel had begun building “lavish temples” to allow the worship of the newly appointed “Augustus Caesar”. As a clarion call questioning autocracy, the authors observe: “To declare that Jesus is Lord was to imply that Caesar is not”.
For those interested in the broader cultural influence of Christianity, another strength is in exploring the remarkable rise of Christianity within the Roman Empire. They emphasise the profound cultural transformation that took place within the fabric of communities. A Greco-Roman culture that “despised the feeble, the poor, the sick and the disabled” (Nassim Nicholas Taleb) became a world where “the weak and the victimised are given almost sacral status”. They argue that advancement of human rights is a direct consequence of this Christian legacy, questioning claims of some scholars that it is exclusive to the Enlightenment.
Their biblical exploration of the early theology around Jesus’ authority over earthly and spiritual “powers” is thorough, returning to the refrain that “all authority comes from God”. The consequence is that all authorities will ultimately be held to account. Yet, by inference they argue that the faithful have a responsibility for: “holding the powers of the world to account”.
Arguably, this reviewer found less defined, their exploration of living “The kingdom of God as vision and vocation” here and now. On one hand, the authors argue that we are called to a life within community, public service and political engagement. Yet, they are quick to acknowledge “public discipleship is fraught with risks”.
Read more: Hope for religious freedom in India after election
They rightly outline the dangers of being caught between the entrapment of “spiritual isolationism”, or being captive to a “political master”. This reviewer’s concern is that such dichotomies can make one wary of doing anything. Moreover, they often move into abstraction. For example, their metaphorical analogy of building the kingdom as a “cathedral” is edifying, yet would benefit from additional specific present or historical examples. This reviewer also wonders if this focus would benefit from more of a theology of talents – of the potential for sacred labour to meet the deepest needs of a community.
One strength of Wright and Bird’s argument is the encouragement around building the kingdom involving political engagement. However, within this, there is a weakness as the authors also seem to have to straddle both sides of a fence. They are questioning whether to seek involvement in public office and politics, or whether to remain in a counter cultural position on the fringes. There are understandable warnings of the “seductive” nature of power and dangers of “hubris”, yet they acknowledge “it can be a great service to one’s nation to have men and women of deep Christian conviction in public office”. Understandably, they seem most comfortable with Christians playing a liminal role of having their voices heard – “speaking truth to power” – as distinct from being the ones in power. Arguably we need both.
Rupert Balint-Smith is a Senior Secondary English and Literature teacher. He attends St Mark’s Balnarring.
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