How the Nations Rage: Rethinking Faith and Politics in a Divided Age

by Jonathan Leeman

Publisher:

Thomas Nelson

, 2023

How can the church move forward in unity amid such political strife and cultural contention?

As Christians, we’ve felt pushed to the outskirts of national public life, yet even within our congregations we are divided about how to respond. Some want to strengthen the evangelical voting bloc. Others focus on social justice causes, and still others would abandon the public square altogether. What do we do when brothers and sisters in Christ sit next to each other in the pews but feel divided and angry? Is there a way forward?

In How the Nations Rage, political theology scholar and pastor Jonathan Leeman challenges Christians from across the spectrum to hit the restart button by

• shifting our focus from redeeming the nation to living as a nation already redeemed
• rejecting the false allure of building heaven on earth while living faithfully as citizens of a heavenly kingdom
• letting Jesus’ teaching shape our public engagement as we love our neighbors and seek justice

When we identify with Christ more than a political party or social grouping, we can return to the church’s unchanging political task: to become the salt and light Jesus calls us to be and offer the hope of his kingdom to the nations.

Contents

Top Highlights

“Mark put it: ‘Before and after America, there was and will be the church. The nation is an experiment. The church is a certainty.’” (source)

“A Christian’s political posture, in a word, must never be withdraw. Nor should it be dominate. It must always be represent, and we must do this when the world loves us and when it despises us.” (source)

“rigged against organized religion. Organized religions are kept out. Unnamed idols are let in.” (source)

“We should enter the public square as what I will call principled pragmatists.” (source)

“The American Experiment is the idea that people of many religions can join together and establish a government based on certain shared universal principles. Think of it as a contract with at least five principles. Principle one of this contract is that governments derive ‘their just powers from the consent of the governed,’ says the Declaration of Independence. Principle two is religious freedom. Three is other forms of freedom and equality. Four is the idea of justice as rights. And five is the separation of church and state.” (source)

Product Details

• Title : How the Nations Rage: Rethinking Faith and Politics in a Divided Age
• Author: Leeman, Jonathan
• Publisher: Thomas Nelson
• Publication Date: 2018
• ISBN: 9781400207657

About Jonathan Leeman

Jonathan Leeman is the editorial director of 9Marks, which involves him in editing the 9Marks series of books as well as the 9Marks Journal. He has written a number of books on the church, including Reverberation, and he teaches theology at several seminaries. Jonathan lives with his wife and four daughters in a suburb of Washington, DC and serves as an elder at Capitol Hill Baptist Church in Washington. You can learn more about him and his writing at www.9Marks.org.