Thursday, October 05, 2006

Walter Wink Quote

I have been thinking a lot about how faith should be lived out in politics. Here is an interesting quote from biblical scholar Walter Wink.

"The simultaneity of creation, fall, and redemption means that God at one and the same time upholds a given political or economic system, since some such system is required to support human life; condemns that system insofar as it is destructive of full human actualization; and presses for its transformation into a more humane order. Conservatives stress the first, revolutionaries the second, reformers the third. The Christian is expected to hold together all three.
Engaging the Powers p. 67, Walter Wink


To 'hold together all three' may seem impossible. But we somehow manage to hold the trinity together; so, we have had some practice.

1 comment:

Bob G+ said...

Jason -

This is a very good way to looking at the "systems" of this world. One group calls some parts of particular "systems" evil, while another group calls the same good. What do we do with that, especially when the two sides end up within the same organization?

If we could somehow hold in balance and tension these three approaches when we see them realized in other people and we don't freak-out, we would be far better off. That is obvious, and I thought I had found such a group of people in Anglicanism. Am I wrong? I hope not. These three approaches can inform and challenge each of the other perspectives and bring balance. If only this were true!