Christianity and Power

Making sense of power and faith in the boardroom, the political landscape and the church.

The concept of power over is one we’re all familiar with and likely battle to make sense of in various contexts like the boardroom, the political landscape and the church.

The reason for the dilemma lies in the way Jesus dealt with power. On the one hand triumphing over the forces of darkness and making a public spectacle of them (Colossians 2:15) and on the other, wrapping a towel around his waist and washing his disciples’ feet, making himself a servant (John 13: 1-17).

As Christians, this creates a dilemma for us in understanding figuring out our own relationship to power and how to wield it in line with what the bible says about power.

Defining power

It was encouraging to me to see how power features so prominently in the bible, as does politics because it gives such a good perspective on how as Christians we should think about power.

There are three books which do a far better job of unpacking the issue of power than I could ever do and so I’ll list them below along with associated podcasts so readers can get a feel for them.

1.      The Way of the Dragon, the Way of the Lamb

This book by a pastor, Jamie Goggin and a theologian, Kyle Strobel, looked at godly men and women like Eugene Peterson, Dallace Willard and Marva Dawn and how they handled power. Power is divided into to distinct camps: the way from above and the way from below. It is perhaps the most thought-provoking book I have ever read.

It made me think through the implications of what Jesus was advocating for when it came to power in the church, power in the world, women in ministry and more. Its well worth reading.

You can watch a two-part conversation with the authors:

And you can listen to them expound on the subject in their own podcast series here.

2.      Exiles: The Church in the Shadow of Empire

Preston Sprinkle does a fascinating job in his book reflecting on the Roman Empire and what we learn from it in relation to the issue of power.

I found Sprinkle talking about politics intriguing. He points out that in the US, most of the women who have abortions are Christians who feels shame at the thought of having a child outside of marriage.

And while the pro-choice side argues for woman to have rights over her own body and the pro-life camp calls pro-choice people baby killers, Sprinkle ponders what the posture of Jesus would be to the woman caught in such a dilemma and how could the church minister to her.

3.      Jesus and the Powers

NT Wright and Michael Bird have written a really good book about power in general. As always, Wright is so good at the meta narrative of an issue.

It’s a solid theological framework for how Christians should think about power.

You can listen to Wright and Bird speak about it here.

You can watch Wright and Sprinkle talk about power here.

Faith and politics

The three above books do a fantastic job of unpacking how the church has a role in speaking truth to power and showing a way of love that is the antithesis of power-over people, described as the way from below by Goggin and Strobel.

Perhaps the hardest question to answer for all three was how Christians think about voting. There are very little answers to give other than asking God for wisdom.

In a South African context, I have often pondered the perspective of Christians and politics. I remember when I was voting for the first time post the first democratic elections in 1994 (when I was still I school) and a person in church argued that there was no other choice than the African Christian Democratic Party because they stood for godly values.

Alas the ACDP’s votes never got it more than 1.6% of the votes at its height in 2004 and the party maintains a few seats in parliament. When trying to vote strategically for the purpose of creating strong opposition, the ACDP did not seem to be to be an option.

My perspective has started to shift somewhat though off Wright’s work about speaking truth to power. It is for this reason that I have been considering Build One South Africa.

While they are likely to be a minority party, Mmusi Maimane has been gathering a list of competent, skilled individuals some of which happens to be Christians too.

In listening to the below, I found a gravitas of thought and perspective I’ve never really seen in other Christians in politics, and it makes me wonder whether it is worth voting for BOSA.

I enjoyed the perspectives of people who seem to have integrated their faith into their lives and don’t campaign on the basis of faith, but don’t leave it outside the back door either in their political journeys either.

BOSA also seems to be one of the few parties not playing identity politics but rather campaigning on the basis of values.