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Essays

The Politics of Fearing God—Psalm 34:9-14 (Richard Davis)

The psalmist calls us to the fear of the Lord, offering us the secret to its pursuit. Straightforward though it may be, the psalm’s challenge to avoid evil-speaking, deceit, and to depart from wickedness and pursue peace would have seismic effects for our political landscape were we to commit ourselves to it.

The Politics of Loving the Unlovely—2 Samuel 18:5-9, 15, 31-33 (Stephen Dawson)

Contrasting the characters of William Faulkner’s great novel Absalom, Absalom! with King David exposes the way in which the unlovely can be redeemed, albeit not without suffering.

The Politics of God’s Sealed Message—John 6:24-35 (Amy Allen)

Jesus bears God’s seal of origin, the sign that he is God’s message to humanity. Yet this seal often remains unbroken, the message unreceived.

The Politics of Downward Mobility—John 6:1-21 (Robert Williamson)

Jesus’s example in resisting the crowd’s desire to make him a king following his feeding of the five thousand is a challenge to a Church that so often pursues political power. It presents us with a vision of a Church characterized by ‘downward mobility’.