Our understanding of cultural engagement seems to be that of reaction and protest. Doing our homework, developing expertise in the many fields of cultural endeavor, and winsome persuasion in the public square have been replaced by the “1 800 associations” that promise to “give ‘em grief in Washington” if you will just send in your $50 check. Is it any wonder that evangelicals and fundamentalists are now being identified in polls as the least desirable group to have as neighbors? We don’t need to take back America (Indeed, we can’t: It was never ours.) We need to take ourselves back. Back to authentic, historic, biblical Christianity. To take ourselves back to the reality of the precarious position of sinners before a Holy God, and the atoning work of Christ, who accomplished for sinners what they could never accomplish for themselves: peace with God. We need to return to our first love, to marvel afresh at our membership in Christ’s body and the privilege that is ours of proclaiming the good news to a sin-sick world. And we need to repent for the idolatry of embracing politics as the chief means of bringing about renewal.
- Dan Bryant, Christianity and Politics: How Shall the Twain Meet?
Modern Reformation Sept/Oct 1994
