There’s a sickness in modern politics. Readers don’t need to be told about it—they feel the tensions at family dinners, the ridicule on social media, the sadness of people moving across the country to live with more “like minds.” Churches, neighborhoods, even entire towns are longing for hegemonic similarity.
There is a great separation going on. Something has changed in recent years, and people are forgetting about the “before.” But the tumult of our current political environment takes on new meaning under the teachings of Christianity: this world, though broken, is temporary; that the greater treasure is ahead. Christians are called to love their neighbor, to live in truth and in service to their neighbors, looking forward to a kingdom that is “not of this world.”
Therein lies the rub—different people who call themselves Christians consistently disagree about the way they ought to implement Christ’s commandments in their voting habits and advocations in this world.
There is a great separation going on. Something has changed in recent years, and people are forgetting about the “before.”
Considering this division, Curtis Chang, David French, and Russell Moore, friends across political lines but united under faith, developed the “After Party Project,” a course designed to teach Christians how to move together in love and hope for a better future. Their goal was not to negate anyone’s political convictions, but to elevate the Christian hope for transformation above politics—to shift the emphasis from what someone believes, to how we interact with humility and hope. This message was developed into a book by Curtis Chang and Nancy French called The After Party: Towards Better Christian Politics.
Chang and French remind their readers that the political atmosphere of Jesus’s time was similar to our own. The people of Israel were either in support or refusal of cooperation with their oppressors, and the two camps were contentious, with clear lines drawn between us and them.
And yet, Jesus walked over the dividing line. He had dinner with tax collectors and Pharisees, indiscriminately crossing over the dividing line to engage deeply with members of both camps. The authors point out that if we are to walk as Jesus walked, then it’s necessary to commit to deep engagement with people across the spectrum is necessary.
We don’t know what is to come; neither do the politicians who claim otherwise. Accepting this admission of ignorance creates an intellectual humility, which translates to a relational humility. Not knowing everything, the authors suggest, should flow into the mindset that it’s not all about us. Tomorrow isn’t promised; we’re only given today, and we’re called to fulfill God’s will of servanthood in whatever time he gives us.
This isn’t easy. There are many different attitudes towards political engagement formed from past experiences and personality differences. Chang and French acknowledge this: every Christian has a personal approach to politics—categorized by the authors on axes of hope and humility—which identifies a profile on the Hope/Humility graph. Below is an abridged description of their four political “types.”
And yet, Jesus walked over the dividing line. He had dinner with tax collectors and Pharisees, indiscriminately crossing over the dividing line to engage deeply with members of both camps.
- The Combatant: This profile is high in hope and low in humility. They’re zealous in what they believe, but struggle to see nuance in issues and opposing views. And since they care the most about their issues, they exert significant influence.
- The Exhausted: This profile is low in hope and high in humility. Opposite the combatant, they’re humble to the point of inaction. They’re dominated by fear and conflict-aversion, and prefer to withdraw themselves from a political environment they see as hopeless.
- The Cynic: This profile is low in hope and low in humility. They’re certain of their pessimistic worldview, and due to the supposed sophistication and confidence of their position, they exert unusual influence. They are corrosive to themselves and others through their mix of pride and despair.
- The Disciple: This Profile is high in hope and high in humility. They have submitted themselves and their politics fully to Jesus, and in that, they find freedom to approach situations with humility and nuance. They’re willing to learn from others and accept they don’t always have the answers.
After discussing these profiles, Chang and French make one thing clear: exhibiting faith in your politics means leaving the mindset of us vs. them. We are called by Jesus to resist conforming to the binary, but rather to approach each other with the Kingdom of Heaven in mind, leading lives filled with hope and humility, and moving forward together with a recognition that not this world, but the next, will be made well by the intervention of Christ at the end of time.