Wayward Christian Soldiers: Freeing the Gospel from Political Captivity | Charles Marsh

Wayward Christian Soldiers: Freeing the Gospel from Political Captivity | Charles Marsh | urgent meditations on true christianity

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Wayward Christian ...

	Wayward Christian Soldiers: Freeing the Gospel from Political Captivity Charles Marsh Oxford University Press, USA, 2007 - 256 pages average customer review:based on 5 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

In Wayward Christian Soldiers, leading evangelical theologian Charles Marsh offers a powerful indictment of the political activism of evangelical Christian leaders and churches in the United States. With emphasis on repentence and renewal, this important work advises Christians how to understand past mistakes and to avoid making them in the future.
Over the past several years, Marsh observes, American evangelicals have achieved more political power than at any time in their history. But access and influence have come at a cost to their witness in the world and the integrity of their message. The author offers a sobering contrast between the contemporary evangelical elite, which forms the core of the Republican Party, and the historic Christian tradition of respect for the mystery of God and appreciation for human fallibility. The author shows that the most prominent voices in American evangelicalism have arrogantly redefined Christianity on the basis of partisan politics rather than scripture and tradition. The role of politics in distorting the Christian message can be seen most dramatically in the invasion of Iraq, he argues: Some 87% of American evangelicals supported going to war, while every single evangelical church outside the United States opposed it. The Jesus who storms into Baghdad behind the wheel of a Humvee, Marsh points out, is not the Jesus of the Gospel. Indeed, not since the nazification of the German church under Hitler has the political misuse of Christianity led to such catastrophic global consequences.
Is there an alternative? This book proposes that the renewal of American churches requires a season of concentrated attention to faith's essential affirmations--a time of hospitality, peacemaking, and contemplative prayer. Offering an authentic Christian alternative to the narcissistic piety of popular evangelicalism, Wayward Christian Soldiers represents a unique entry into the increasingly pivotal debate over the role of faith in American politics.

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Finding Our Way Back

White, middle-class evangelicals in America have in recent years so confused the gospel with a particular brand of neo-conservative political ideology, that they have exalted patriotism to the level of idolatry, and seriously complicated the life and work of the ecumenical church worldwide, i.e., the Body of Christ. Charles Marsh offers a very readable analysis of the danger inherent in baptizing a political agenda. At the same time, he offers a Bible-based alternative lifestyle for thinking Christians who are seeking to remain faithful to their first love in a evermore confusing, potmodern world. This brief narrative by a much respected Christian scholar is highly recommended.

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urgent meditations on true christianity

This book, like any good book, challenges the reader to think. Marsh makes us examine our concepts of "just war," and urges us to move past cultural preconditions, take the teachings of Jesus seriously, and dare to apply them to the issues of contemporary society. He makes clear to us that he writes as an "evangelical," but not as one who is willing to lay aside the Sermon on the Mount for political expediency. Not everyone will agree with Marsh's perspective of the war in Iraq, but everyone will be forced to answer the disturbing question: "how does this pre-emptive war, which includes the ignoring of most Christian's opposition to the war, enhance the church's mission in the world?" Assuming that Christians understand that the mission is one of representing the living Christ in the world, the question becomes more than an academic exercise; it embraces the Christian community and nudges it back to the fundamentals of the faith, and points emphatically to the Sermon on the Mount. Furthermore, some will object to naming some "Christian celebrities" who became significant proponents of a pre-emptive war. However, honesty states that when a "Christian celebrity" move outside his/her original ministry, and moves into the political arena, affirming such a war and justifying the president's decision, that celebrity cannot plead immunity from reasonable criticism. Marsh does not write a philippic, but his analysis of "war preachers" is candid and well documented. It is imperative to note that the thrust of the book is very positive, calling on the Christian community to be freed from captivity to ideologues that would use the community for political aggrandizement. Marsh takes the reader through a litany of theological concepts and Scriptural principles, and encourages the church to focus on the wonder of worship, the discipline of discipleship, and the mission of the church to be the body of Christ in the world. The writer is essentially crying out for the "church to be the church," the church has defined by the New Testament and not by a thirst for political power.

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speaking the truth

Please don't let this book get away. It's not another attack on the Christian Right. It's the best book I've seen for understanding how the Christians can keep their sights set on the things that matter most. Marsh helps us rescue Jesus from the Christians, and for that I say thank you.

Interesting, if a bit heavy on the theology

"But if I accept Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior, do I also have to support George W. Bush?"

That was an honest, non-sarcastic question asked by a German woman to the author's father, a pastor who had just finished a service in Berlin.

Why would anyone ask a question like that? Could it be that the right-wing in the United States has so co-opted Christianity that the basic message of the religion has been distorted?

Indeed, American evangelical Christianity has become indistinguishable from American right-wing politics in the minds of many people around the world. It's also not in line with other forms of the religion practiced around the world. The author spends a lot of time talking about the rest of the world's (and his own) opposition to the Iraq War, and comparing the goals of Global Christianity with those of American evangelicalism.
How does supporting the Iraq War reconcile with "loving one's enemies" and "turning the other cheek"? American Christianity, after decades of noisy politics, needs to learn to "be still and know", and listen to the rest of the world.

Marsh does discuss President George W. Bush's religious conversions and attitudes, although he does warn that "The president doesn't owe the American public a word about his private spiritual life". The book is occasionaly slow-going; familiarity with the ideas of theologians such as Karl Barth, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, and Fredrich Schleiermacher would be helpful.

Randall Balmer's _Thy Kingdom Come_ is similar in theme to this book, but of a somewhat different political bent (more left-leaning) and more specific as to what he (Ballmer) thinks the American Evangelical movement should pay attention to.

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