The Politics of the Cross
A Christian Alternative to Partisanship
Author Daniel K. Williams ISBN 9780802884688 Binding Trade Paper Publisher WM B. Eerdmans Publishing Company Publication Date June 06, 2024 Size 152 x 229 mmWhere do Christians fit in a two-party political system?
The partisan divide that is rending the nation is now tearing apart American churches. On one side are Christian Right activists and other conservatives who believe that a vote for a Democratic presidential candidate is a vote for abortion, sexual immorality, gender confusion, and the loss of religious liberty for Christians. On the other side are politically progressive Christians who are considering leaving the institutional church because of white evangelicalism’s alliance with a Republican Party that they believe is racist, hateful toward immigrants, scornful of the poor, and directly opposed to the principles that Jesus taught. Even while sharing the same pew, these two sides often see the views of the other as hopelessly wrongheaded—even evil. Is there a way to transcend this deep-seated division?
The Politics of the Cross draws on history, policy analysis, and biblically grounded theology to show how Christians can protect the unborn, advocate for traditional marriage, promote racial justice, care for the poor, and, above all, honor the gospel by adopting a cross-centered ethic instead of the idolatrous politics of power, fear, or partisanship. As Daniel K. Williams illustrates, both the Republican and Democratic parties are rooted in Christian principles, but both have distorted those principles and mixed them with assumptions that are antithetical to biblical truth. Williams explains how Christians can renounce partisanship and pursue policies that show love for our neighbors to achieve a biblical vision of justice.
Nuanced, detailed, and even-handed, The Politics of the Cross tackles the thorny issues that divide Christians politically and offers a path forward with innovative, biblically minded political approaches that might surprise Christians on both the left and the right.
— Thomas S. Kidd
author of Who Is an Evangelical? The History of a Movement in Crisis
“Daniel Williams is one of our finest historians of evangelicals and politics. In The Politics of the Cross, he draws on his previous works, but takes us even deeper into these issues through timely theological reflections on how evangelical Christians should engage in public life. His chapter on abortion alone is worth the price of the book.”
— John Fea
author of Believe Me: The Evangelical Road to Donald Trump
“We live in a time when far too often partisan politics and catchy slogans replace thoughtful Christian engagement. Fiery rhetoric is often detached from fair-minded assessment of the past and present. It occurs on both sides of the aisle. Thankfully we have people like Daniel K. Williams, who offers both the nuance of a historian and the concerns of one committed to the fullness of ancient Christian concerns. This book will at times surprise, but also hopefully inform and encourage, those seeking to more faithfully navigate the debates of our age.”
— Kelly M. Kapic
Covenant College
“I have learned as much from Daniel Williams as anyone else in recent years about the history of evangelicals and politics. Reading this book is like having an extended debate with an especially wise and insightful friend. You don’t necessarily agree, but you’re always challenged to think more carefully and deeply. I wish more books on faith and politics dared to wade around the rip currents of public policy.”
—Collin Hansen, vice president and editor in chief of The Gospel Coalition
“Partisanship in the United States has reached unsustainable levels. With characteristic care and earnestness, Daniel K. Williams proposes a practical and satisfying way forward for our national discourse that is deeply informed by history, Scripture, and Christian tradition. Operating from the assumption that church and state interests need not be at odds, and Democrats and Republicans need not be mortal enemies, Williams offers a needed voice of wisdom, compassion, and maturity to a nation that seems on the brink of moral, political, and spiritual collapse. If ever such a voice was needed in American civil discourse, it is now. And if ever there was an example of a Christian thinker for such a time as this, it is Daniel K. Williams.”
— John D. Wilsey
The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary
“Williams . . . seeks to convince Christians of all political persuasions that political partisanship—unthinkingly following in goose step with either of the two dominant parties—is fraught with danger . . . for the Christian who does so, for the issues that he holds most dear, and for the Church of Christ, whose members are increasingly viewed by unbelievers as bigoted and unsympathetic. . . . Williams does not appeal to Christians to compromise their beliefs or to give up political activity. Instead, he argues that humble Christian service in our communities and compassion towards our neighbors are more biblical paths toward achieving societal change and bringing others to know the Savior.”
—Glen L. Thompson in Wisconsin Lutheran Quarterly
“Daniel Williams’s The Politics of the Cross is the book that I so badly wanted written. As a political scientist, I must admit cynicism in anything being able to break the hold of partisanship, even an appeal to Christians’ better angels. But, as a Christian political scientist, I find much hope in this book. Hope that my brothers and sisters in Christ can look beyond the sectarian politics of the moment and present a better reflection of Christ in the public square. Finding our way out of an idolatry of partisanship and self-interest is necessary not only for the preservation of democracy, but also the cause of the gospel. We will always be marred image-bearers of Christ, but we can do better when we act in love and self-sacrifice rather than fear and self-interest.”
—Daniel J. Mallinson in Religious Studies Review
“This is a great book, and one that is needed. While many have inveighed against partisanship and polarization and reminded us that ‘God is not a Republican or a Democrat,’ Daniel Williams takes the important next steps with analysis gr
Table of Contents
Introduction: A Different Kind of Politics
1. The Protestant Moralism of the Republican Party
2. The Secularized Liberal Protestantism of the Democratic Party
3. Abortion
4. Marriage and Sexuality
5. Race
6. Wealth and Poverty
Afterword: The Politics of the Cross and the Preservation of the Nation