Review: The Ballot and the Bible

I recently had the opportunity to join the launch team for Kaitlyn Schiess’s latest book, The Ballot and the Bible: How Scripture Has Been Used and Abused in American Politics and Where We Go from Here. Reading as a non-American afforded me something of an outside perspective, though it did somewhat limit my engagement in the various launch team tasks.

Summary

The book’s ten chapters are well-structured, and each presents and argues a distinct thesis.

She shows in the introduction how the Bible has been misused to support preconceived notions and urges Christians to return to a faithful, community-based reading of Scripture. “The Bible is not a free-floating book of ageless wisdom, an interesting historical document, or a weapon that can be put in the service of any political goal. The Bible is a gift from God to the church, given for a particular purpose: to shape that community into the kind of people who can fulfill their commission to make disciples of all nations and steward God’s good creation, anticipating its final redemption.” In the chapters that follow, she shows specifically how this misuse has manifested itself in various ways.

In chapter 1, she traces the imagery of America as “a city on a hill” throughout its political history. She shows how this biblical image has been co-opted to describe American exceptionalism in a way that Jesus never intended. She accurately assesses that American Christians “are often narcissistic and nationalistic readers, seeing our own nation as the subject of every promise or command.”

In chapter 2, she turns attention to the quintessential political text: Romans 13:1–7. This text, she says, and others like it offer “a case study in selective application. We tent tin invoke passages like Romans 13 selectively, depending on the issue or politician.” She shows how Christians from differing traditions have historically read the same texts differently, and thereby hopes to help the reader avoid some of the selective interpretation of which she warns.

Chapter 3 traces the history of the Bible’s use and misuse during the American Civil War and in disagreements over slavery. She shows that neither side of the political spectrum disregarded the Bible, but each employed—sometimes rightly and sometimes wrongly—biblical justification for its own cause.

Chapter 4 turns attention to the social gospel. Her goal in this chapter is to trace the (often misunderstood) history of the social gospel in American Christianity and to ask how Christians can faithfully apply biblical principles to social change. “How do we articulate the political applications of the gospel without too closely identifying earthly politics with the kingdom of God?” She argues that the social gospel is part of the evangelical heritage, while admitting that proponents of the social gospel often “prioritized moral teaching in Scripture but minimized the teaching about Christ’s work on the cross.” Nevertheless, the social gospel, she argues, is little more than the outworking of postmillennial theology, which is “the expectation that increasing receptivity to the gospel will produce a period of faithfulness and prosperity before Christ returns.”

Chapter 5 focuses on the use of the Bible during the civil rights movement. She shows how civil rights leaders found courage in the biblical prophets to call for social change, motivated by theological convictions. Christians on each side of the debate appealed to, and sometimes misused, Scripture. She expectedly spends a good deal of time addressing the life, theology, and activism of Martin Luther King. She shows how traditionally white and traditionally black churches tended to read Scripture differently, which (rightly or wrongly) gave black preachers the conviction to call for change. “Rather than stepping back from the text and evaluating it from a supposed perspective of objectivity, Black preachers and congregants stepped into Scripture.”

Chapter 6 highlights the use and misuse of Scripture in political debates surrounding the size and role of government. It does so by focusing narrowly on the politics of Ronald Reagan and how many Christians appealed to the Bible in absolute support of his policies. Perhaps the most helpful part of this chapter are the principles she draws at the latter end of the chapter to show how Scripture should be used to form one’s political worldview. She highlights six basic principles:

• The Bible is concerned with both the spiritual and the material.
• The Bible is directed to both individuals and communities.
• The Bible does not give us a blueprint for government, but it does leave us with some direction.
• The Bible is not the only source of truth, but it should shape how we interpret other sources.
• The Bible does not fit in predetermined political boxes.
• The clearest teaching of the Bible regarding politics is that we treat our opponents fairly.

The sixth of these principles may be the most debated, but, together, these principles nonetheless offer helpful guidance for Christians wondering how to apply Scripture to their political worldview.

Chapter 7 focuses on how the rise of dispensational theology impacted American politics. Specifically, it shows how Christians applied biblical prophecy, helpfully and unhelpfully, in political engagement. Schiess highlights how many Americans looked to biblical prophecy out of curiosity to understand current events, while ignoring the convicting power of prophecy in the Christian life. She warns, “Prophecy is not only predictive but also intended to provide critique, comfort, and confrontation.” Rather than searching for “a hidden narrative,” the believer should “read for the whole redemptive story” while practising “hermeneutical humility.”

Chapter 8 highlights how two recent American presidents (George W. Bush and Barack Obama) employed Scripture in their campaigns and presidencies. This chapter shows how biblical terminology can be powerfully co-opted as a source of authority in political engagement. But just because the Bible can be (and has been) abused in politics is no reason to jettison biblical convictions in political engagement.

Chapter 9 turns attention to Donald Trump and his evangelical support, highlighting, in particular, how Scripture was misused to raise support for his presidential campaign. She carefully treads the line between the biblical call for submission to Caesar and prophetically speaking against political abuses.

In chapter 10, she speaks to the tendency over the centuries for Christians to apply Jeremiah 29 to their political engagement. She particularly draws attention to Augustine’s and Calvin’s uses of this chapter in their political outlook before talking about the use of the chapter in contemporary American politics. In it all, she shows that we cannot divorce our own cultural climate from the way we read Scripture. “Our experiences will shape how we read.” Realising this gives us “reason for humility and caution in our interpretations.”

In her conclusion, Schiess addresses “the promises and peril of biblical references in politics.” She cautions against misquoting Scripture to support preconceived ideas and reiterates her charge to the reader to be as willing to be confronted by Scripture and comforted by it. Even though Christians have at times failed in applying biblical wisdom to their politics, “Christ is faithful to his church even in her failures, and he works in unexpected places while our earthly kingdoms crumble.” Indeed, “The Holy Spirit has not abandoned Christ’s church, even when we are tempted to…. We will falter and fail in our interpretations, but God will not falter or fail us.” The book offers helpful insight into historical uses and abuses of Scripture in American politics. Scattered through the book are suggestions for more faithful political engagement. Many of these suggestions are helpful in reading Scripture in general, and many can be applied politically outside of the American context. Nevertheless, the book is decidedly targeted to American Christians, who will benefit from it more than global Christians.

Assessment

As I have said, I read this book as a non-American, with only somewhat academic interest in American politics. Nonetheless, the book certainly has something to offer those who read it from a non-American perspective. Here are a few highlights.

First, the book highlights how alarmingly American-centric Americans tend to be. It is no secret to global Christians that Americans appear to live in a US-shaped bubble with little concept of life outside their nation. This book helps to explain some of that. As Schiess says, “Americans have always wanted to find their country in biblical prophecy.” Even more bluntly, “We are often narcissistic and nationalistic readers, seeing our own nation as the subject of every promise or command.” While the Bible nowhere directly addresses the United States, the tendency of many Americans to insert their nation into the biblical text helps to explain why so many Americans have no idea of life beyond their own borders.

Second, Schiess helpfully shows throughout the book that, because of our inherited biases, biblical teaching is rarely as clear-but as we pretend it to be. “Rarely is any debate among orthodox Christians truly a debate between the clear teaching of the Bible and a position that has abandoned the Bible. Instead, we all read the Bible with inevitable glasses on.” If we never read Scripture with through lenses other than those we have inherited, we quickly fall into the trap of affirming the authority of our interpretation of Scripture rather than of Scripture itself. Schiess helpfully exhorts us to listen and engage is dialogue with Christians of differing traditions—in our own time and throughout history. “While we cannot free ourselves from biases and context, we can rely on the diverse witness of the church throughout time and around the world to help us understand Scripture more clearly. We actually do need more than a Bible and our own minds. We need each other.”

Third, and related to the above, Schiess reminds her readers that the Bible was given to the church, not to the individual Christian, and should be read in that context. “The Bible is not a free-floating book of ageless wisdom, an interesting historical document, or a weapon that can be put in the service of any political goal. The Bible is a gift from God to the church, given for a particular purpose: to shape that community into the kind of people who can fulfill their commission to make disciples of all nations and steward God’s good creation, anticipating its final redemption…. We will be more faithful readers and doers of the word of God if we learn how the church has received and read the Bible in the time and place nearest us.”

Fourth, as she highlights the way Christians from different traditions have understood Scripture, she urges reliance of the Holy Spirit in faithful interpretation. “This will require knowing our Bible and ourselves better, and it will require reliance on the Holy Spirit as much as reliance on Bible-study tools.” Related to this, she warns Christians to beware the danger of misapplying Scripture: “People who appeal to Scripture should feel the weight of that responsibility and fear the consequences if they misuse it.”

Fifth, she very helpfully urges the Bible reader to remember that Scripture as frequently confronts as comforts us. “Are we willing to be both comforted and confronted with the words of the Bible?” she asks. Scripture is given, in part, for “reproof” and “correction” (2 Timothy 3:16) and if we do not allow Scripture to critique us, we have missed a large part of God’s design for the Bible.

Critique

While there is a great deal of the book that is helpful to reading and understanding Scripture, there are some areas of potential weakness. Let me highlight two.

First, Schiess sometimes states assumptions for which she does not argue. For example, in urging her readers to listen to marginalised voices, she writes, “We should note that the most marginalized and oppressed people were the most able to grasp the meaning of the Bible—a text written by marginalized and oppressed people.” She does not try to support her claim that “the most marginalized and oppressed people were the most able to grasp the meaning of the Bible,” and this is a claim that is far from self-evident. Nor does she expand on her claim that the Bible was “written by marginalized and oppressed people.” While this may be true in some instances, it is far from universally true. Were David and Solomon marginalised and oppressed? Isaiah had direct access to Judah’s king. Paul was trained at the most elite schools of his day and had the privilege of Roman citizenship by birth. Was Job written from the perspective of a marginalised and underprivileged man? It is more accurate to say that the Bible is a blend of perspectives penned by a variety of authors. Her sweeping claim (that the Bible was written by the marginalised) doesn’t quite hold water, and therefore her conclusion (that the marginalised are in the best position to understand the Bible) is, at best, tenuous.

Second, while her survey of the social gospel was doubtless historically accurate, it appears to miss the point of many critiques of the social gospel. At least in my experience, those who oppose the social gospel do not deny that the gospel has social implications. The objection to the social gospel is an objection to the teaching that we earn favour with God through social action. She comes close to highlighting this distinction but doesn’t make it as clear as she might have done.

Conclusion

The Ballot and the Bible gives an excellent perspective on how the Bible has been used (and misused) in American politics and how it has shaped American identity. At the same time, it offers all Christians a critique as well as some counsel as to how more faithfully engage with the Bible when it comes to formulating Christian political thinking. Kaitlyn Schiess has given us a useful resource that will benefit anyone who wishes to engage more faithfully with Scripture in their political identity.