Reimagining Biblical Politics: What Scripture Says about Public Life and Why It Matters

Recover the Bible's Startling Vision for Public Life The Bible calls us to live as disciples of Jesus in every area of our lives, including politics. But how do we live as faithful political disciples when politics has become so toxic? This book invites us to rediscover the startling, strange, beautiful, and often-neglected world of biblical politics and to imagine together how the Bible might transform our political witness in the world. "This is the book I have been looking--and praying--for! Rhodes blends rich biblical exegesis with robust theological insight and practical wisdom. I will personally reach for Reimagining Biblical Politics often, and I will recommend it to pastors, small groups, and any Christian seeking biblical wisdom for political life."-- Kaitlyn Schiess , author of The Ballot and the Bible and The Liturgy of Politics "Rhodes gallops from one end of the Bible to the other at an exhilarating pace, yet with a keen eye for how subtle word choices, overlooked narrative details and characters, and even whole biblical books that we might have neglected bear upon our exercise of political discipleship. One of the most exciting and trustworthy biblical theologians currently at work, Rhodes offers not prescribed choices but rather guidelines for discernment of a variety of faithful responses to the text as read and lived out in community. Practical exegesis such as this keeps the Word of God alive in the church."-- Ellen F. Davis , Duke Divinity School "The central theme of the Bible, Rhodes claims, is that God reigns--a fundamental scriptural truth with inescapable political implications for God's people in every sociocultural context in which they are embedded. They are God's kingdom outpost. The biblical survey, examples of Christian engagements from around the globe and diverse historical moments, and thought-provoking questions at the end of each chapter make this volume wonderfully accessible and immensely practical."-- M. Daniel Carroll R. , Wheaton College "With Reimagining Biblical Politics , Michael Rhodes offers a Scripture-rich guide to thinking about political life. This book provides wonderful prompts for healthy political discernment among Christians, and I trust God will use it to inspire healthy political engagement that blesses others."-- Michael Wear , president and CEO, Center for Christianity and Public Life; author of The Spirit of Our Politics: Spiritual Formation and the Renovation of Public Life "This lively and timely book fills out in wonderful biblical detail what I sketched in broad and aspirational strokes in my chapter 'Politics and the Nations' in Old Testament Ethics for the People of God , but does it much better than I could, not least by decisively demolishing the idea that Jesus and the New Testament had nothing to say about 'politics.' The breadth of biblical sources and the subtlety of how they are used are richly enlightening and challenging. Rhodes rightly does not tell us what or who should get our political support, but he invites and excites us to find the Bible showing us, far more than we imagined, how we should think and act in the political sphere in ways that embody God's own priorities and the way of Christ, the world's true King."-- Christopher J. H. Wright , Langham Partnership "Scripture declares, 'God reigns' and 'Jesus is Lord'--political language from Genesis to Revelation. But what do such claims mean and not mean? In readable, perceptive (and provocative) prose, with real-life examples and practical guidance, Michael Rhodes invites us to reimagine the Bible's varied political texts as manifestations of 'outpost politics' and 'pilgrim politics.' This is a timely and much-needed book as political division and even political idolatry pervade countries and churches."-- Michael J. Gorman , Raymond E. Brown Chair in Biblical and Theological Studies, St. Mary's Seminary & University