{"id":43884,"date":"2019-09-05T06:00:17","date_gmt":"2019-09-05T10:00:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/?p=43884"},"modified":"2019-09-07T14:50:00","modified_gmt":"2019-09-07T18:50:00","slug":"the-church-and-coercive-power","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/2019\/09\/the-church-and-coercive-power\/","title":{"rendered":"The Church and Coercive Power"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

<\/p>\n

Can the church use coercive power\u2013either its own or that of the state\u2013to achieve its spiritual goals?\u00a0 Most Protestants, but not all, have historically said \u201cno.\u201d\u00a0 But Roman Catholics have historically said \u201cyes.\u201d<\/p>\n

In a discussion of President Trump\u2019s messianic praise as \u201cthe second coming of God\u201d and \u201cthe king of Israel,\u201d Rev. Ben Johnson says that some Christians really think in those terms, looking \u201cto a secular ruler for deliverance\u201d and pursuing \u201csalvation by politics.\u201d\u00a0 Instead, Rev. Johnson, an editor with the free-market Acton Institute, recommends that Christians promote religious liberty and influence the culture by proclaiming and living out the Gospel, rather than through coercive power.<\/p>\n

In the course of his article, Rev. Johnson cites something I did not realize, that the official doctrine of the Roman Catholic Church does have a role for the exercise of power that coerces people to adhere to the teachings of the church.<\/p>\n

\n

From Ben Johnson,\u00a0The \u2018King of Israel\u2019: The Caesar strategy or cultural renewal?<\/a>:<\/p>\n

Blurring the lines of Church and State distorts both institutions. This can be seen clearly among Catholic integralists, who would deputize bishops to arrest heretics and schismatics. Thomas Pink, a philosophy professor at King\u2019s College London,\u00a0writes<\/a>: \u201c[A]ccording to traditional doctrine, the [Roman Catholic] Church has the right and authority\u201d to enforce its jurisdiction over all baptized Christians \u201ccoercively, with temporal or earthly penalties as well as spiritual ones.\u201d (Emphasis added.) Non-Catholic Christians may be punished by the Church for certain acts of \u201cheresy, apostasy, and schism\u201d in order \u201cpunitively to reform heretics, apostates, or schismatics, or at least to discourage others from sharing their errors.\u201d Pink adds, ominously, that the Church has the \u201cauthority to use the state as her coercive agent.\u201d (See also Pink\u2019s\u00a0response<\/a>\u00a0to our friend,\u00a0Fr. Martin Rhonheimer<\/a>.)<\/p>\n

This violates the Gospel, which demands that human beings accept divine mercy of their own free will. A coerced faith is no faith. Heresy police would be more compatible with certain Islamic\u00a0interpretations<\/a>\u00a0of\u00a0dhimmitude\u00a0<\/em>than the\u00a0Christian, patristic doctrine of religious liberty<\/a>.<\/p>\n

[Keep reading. . .]<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The author is referring to Thomas Pink\u2019s article in First Things,<\/em>\u00a0Conscience and Coercion<\/a>, in which he shows that Vatican II\u2019s affirmation of religious liberty means that the state<\/em> may not coerce belief.\u00a0 The church<\/em>, however, may, holding coercive power over the baptized, with the right to employ the state for its purposes.<\/p>\n

From a Lutheran perspective, for the church to have authority over the state is a violation of the doctrine of the Two Kingdoms, and for the church to exercise the power of coercion in its ministry is a confusion of Law and Gospel.<\/p>\n

This does not mean, though, that coercive power is always illegitimate and ungodly.\u00a0 The state is also a divinely-established institution, whose purpose is to exercise power so as to restrain evildoers and make it possible for fallen human beings to form a society.\u00a0 The state\u2019s purview is the first use<\/em> of the Law, curbing external<\/em> sin by means of lawful magistrates, rewards, and punishments, though such external and coerced obedience can never make a person internally righteous, which is possible only through the faith that comes from the church\u2019s proclamation of the gospel of Christ.<\/p>\n

God works through the vocation<\/em> of the governing authorities to restrain the external effects of sin, just as He works through the vocation<\/em> of pastors to bring about the forgiveness of sins.\u00a0 Ordinary Christians, citizens of the eternal Kingdom of God,\u00a0 also have vocations as citizens of God\u2019s temporal Kingdom.<\/p>\n

Thus it is fitting for American Christians, as individuals\u2013not the corporate church, as such\u2013to be involved in politics and to exercise power to curb such evils as abortion and other cases of child abuse.\u00a0 It is not necessarily idolatry for Christians to work through the existing governmental systems to do so, even though this may involve certain compromises with the governing authorities.<\/p>\n

But it is<\/em> idolatry if we put our faith in them.\u00a0 As Luther explains in the Large Catechism<\/a>, explaining the First Commandment, whatever you put your faith in is your god:<\/p>\n

A god means that from which we are to expect all good and to which we are to take refuge in all distress, so that to have a God is nothing else than to trust and believe Him from the [whole] heart; as I have often said that the confidence and faith of the heart alone make both God and an idol.\u00a0 If your faith and trust be right, then is your god also true; and, on the other hand, if your trust be false and wrong, then you have not the true God; for these two belong together, faith and God. That now, I say, upon which you set your heart and put your trust is properly your god.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Christians must not \u201cput their trust\u201d\u2013that is, their faith\u2013\u201cin princes\u201d (Psalm 146:3), but this does not mean rejecting princes and the power they exercise altogether.<\/p>\n

The Lutheran doctrine of the Two Kingdoms\u2013typically ignored by both sides of the debates\u2013shows how we can affirm freedom without rejecting the state altogether, how we can affirm the nation without turning it into an idol, and how we can affirm political action without politicizing the church.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Illustration by Lucas Cranach, \u201cA King Kisses the Pope\u2019s Feet,\u201d in Christ and Anti-Christ via Wikimedia Commons, Public Domain<\/em><\/p><\/div>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Can the church use coercive power\u2013either its own or that of the state\u2013to achieve its spiritual goals?\u00a0 Most Protestants, but not all, have historically said \u201cno.\u201d\u00a0 But Roman Catholics have historically said \u201cyes.\u201d In a discussion of President Trump\u2019s messianic praise as \u201cthe second coming of God\u201d and \u201cthe king of Israel,\u201d Rev. Ben Johnson […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1281,"featured_media":44004,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11,19,36,47,48],"tags":[477,8676,1772,1919,2264],"class_list":["post-43884","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-church","category-government","category-politics","category-theology","category-vocation","tag-church-and-state","tag-coercion","tag-power","tag-roman-catholicism","tag-two-kingdoms"],"yoast_head":"\nThe Church and Coercive Power<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Can the church use coercive power--either its own or that of the state--to achieve its spiritual goals?\u00a0 Most Protestants, but not all, have historically said "no."\u00a0 But Roman Catholics have historically said "yes."\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/2019\/09\/the-church-and-coercive-power\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Church and Coercive Power\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Can the church use coercive power--either its own or that of the state--to achieve its spiritual goals?\u00a0 Most Protestants, but not all, have historically said "no."\u00a0 But Roman Catholics have historically said "yes."\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/2019\/09\/the-church-and-coercive-power\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Cranach\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:author\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/cranachblog\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2019-09-05T10:00:17+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2019-09-07T18:50:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/305\/2019\/09\/PopeKissing_Feet.jpeg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"442\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"543\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Gene Veith\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Gene Veith\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/2019\/09\/the-church-and-coercive-power\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/2019\/09\/the-church-and-coercive-power\/\",\"name\":\"The Church and Coercive Power\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2019-09-05T10:00:17+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2019-09-07T18:50:00+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/#\/schema\/person\/f9ca8670bcc51908a78994c0484dbfa1\"},\"description\":\"Can the church use coercive power--either its own or that of the state--to achieve its spiritual goals?\u00a0 Most Protestants, but not all, have historically said \\\"no.\\\"\u00a0 But Roman Catholics have historically said \\\"yes.\\\"\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/2019\/09\/the-church-and-coercive-power\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/2019\/09\/the-church-and-coercive-power\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/2019\/09\/the-church-and-coercive-power\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"The Church and Coercive Power\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/\",\"name\":\"Cranach\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/#\/schema\/person\/f9ca8670bcc51908a78994c0484dbfa1\",\"name\":\"Gene Veith\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/054d79faea5d476edd8f99e5f14fb17f?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/054d79faea5d476edd8f99e5f14fb17f?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Gene Veith\"},\"description\":\"Gene Edward Veith, Jr. is a writer and retired literature professor, serving as Provost Emeritus at Patrick Henry College. He has authored over 25 books on Christianity and culture, literature, classical education, and theology. Dr. Veith previously held academic and editorial roles at Concordia University Wisconsin and WORLD Magazine. A respected voice in Lutheran and classical education circles, he holds a Ph.D. in English and several honorary doctorates. He and his wife, Jackquelyn, live in St. Louis and have three children and twelve grandchildren.\",\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/cranachblog\/\",\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Gene_Edward_Veith\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/author\/geneveith\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"The Church and Coercive Power","description":"Can the church use coercive power--either its own or that of the state--to achieve its spiritual goals?\u00a0 Most Protestants, but not all, have historically said \"no.\"\u00a0 But Roman Catholics have historically said \"yes.\"","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/2019\/09\/the-church-and-coercive-power\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"The Church and Coercive Power","og_description":"Can the church use coercive power--either its own or that of the state--to achieve its spiritual goals?\u00a0 Most Protestants, but not all, have historically said \"no.\"\u00a0 But Roman Catholics have historically said \"yes.\"","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/2019\/09\/the-church-and-coercive-power\/","og_site_name":"Cranach","article_author":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/cranachblog\/","article_published_time":"2019-09-05T10:00:17+00:00","article_modified_time":"2019-09-07T18:50:00+00:00","og_image":[{"width":442,"height":543,"url":"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/305\/2019\/09\/PopeKissing_Feet.jpeg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Gene Veith","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Gene Veith","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/2019\/09\/the-church-and-coercive-power\/","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/2019\/09\/the-church-and-coercive-power\/","name":"The Church and Coercive Power","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/#website"},"datePublished":"2019-09-05T10:00:17+00:00","dateModified":"2019-09-07T18:50:00+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/#\/schema\/person\/f9ca8670bcc51908a78994c0484dbfa1"},"description":"Can the church use coercive power--either its own or that of the state--to achieve its spiritual goals?\u00a0 Most Protestants, but not all, have historically said \"no.\"\u00a0 But Roman Catholics have historically said \"yes.\"","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/2019\/09\/the-church-and-coercive-power\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/2019\/09\/the-church-and-coercive-power\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/2019\/09\/the-church-and-coercive-power\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"The Church and Coercive Power"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/","name":"Cranach","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/#\/schema\/person\/f9ca8670bcc51908a78994c0484dbfa1","name":"Gene Veith","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/054d79faea5d476edd8f99e5f14fb17f?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/054d79faea5d476edd8f99e5f14fb17f?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Gene Veith"},"description":"Gene Edward Veith, Jr. is a writer and retired literature professor, serving as Provost Emeritus at Patrick Henry College. He has authored over 25 books on Christianity and culture, literature, classical education, and theology. Dr. Veith previously held academic and editorial roles at Concordia University Wisconsin and WORLD Magazine. A respected voice in Lutheran and classical education circles, he holds a Ph.D. in English and several honorary doctorates. He and his wife, Jackquelyn, live in St. Louis and have three children and twelve grandchildren.","sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/cranachblog\/","https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Gene_Edward_Veith"],"url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/author\/geneveith\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43884","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1281"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=43884"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43884\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/44004"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=43884"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=43884"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=43884"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}