The Idolatry of Nation<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\""For who has lost God the people can be a first station on new way." These are the words of Martin Buber, that brilliant Jewish philosopher. He is\" \/>\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\/jesuscreed\/2012\/03\/22\/the-idolatry-of-nation\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Idolatry of Nation\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\""For who has lost God the people can be a first station on new way." These are the words of Martin Buber, that brilliant Jewish philosopher. He is\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2012\/03\/22\/the-idolatry-of-nation\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Jesus Creed\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2012-03-22T05:06:16+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2012-03-19T01:35:24+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/wp.patheos.com.s3.amazonaws.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/files\/2012\/03\/Screen-shot-2012-03-18-at-8.31.39-PM.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Scot McKnight\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Scot McKnight\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2012\/03\/22\/the-idolatry-of-nation\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2012\/03\/22\/the-idolatry-of-nation\/\",\"name\":\"The Idolatry of Nation\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2012-03-22T05:06:16+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2012-03-19T01:35:24+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/#\/schema\/person\/5919e847c58ffe6efb5899fb61797252\"},\"description\":\"\\\"For who has lost God the people can be a first station on new way.\\\" These are the words of Martin Buber, that brilliant Jewish philosopher. He is\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2012\/03\/22\/the-idolatry-of-nation\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2012\/03\/22\/the-idolatry-of-nation\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2012\/03\/22\/the-idolatry-of-nation\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"The Idolatry of Nation\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/\",\"name\":\"Jesus Creed\",\"description\":\"Scot McKnight on Jesus and orthodox faith in the 21st century\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/#\/schema\/person\/5919e847c58ffe6efb5899fb61797252\",\"name\":\"Scot McKnight\",\"description\":\"Scot McKnight is a recognized authority on the New Testament, early Christianity, and the historical Jesus. McKnight, author of more than fifty books, is the Professor of New Testament at Northern Seminary in Lombard, IL.\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/author\/scotmcknight\/\"}]}<\/script>\n","yoast_head_json":{"title":"The Idolatry of Nation","description":"\"For who has lost God the people can be a first station on new way.\" These are the words of Martin Buber, that brilliant Jewish philosopher. He is","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\/jesuscreed\/2012\/03\/22\/the-idolatry-of-nation\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"The Idolatry of Nation","og_description":"\"For who has lost God the people can be a first station on new way.\" These are the words of Martin Buber, that brilliant Jewish philosopher. He is","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2012\/03\/22\/the-idolatry-of-nation\/","og_site_name":"Jesus Creed","article_published_time":"2012-03-22T05:06:16+00:00","article_modified_time":"2012-03-19T01:35:24+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"http:\/\/wp.patheos.com.s3.amazonaws.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/files\/2012\/03\/Screen-shot-2012-03-18-at-8.31.39-PM.jpg"}],"author":"Scot McKnight","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Scot McKnight","Est. reading time":"1 minute"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2012\/03\/22\/the-idolatry-of-nation\/","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2012\/03\/22\/the-idolatry-of-nation\/","name":"The Idolatry of Nation","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/#website"},"datePublished":"2012-03-22T05:06:16+00:00","dateModified":"2012-03-19T01:35:24+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/#\/schema\/person\/5919e847c58ffe6efb5899fb61797252"},"description":"\"For who has lost God the people can be a first station on new way.\" These are the words of Martin Buber, that brilliant Jewish philosopher. He is","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2012\/03\/22\/the-idolatry-of-nation\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2012\/03\/22\/the-idolatry-of-nation\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2012\/03\/22\/the-idolatry-of-nation\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"The Idolatry of Nation"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/","name":"Jesus Creed","description":"Scot McKnight on Jesus and orthodox faith in the 21st century","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/#\/schema\/person\/5919e847c58ffe6efb5899fb61797252","name":"Scot McKnight","description":"Scot McKnight is a recognized authority on the New Testament, early Christianity, and the historical Jesus. McKnight, author of more than fifty books, is the Professor of New Testament at Northern Seminary in Lombard, IL.","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/author\/scotmcknight\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26459","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/197"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=26459"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26459\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26459"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26459"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26459"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}

{"id":26459,"date":"2012-03-22T00:06:16","date_gmt":"2012-03-22T05:06:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/?p=26459"},"modified":"2012-03-18T20:35:24","modified_gmt":"2012-03-19T01:35:24","slug":"the-idolatry-of-nation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2012\/03\/22\/the-idolatry-of-nation\/","title":{"rendered":"The Idolatry of Nation"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

$\"\"$ <\/a>\u201cFor [the one] who has lost God the people [or, the nation]<\/em> can be a first station on [a] new way.\u201d These are the words of Martin Buber, that brilliant Jewish philosopher. He is reflecting here on the loss of his pietist roots in Hasidic Judaism and on his first impulse to channel that former faith into national hopes, into Zionism. Buber in some ways eventually came around to a more religious, Hasidic existential worldview.<\/p>\n

But what struck me about this reflection of Buber\u2019s is the need on the part of many (formerly) religious people, Christians included, to launch from their faith orientation into a social orientation. That is, they need to get lost \u2014 to give themselves to \u2014 a cause, something bigger than their own life. Many shift from the church to society (and sadly think the move is \u201ckingdom\u201d vs. \u201cchurch\u201d).<\/p>\n

Which leads me to ponder whether or not the many today who are now entranced by social justice are expressing not so much a dimension of their faith but a stage on the way of losing that faith.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Has social justice become an idol? Has it become a substitute for God, for personal engagement with God?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Of course, justice is of colossal importance in the Bible, but that justice is always connected to covenant and therefore to piety. The question I am asking is if some need to consider the Why? question in their commitment to social justice. Are they abandoning piety and finding justice to be its substitution?<\/strong><\/p>\n

The struggle for nation will never satisfy; only God can ultimately satisfy.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"