The Fragile Brilliance of Glass<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"In the 3d chp of Gilbert Meilaender's exquisite volume, The Way That Leads There, we are treated to a meandering through Augustine's City of God in quest\" \/>\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\/2007\/07\/25\/the-fragile-brilliance-of-glass\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Fragile Brilliance of Glass\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"In the 3d chp of Gilbert Meilaender's exquisite volume, The Way That Leads There, we are treated to a meandering through Augustine's City of God in quest\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2007\/07\/25\/the-fragile-brilliance-of-glass\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Jesus Creed\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2007-07-25T05:30:26+00:00\" \/>\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=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2007\/07\/25\/the-fragile-brilliance-of-glass\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2007\/07\/25\/the-fragile-brilliance-of-glass\/\",\"name\":\"The Fragile Brilliance of Glass\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2007-07-25T05:30:26+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2007-07-25T05:30:26+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/#\/schema\/person\/5919e847c58ffe6efb5899fb61797252\"},\"description\":\"In the 3d chp of Gilbert Meilaender's exquisite volume, The Way That Leads There, we are treated to a meandering through Augustine's City of God in quest\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2007\/07\/25\/the-fragile-brilliance-of-glass\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2007\/07\/25\/the-fragile-brilliance-of-glass\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2007\/07\/25\/the-fragile-brilliance-of-glass\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"The Fragile Brilliance of Glass\"}]},{\"@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. 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{"id":2804,"date":"2007-07-25T00:30:26","date_gmt":"2007-07-25T05:30:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/community\/jesuscreed\/2007\/07\/25\/the-fragile-brilliance-of-glass\/"},"modified":"2007-07-25T00:30:26","modified_gmt":"2007-07-25T05:30:26","slug":"the-fragile-brilliance-of-glass","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2007\/07\/25\/the-fragile-brilliance-of-glass\/","title":{"rendered":"The Fragile Brilliance of Glass"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

In the 3d chp of Gilbert Meilaender\u2019s exquisite volume, The Way That Leads There<\/a><\/em>, we are treated to a meandering through Augustine\u2019s City of God in quest of a Christian perception of politics. After last night\u2019s debate and as we wind up once again to cast our votes, it is perhaps a good time to think again about politics.
\nExpectations seems to be a driving theme of this chp. What can we expect of our government? Are our expectations \u201credemptive\u201d in a meaningful sense? What role does an eternal eschatology play in our understanding of earthly politics? Emerging Christians, as I observe ourselves, tend to downplay eschatological hope \u2014 the eternal City of God \u2014 in order to concentrate on the kingdom of God now. But how vital is the eternal for a proper understanding of the earthly? Is there a way to avoid ignoring the earthly because of the eternal without letting the eternal become swallowed by the earthly?
\nHere are two quotations to get us going:
\n\u201cIt is hard not to hope for more from politics than it can deliver\u201d (79).
\n\u201cIf we offer our ultimate loyalty to the political community and its goods, we suppress the desire for God that marks the deepest reaches of our humanity\u201d (79).
\nAnd yet, we are to \u201ccherish the brilliance of this earthly life\u201d as long as we don\u2019t forget that it is the \u201cfragile brilliance of glass\u201d (Augustine, City of God<\/em>, 4.3).
\nMeilaender sees in Augustine\u2019s monumental, massive and rarely-read chunky book a chastened politics \u2014 namely, a rejection of Eusebian triumphalism <\/em>(Constantinianism \u2014 equating the kingdom of God with a political power) as well as a rejection of an apocalyptic <\/em>mindset (thinking one knows from events when the end of the world is) and instead opts for a potent agnosticism<\/em>. That is, what the Christian knows is that we stand between two poles: the resurrection\/ascension and the final kingdom and our task now is to be faithful to the will of God. During this time two loves struggle in the soul and two cities struggle on the world\u2019s stage.
\nMeilaender thinks Augustine demythologizes politics. That is, if the will of God is to love God and love others, and the city of man does not love God, then a proper justice can never be achieved. Everything falls short. I think more Christians today need to think through this more completely \u2014 far too many have too much hope in the political process or in a political party.
\nHe wanders a bit here for me but the final section comes to the Church, which is the alternative society. It is not that the Church has not interest in the political, nor does he think Augustine believed in a separation of church and state. Instead, he sees a chastened but not denuded politics. A peaceable state permits the church to carry out its mission, so by all means work for peace. Only the Church can be \u201cChristianized.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"