In Chapter Two (of the book currently under discussion here—Living Out of Control by Rodney Clapp), Rodney argues that true Christianity, like the best of the Jewish tradition, has always been non-coercive when it comes to the kingdom of God and its values. I couldn’t agree more. There is no hint in the Bible that God’s people are called by God to enforce biblical religion on people. Yes, yes, don’t say it, I know portions of the Old Testament can be interpreted that way, but as Rodney shows with much scholarly support, those reflect a mentality that was not God’s. (I will not allow or enter into a discussion here about the Old Testament! So don’t go down that here irrelevant rabbit trail.)
I agree whole heartedly with Rodney’s point: “The New Testament church saw and experienced itself as an alternative community, necessarily leaning on and operating out of an alternative politics. It never imagined or worried about taking over the Roman empire. It chose instead to, in that sense, live out of control.” (38)
Rodney also argues, and I agree, that THE CHURCH is the “place” for the “politics of Jesus.” Although Rodney cautiously and perhaps wisely avoids mentioning John Howard Yoder, I am sure he must be influenced by him. Yoder’s book The Politics of Jesus backs up Rodney’s points here. But he does mention and quote Stanley Hauerwas whose view of the church and politics is behind and underneath Rodney’s. The ethic of the church is to be the church—as God intends it to be.
All of this was taught and lived by the early Anabaptists, beginning in 1525. Some individual Mennonites (and other Anabaptists) may have wandered away from the classical Anabaptist view of “Christ and culture,” but it is what attracted me to Anabaptism.
However, and on the other hand, I think it is appropriate for Christians, including Anabaptists, to seek to influence society at large, the social order, the fabric of society, through persuasion and even protest. I am a citizen of this world, this country, and not ONLY of the church. I have here before argued for “soft Christendom,” Christendom spread and upheld through persuasion and conviction, not coercion. I think we are all better off with leaders who believe in God, the God of the Bible, than with leaders who do not.
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