Exile Actually Is a Good Political Metaphor for the Church

Democracy Cannot Produce the Kingdom of God

As I recently listened to an episode of Preston Sprinkle’s podcast, Theology in the Raw, featuring political theologian Kaitlyn Schiess, I was offended.

I don’t mind being offended. In fact, I kind of like it. Offense has somehow become an excuse among many Christians for disengaging from dialogue. That’s partly a New Testament interpretation problem—so feel free to throw some proof texts about “not giving offense” at me if you want to go there. And it’s partly a thin-skin, pearl-clutching problem.

I have neither of those misconstruals in mind when I say I was offended by Schiess’s portrayal of Christian political theology. Instead, I think offense is a helpful indicator that we’ve got to the stakes of the conversation. Offense tells me what I actually care about; it’s a kind of excitement. It tells me to lean in.

Explaining why I was offended would ideally require either that you listen to the episode or that I represent Schiess’s claims thoroughly. I’m going to rely on the former in the interest of relative brevity. So here’s the gist of her position:

Christian political realism requires us to be cautious about using the exile metaphor because American Christians are in a complex situation in which our lot is still bound up with the lot of our neighbors. We are, therefore, responsible for bringing the full strength of Christian conviction to bear on public life. Exile is a problematic metaphor because, while it is true of all Christians in all places in some sense, it tends to give us permission to abdicate responsibility by disengaging from the practical work of influencing policy.