Nicholas Wolterstorff, The Mighty and the Almighty
This book engages the important question of how God's authority is
related to the authority of the state (2). It is a extended reflection
in political theology, that is, thinking in a Christian way about the
nature and authority of the state. The book comes out of lectures given
by Wolterstorff in 1998, but, interestingly, he says he wasn't happy
with the lectures in the form he delivered them (vi), so he set the
material aside and returned to it occasionally over the intervening
fourteen years, in the course of his other work, arriving at the product
produced in this book. The book still retains much of the lecture
"feel," in its direct tone and light annotation, but this isn't a
deficit, and in fact makes what may otherwise have been overly technical
accessible to the interested reader.
Wolterstorff's
reflections are built on the character of Polycarp, one of
Christianity's early martyrs, who exhibited an almost paradoxical
allegiance to Jesus Christ and a recognition of the state. Out of
Polycarp's situation, Wolterstorff recognizes two key dualities: "the
duality of the authority of the state mediating the authority of God,
and the duality of Christians being under the authority of both church
and state." It is the exploration of these dualities that occupies the
remainder of the book.
After looking at two possible objections to his framing of the
situation (one from Yoder and one based on the "two-cities"
understanding), he goes on to explore the nature of authority, of
government, and of the specific authority to govern. These provide the
reader with helpful summaries of what are obviously complex issues,
laying important groundwork for the exposition to come. And after
investigating Calvin's understanding of the relationship of God's
authority and that of the state, he moves on to look at Romans 13, one
of the key texts for Christian reflection on the stage.
The chapter on Paul really forms the heart of the book, both
because of the historical prominence of this chapter in past Christian
thought and because of the fruitfulness of his rereading of the passage.
Without going into the details, two key points go together. This first
is that most interpreters have looked at the passage and seen the first
verse, emphasizing government's God-given authority, as the key to
interpretation, whereas Wolterstorff asserts (not without warrant, I
think) that verses four and five, which detail more specifically what
government is and why it has been so authorized by God (emphasizing
government's role as God's agent to curb wrongdoing). He asserts, "With
verse 4 in mind, our immediate thought is that they [governing
authorities] are not just instituted, period, full stop. .
. . we know that they are instituted to do something, appointed
to do something" (94, emphasis original). This interpretation is certainly not new, but what is more novel is that, in his argument, this dovetails with an earlier point regarding the nature of authority, where he
differentiated between positional authority (that is, actions one
possesses the power to enact by virtue of a position of authority) and
performance authority (that is, actions that one has been given
permission to undertake; 48). While many Christian interpreters have
assumed something resembling the first understanding of authority when
looking at Romans 13, Wolterstorff asserts that Paul has in mind the
latter. This key interpretive move is at the heart of his argument. And
he takes his conclusion one important step further. He asserts that the
outline of government in Romans 13 would thus imply that government is
to be a rights-honoring institution, since transgressing rights is in
fact injustice and governments are tasked with punishing, not
perpetrating, injustice. This leads him down a path he didn't fully
expect at the outset of his own work: "I found a case for the liberal
democratic state gradually emerging—albeit for a less individualistic
understanding of the liberal democratic state than is common" (5).
Wolterstorff's
clearly written book does an outstanding job of formulating (or at
least pointing toward) a theology of government, one that has potential
to bear much fruit. Readers interested in questions of politics and
theology will do well to take this work into account. Likewise, those
interested in Pauline theology or Romans will likewise benefit from
engaging with his reading of Romans 13. The book is scholarly, but also
concise and direct, making it manageable for the interested general
reader, and I hope many pick it up. I look forward to engaging more with
his thoughtful writing, for I think it can illuminate why conflicts
between religious and political spheres do in fact occur, and help us
navigate a path through them that is true to the nature of each, all the
while being ultimately faithful to the sovereign Lord who holds our
full and ultimate allegiance.
Thanks to Cambridge University Press and the Amazon
Vine program for the review copy of this book.
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