Joseph of Arimathea, a prominent member of the Council, who was himself waiting for the kingdom of God, went boldly to Pilate and asked for Jesus’ body.
Mark 15:43
Theology must be political if it is to be evangelical. Rule out the political questions and you cut short the proclamation of God’s saving power; you leave people enslaved where they ought to be set free from sin—their own sin and others’.
Oliver O’Donovan, The Desire of the Nations
So long as the Church preaches the gospel and functions as a properly “political” reality, a polity of her own, the kings of the earth have a problem on their hands. . . . As soon as the church appears, it becomes clear to any alert politician that worldly politics is no longer the only game in town. The introduction of the church into any city means that the city has a challenger within its walls.
Peter Leithart, Against Christianity
[Political theology] has, in the first place, pastoral importance: to give guidance to those who, believing the Christian faith or capable of suspending their unbelief, have to exercise political responsibilities. Nothing very specialized need be envisaged here; we need not confine political ethics to the mirror-for-princes mold, as a professional science of politicians or civil servants. The responsibilities are those which we all face, regardless of our views on political institutions and the propriety of taking a leading role in them. . . . Hermit and politician both have to make up their minds as to whether they can acknowledge the institutions that claim to serve them.
Oliver O’Donovan, The Ways of Judgment
Fear is not a Christian habit of mind.
Marilynne Robinson, The Givenness of Things