THE JESUS CANDIDATE:
Political religion in a secular age
By James Paul Lusk
Ekklesia. 134 pages. £9.40 (thejesuscandidate.uk)
ISBN 978 0 993 294 297
The aim of Lusk’s book is to persuade the Christian reader of the biblical foundations of the secular and ‘neutral’ liberal state, and of the dangers of the ‘Christian right’.
For him, ‘The state is a social institution with a particular function – to exercise force on behalf of society as a whole. It is for people and communities, not the state, to decide what is “good”.’ (p.4) Thus the state creates the space in which individuals and associations can each pursue their religion and their understanding of the good life.
Religious right
While some of the ‘Religious Right’s’ practices may be deeply flawed, Lusk too readily dismisses critiques of the liberal secular state. Lusk argues that the state is not religious. But the liberal secular state has an ideology founded on self-determination. Without gospel redemption this inevitably recedes to what Calvin called self-incurva-ture, or what is described in Romans 1.21 as ‘futile thinking’. Legislating inescapably involves value judgments regarding the ‘good’ and Romans 13.4 carries this assumption (indeed a more detailed discussion of Romans 13.1-7 might have been illuminating).
Ethical concepts
The concepts of justice, fairness, and equality are all ethical concepts and when the liberal secular state legislates with reference to these ideas, it is not acting neutrally between differing conceptions of the ‘good’. In recent weeks, for example, Jeremy Corbyn has been criticising excessive wages. Who says they are excessive? Why is this wrong or unjust? Whether or not we agree with Mr Corbyn, I think we can all agree that he is making ethical judgments and he is not alone in seeking to use the state to establish an understanding of justice.
Thoughtful and challenging
For the Christian with an active interest in political theology, there is much in Lusk’s book that is thoughtful and challenging and many who do read it will be encouraged to be involved in politics and advocate for justice and good government to the glory of God. Indeed, how Christians do this well and persuasively is worthy of further discussion. For the average Christian, however, I’m not persuaded that Lusk deals satisfactorily with the inherent instability of the secular liberal state, or offers sufficient answers (or indeed poses the required questions) for Christians facing the rising ‘liberal’ illiberal intolerance.
