For Christians, our hope is not in politics but in the power of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Politics does not change men fundamentally, though we do have a name for political systems that believe they can change men: totalitarianisms. Marxist regimes believed they could inculcate virtue, creating "the new man."¯ The aims of Christian democracies founded on Christian truths are more modest, chiefly protecting life, liberty, and property (in the view of the United States' Founders). Because our ultimate hope is not in politics, we should lower our political expectations and heighten our cultural expectations. We should work for cultural change by means of preaching the Gospel and applying God's truth in all areas of life; a Christianized political order will come incrementally, over time.
Andrew Sandlin
...civil religion is the misidentification of the nation of the United States with the covenant people of God. It is the casual assumption that America enjoys a special role in redemptive history. It is the confusion of the office of the political leader with the office of the spiritual leader. It is the frequent presumption of divine blessings without submission to divine judgment. It is the sublimation of Christian distinctives to a generic amalgam that conflates many faiths into a common national identity. It is as old as America itself. And it is not biblical Christianity.
William Inboden
The various modes of worship which prevailed in the Roman world were all considered by the people as equally true; by the philosopher as equally false; and by the magistrate as equally useful.
Gibbon
| Title |
Notes |
Two Kingdom Theology and Neo-Kuyperians  |
Kevin DeYoung |
C. S. Lewis in the Public Square  |
Richard John Neuhaus |
God's Country?  |
John Warwick Montgomery |
The Christian & Politics: Has the Contemporary Church Become Obsessed With Political Solutions?  |
Darryl Erkel |
Finding the Permanent in the Political: C. S. Lewis as a Political Thinker  |
John G. West, Jr. |
Christian Engagement in Secular Society: Politics, the Gospel, and Moral Influence  |
K. T. Magnuson (pdf) - SBTJ |
Reflecting on our Christian Responsibility to the State  |
Stephen J. Wellum (pdf) |
Evangelical Politics - Three Generations  |
Speaking of Faith on NPR (Audio and Video) - Charles Colson, Greg Boyd and Shane Claiborne. |
Religion and Politics: A Roundtable Discussion  |
William Bennett, Os Guinness, Michael Horton, Jim Wallis and Moderator Cal Thomas |
Moses' Law for Modern Government  |
J. Ligon Duncan - The Intellectual and Sociological Origins of the Christian Reconstructionist Movement |
Is Natural Revelation Sufficient to Govern Culture?  |
John M. Frame |
Theonomy and Eschatology: Some Reflections on Postmillennialism  |
Richard B. Gaffin, Jr. (.pdf) |
Show Them No Mercy: Old Testament Holy War & Islamic Jihad  |
Jeff Spry (pdf) |
The Christian and Politics  |
Samuel T. Logan, Jr. |
The [American] Revolution: Christian In Spite of Itself  |
John Warwick Montgomery |
Is God Unconstitutional? - Part 2  |
Phillip Johnson - The Established Religious Philosophy of America |
Is God Unconstitutional? - Part 1  |
Phillip Johnson - The Established Religious Philosophy of America |
Faith & Law Society: Fifteen Propositions  |
Don E. Eberly (Alliance of Confessing Evangelicals) |
Christianity & Politics: How Shall the Twain Meet?  |
Dan Bryant (Alliance of Confessing Evangelicals) |
Can Politics Save?  |
Ken Jones |
God & Other Law-makers - Theology and Law  |
John W. Montgomery |
The Death Penalty: God's Timeless Standard for the Nations?  |
Bruce W. Ballard - Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society |
Bearing Sword in the State, Turning Cheek in the Church: A Reformed Two-Kingdoms Interpretation of Matthew 5:38–42  |
David VanDrunen |
Free to Live and Love as We See Fit?  |
Al Mohler |
Political Polytheism  |
Greg Bahnsen |
Secular Humanism  |
Brian Schwertley |
“To Be a Truly Religious Man”: Piety and Politics in the Life and Thought of William Wilberforce (PDF)  |
Dr. Michael A. G. Haykin |
The Purposes of Government  |
Matt Perman |
The S Word  |
Pat Lencioni |
More Government, Less God: What the Obama Revolution Means for Religion in America  |
W. Bradford Wilcox |
Echoes of Babel: Our New National Sin  |
Trevin Wax |
A Prayer for President Obama  |
Al Mohler |
How Barack Obama Will Make Christ a Minister of Condemnation  |
John Piper |
Open Letter to President-Elect Obama  |
Ron Jones |
The Tyranny of the Minority  |
S. T. Karnick |
Grateful for (Almost) Any Government  |
John Piper |
Some Initial Thoughts on Praying for President-Elect Obama  |
Ligon Duncan |
A Prayer for America on Election Day  |
Al Mohler |
The Abolition of Man  |
C.S. Lewis |
Is Progress Possible? Willing Slaves of the Welfare State  |
C.S. Lewis |
Let Christians Vote As Though They Were Not Voting  |
John Piper |
Politics, Activism, and the Gospel  |
John MacArthur |
The Freedom of the Christian Market  |
Carl Trueman |
A Christian View of the Economic Crisis  |
Al Mohler |
Being on God's Side: An open letter to the "religious right."  |
Joe Carter |
Statism  |
R.C. Sproul |
Palin Can Serve Family and Country  |
Al Mohler |
...when the gospel is reduced to political protest  |
Steve Camp |
Gratitude for Power-Restraints  |
John Piper |
The Gospel and Politics  |
John MacArthur |
The New Religious Establishment: A Reforming Dissent  |
Blair Brown |
The Politics of Service: Three Christian activists who drew on faith to fight social challenges  |
Collin Hansen |
The Cousins’ Wars: Religion, Politics, Civil Warfare, and the Triumph of Anglo-America (book review)  |
Mark Noll |
God & Caesar  |
Laurence White |
The Essentiality of Transcendence and the Failure of Religious Answers  |
John Warwick Montgomery - Foundations of Human Dignity |
Religious Liberty in America  |
David Adams |
The Christian Bill of Rights  |
Steve Camp |
How Evangelicals Traded Their Spiritual Authority for a Mess of Political Pottage  |
Phil Johnson |
Irreverent Wrongs  |
Thabiti Anyabwile |
A Brief Thought for a Frustrating Election Year  |
Phil Johnson |
HOW TO ENGAGE IN POLITICS WITHOUT LOSING YOUR SOUL  |
Andy Jackson |
Facing A Culture In Trouble  |
Carl F. H. Henry |
The Evangelical Co-Belligerents: ...you want real change? impact culture by the gospel - not politics  |
Steve Camp |
Pilgrim Politician  |
Marvin Olasky |
Roosevelt’s or Reagan’s America  |
John Marini |
A Country With a Chest  |
Gregory Koukl |
Christians and Political Action  |
An Interview with Michael Cromartie |
Civil Government - An Exposition of Romans 13:1-7  |
James M. Willson (1853) |
Discernment Exercise: Can We Vote Christianly?  |
Denis Haack |
Proclamation Over Protest  |
Ken Myers - Alliance of Confessing Evangelicals |
A Post on Politics  |
Nathan Busenitz |
N.T. Wright on God and Politics  |
Lee Irons |
The Truth About Torture  |
John Jefferson Davis |
How can Christians have a positive influence on American politics?  |
John Piper |
Was Geneva a Theocracy?  |
Michael Horton |
Ministers of God for Our Good  |
David VanDrunen - God's Gift of Civil Government |
Govern Well or Be Governed?  |
Brian J. Lee - The Christian and the Civil Authorities in Romans 13 |
Civil Government: An Exposition of Romans 13: 1–7  |
James M. Wilson, A.M. |
How Superior Powers Ought to Be Obeyed by Their Subjects  |
Christopher Goodman (Geneva, 1558) - Justifying a Christian's right to resist a tyrannical ruler. Goodman indicated that he had presented the thesis of this book to John Calvin, and Calvin endorsed it. |
Reformation, Revival and the Religious Right  |
Tom Ascol |
Beyond Culture Wars  |
Michael S. Horton |
Red and Blue America - The Washington Post Takes a Look  |
Al Mohler |
Helping the Poor Without Feeding the Beast  |
Greg L. Bahnsen - Scripture is replete with gracious prescriptions for relieving poverty, and none of them involve government coercion |
Church and State  |
Don Closson and Robin Riggs |
Lex Rex  |
Samuel Rutherford |
The Deadly Dangers of Moralism  |
John MacArthur |
"One Cheer" for Civil Religion?  |
William Inboden - The people as equally true; by the philosopher as equally false; and by the magistrate as equally useful. |
Politica  |
Johannes Althusius (Abridged) A Covenantal View of Human Society for the Harmonious Exercise of Social Life |
Calvinism and Politics  |
Abraham Kuyper |
Christian Politics according to Abraham Kuyper  |
Irving Hexham |
The Christian and Politics  |
Samuel T. Logan, Jr. |
"One Cheer" for Civil Religion?  |
William Inboden |
The Roots and Remedy of Judicial Imperialism  |
Nancy Pearcey |
Politics and the Pulpit  |
Bob Vincent |
Some Reflections on Involvement in Politics  |
Bob Vincent |
Christian Civil Government  |
Bob Vincent |
Christianity and the American Constitution  |
Bob Vincent |
Calvinism and the Success of Liberal Democracy: Part 1  |
John Snyder |
Calvinism and the Success of Liberal Democracy: Part 2  |
John Snyder |
God and Country or Christ's Kingdom?  |
Jon Zens and Cliff Bjork |
Biblical Principles for Government  |
Peter Hammond |
Toward a Theology of State  |
John Frame |
Can Politics Save?  |
Ken Jones |
Vindicae Contra Tyrannos, or, A Vindication Against Tyrants  |
Phillipe du Plessis Mornay, a French Huguenot. |
Human Action: A Treatise on Economics  |
Ludwig von Mises Christians may find a few things in this book to disagree with, but there is no doubt that Mises contributed a great deal to the argument against a bloated, deified state. |
Defense and War: A Biblical Perspective  |
Ron McKenzie |
The God Gulf--Nicholas Kristof Strikes Yet Again  |
Albert Mohler |
An Introduction To Christian Economics  |
Gary North The uniqueness of Christian economics is that the Christian economist has specific, concrete biblical revelation concerning the limits of economic theory and practice. |
Concerning the Rights of Rulers Over Their Subjects and the Duty Of Subjects Towards Their Rulers  |
Theodore Beza - Published in response to the growing tensions between Protestant and Catholic in France, which culminated in the St. Bartholomew Day Massacre in 1572 |
A Short Treatise on Political Power  |
Dr. John Ponet |
A Short Treatise on Political Power  |
John Ponet, D.D. (1556) President John Adams |
Finding the Permanent in the Political  |
John G. West, Jr. |
There Is Another King: Gospel as Politics  |
S. Joel Garver |