With the election year ramping up, the church needs some serious political discipleship. That’s why I’m excited about our fourth and final session at this year’s Exiles in Babylon conference, where we’ll engage with three Christian views of politics.
I’m a huge fan of engaging different viewpoints by actually listening to people who hold to that viewpoint. (Which is one reason why the whole fear of “platforming” various speakers just doesn’t even make sense at Exiles.) This is all the more reason to host 3 different Christian approaches to politics. If you already believe that there is only 1 Christian approach, and that we should sit around in an echo chamber repeating the mantras of that approach, then what can I say? The Exiles conference is probably not for you. Why pay money to have people tell you what you already know?
But if you want to hear different intellectually responsible and biblically rooted approaches to political questions—and to be forced to actually think through the various points of agreement and differences—then Exiles is preparing to serve you a feast. What I love most about our three speakers for this session is that all of them are more passionate about the kingdom of God and gospel unity than they are about dividing over whatever political differences they might have.
Joy Mosley will represent a “right leaning” political position. Joy has an MBA and a J.D. (Emory) and serves as the director of government relations for the CCCU and has been thinking about the intersection between the church and politics for quite some time. Chris Butler will represent a more “left leaning” perspective. As a pastor, podcaster, and pro-life Democrat who ran for congress several years ago, Chris brings a wealth of pastoral and political knowledge to the conversation. And then there’s Brian Zahnd. How do you describe Brian’s political position? I guess I’ll let him do so at the conference, but from my vantage point, Brian takes a non (or anti?) partisan approach that’s similar to Hauerwas, Yoder, and the Anabaptist church.
The conference is just two months away! If you haven’t registered but plan on attending, you’ll want to register ASAP. Space is filling up quickly and we’re on pace to sell out fairly soon. If you can’t attend live, then there’s always the virtual option.
