Theological Journal – July 14 Lee Camp, Scandalous Witness (3)
PROPOSITION 3 American Hope Is a Bastard America, despite poplar opinion, creates a bastard offspring whenever it forces itself upon Christian faith. Ronald Reagan’s regular use if the Puritan John Winthrop’ image of the new world as a “city set on a hill” as a lens to (mis)interpret the Christian faith in an idolatrous way is a familiar example. This trope os nonpartisan being used on both the left and the right. “For Paul, God entrusted a ministry of reconciliation to the church. The church, rather than grounding its identity in any form of ethnic superiority or nationalism, would in fact set aside the various mechanisms of power and hostility attached to particular identities. The church comprised people of every land, tribe, ethnicity, welcoming all. The church then was called to go forth and sow seeds of reconciliation. Hostility and partisanship were to be defeated through love of enemies and doing good for those who do us wrong.” (Kindle Loc.567) “For Paul, i...