Book Review of Political Church: The Local Assembly as Embassy of Christ's Rule

Political Church: The Local Assembly as Embassy of Christ's Rule
by Jonathan Leeman
IVP Academic
978-0-8308-4880-5
Reviewed by Clint Walker

As soon as I received Political Church, I knew two things. First, with endorsements as diverse as Hauerwas and Albert Moeller, I knew that this was a book full of powerful ideas worthy of thinking deeply about.
Second, after beginning to read through this book, I realized that it was rightly classified in the academic line of IVP. This book is dense, thought-provoking, and intellectually weighty.

Many people want to separate the church from the public sphere of life, or to define it "organically", and in doing so, they seek redefine the church as apolitical. Jonathan Leeman confronts this view of the church. As much as the church tries to get away from being an "institution", it is by nature institutional. And, because it has a role in the public life of society and communities, it is by definition political.

Leeman puts it this way: The church is to "represent the king's name before the nations and their governors as an ambassador" (p. 24) of Christ and his kingdom. This may call the church to be separate from the political concerns of the day in that it is not beholden to a national political party. However, because we are an outpost of the kingdom of God, our actions, positions, and beliefs should have a political impact in whatever nation or culture we are a part of.

There is much more to read, be debated, and discuss with Leeman's wonderfully well-considered work. Today, it is sufficed to say that I am challenged as a person that waivers between Anabaptist and Reformed sentiments and convictions.