The Ballot and the Bible: How Scripture Has Been Used and Abused in American Politics and Where We Go from Here

by Kaitlyn Schiess

Overview

Pursue a Biblical Basis for Your Political Engagement

How do Bible passages written thousands of years ago apply to politics today? What can we learn from America's history of using the Bible in politics? How can we converse with people whose views differ from our own?

In The Ballot and the Bible, Kaitlyn Schiess explores these questions and more. She unpacks examples of how Americans have connected the Bible to politics in the past, highlighting times it was applied well and times it was egregiously misused.

Schiess combines American political history and biblical interpretation to help readers
● faithfully read Scripture
● talk with others about it
● apply it to contemporary political issues—and to their lives

★ "A nuanced look at America's legacy of scriptural language."—Publishers Weekly starred review

Christianity Today 2024 Book Award Finalist (Politics and Public Life)

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781587435966
Publisher:	Baker Publishing Group
Publication date:	08/22/2023
Pages:	224
Sales rank:	133,656
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.40(h) x 0.70(d)

About the Author

Kaitlyn Schiess (ThM, Dallas Theological Seminary) is a writer, speaker, and theologian. She is the author of The Liturgy of Politics: Spiritual Formation for the Sake of Our Neighbor and is a regular cohost on the Holy Post podcast with Skye Jethani and Phil Vischer. Her writing has appeared in the New York Times, Christianity Today, Christ and Pop Culture, Relevant, and Sojourners. Schiess is currently a doctoral student in political theology at Duke Divinity School. She lives in Durham, North Carolina.

Table of Contents

Contents
Introduction: Is That Your Bible?
1. A City on a Hill: An American Legacy of Puritan Biblical Interpretation
2. Submission and Revolution: Romans 13 and American Identity
3. "The Bible through Slave-Holding Spectacles": The Bible in the Civil War
4. Your Kingdom Come: Social Gospel Hermeneutics
5. A Stick of Dynamite: Civil Rights and Scripture
6. Magic of the Market: The Hermeneutics of Small Government
7. Late Great United States: Biblical Eschatology in the Cold War
8. Prayer, Politics, and Personal Faith: George W. Bush's and Barack Obama's Use of Scripture
9. "Give unto Caesar What Is Caesar's": Evangelicals and Trump
10. Seek the Peace and Prosperity of the City: Jeremiah 29 and Political Theology
Conclusion: The Promise and Peril of Biblical References in Politics

Editorial Reviews

★ 05/01/2023

Journalist Schiess (The Liturgy of Politics) presents an erudite history of both America’s “proper application” and “deep misuse” of scripture during pivotal events, from the Revolutionary and Civil wars through the Cold War and 9/11. Among other topics, Schiess examines politicians’ invocations of biblical blessings and the idea of America as a nation “uniquely covenanted with God.” Citing 1960s civil rights activists’ references to the exodus from Egypt, she explains that the Black church community recognized itself in “the plights of Israel” and looked to the Bible for “a divine mission for justice,” making for powerful oratory, while segregationists drew on hazy, misapplied “appeals to the unmistakable natural order of God’s creation.” Schiess sets out a new vision for biblical language use: instead of “plucking passages out of their context” and retrofitting them for predetermined political agendas, those combing the Bible for present-day insight should consider “the larger context of God’s redemptive story.” Buttressing her claims with impressive close analysis, Schiess sets out a nuanced look at America’s legacy of scriptural language, and readers will find especially useful her guidelines for responsible biblical interpretation when engaging in political discourse. This is a boon for activists looking to the Bible for inspiration. (Aug.)

Publishers Weekly