By David Gushee
The July 4th weekend found me immersed in Christian political theology as I prepare to teach a course on this theme in Australia in a few weeks. Independence Day itself found me in one of my favorite places, Atlanta’s Turner Field, where my wife, son and I watched the patriotic tableau together with a Braves game. The convergence of these experiences leaves me thinking about themes of patriotism and its place in the Christian life.
I have spent a lot of time this summer with the work of British theologian-ethicist Oliver O’Donovan, who has carved out dazzling expertise in Christian political thought during his distinguished academic career. O’Donovan’s Christendom-friendly political theology has offered a quite striking challenge to my own convictions. But there is so much to learn from him.
In his erudite work on political theology, called The Desire of the Nations (Cambridge, 1996), O’Donovan’s explorations of the Bible lead him to a political theology emphasizing power, right and tradition. By power, he especially means the power of governments to secure their populations from external threat through force. By right, he attends especially to the judicial function of law — its legislation, adjudication and enforcement. By tradition, he essentially refers to the way a political community defines its identity through a shared body of practices, experiences and symbols.
I was thinking about these three categories on Sunday when experiencing the ways in which the “authorities” of Turner Field sought to present patriotic edification.
The power-as-security motif was quite strong, as it always is in the United States (at least as long as I have been paying attention). The armed forces of our nation were heavily featured, beginning with the role of Air Force personnel in unrolling the outfield-sized American flag, continuing with the awe-inspiring Air Force flyover at precisely 4:55 pm, and throughout the evening as military personnel were honored continuously.
One could be forgiven for thinking that the main focus of American patriotism is the size, power, and bravery of our military forces. Perhaps this does reflect a primal sense of gratitude that our government is protecting our lives. But I have often suspected in recent years that the strong militarization of our patriotic celebrations has more to do with a quietly guilty conscience. Perhaps we make such a fuss over that tiny percentage of our population that fights our endless wars because it is in fact such a tiny percentage. We wouldn’t applaud so lustily at every sight of a soldier if we had all served our time.
As for the judicial function, it is interesting how little attention this receives in American patriotism. Few Americans feel a patriotic frisson when they see images of lawmakers at the Capitol or judges in their robes. O’Donovan, for one, is convinced that this judicial function is the core role of civil authority, and seems to argue that it is the only one that survives the Christ-event without much change. The stability and depth of the rule of law under our 18th-century Constitution is one of the very best things about our nation — but the very fact that it is so taken for granted makes it vulnerable to erosion, as it has been since the Cold War and certainly since 9/11.
As for identity and tradition, I was very much struck by the surfacing of these in many ways on July 4th at Turner. Perhaps only a seven-story Jumbotron can do justice to some of the natural beauties of this land, and that same screen displayed pictures and images from our founding documents and history. The singing of “The Star-Spangled Banner” and “God Bless America” reflected these kinds of traditions and advanced them one more time.
It is a commonplace of a certain kind of Christian ethics to look with disfavor on any Christian participation in such patriotic rituals, and to call for a rigorous Christian distancing from expressions of loyalty and gratitude to the nation. But O’Donovan points out that both the Bible and much Christian political thought through the ages have carved out a space for a sense of (non-idolatrous) gratitude to God for the providential care provided through civil authorities. Even though Christ’s triumph means that all worldly governments are limited, provisional, and potentially even demonic, Christians can and should be grateful for divine provision through well-functioning governments. Such gratitude provides a foundation for citizenship activities aimed at advancing the best — and preventing the worst — possibilities of government.