Yohan Hwang's
Reclaiming Our Political Roots: Rethinking Church in Nationalist Times is one of the clearest calls for the Church in America to wake up -- wake up from the nightmare of trying to provide therapy or social belonging in a culture all too enthralled with both.
Reclaiming Our Political Roots is nothing less than a clarion call for the Church in America to be the Church -- "a
true community ... where its members have political and economic commitments to each other".
I have little doubt that this book will infuriate all sorts of folks. But as a church leader himself, Hwang has a handle on what this change might mean. Hwang
details how the Church has fulfilled this role at various points in
history and how we can learn from the past. In a culture where Christians have become so engrossed in maintaining the status quo for American culture through political power, Hwang envisions what the Kingdom of God envisions: An alternative to worldly politics. Where Christians no longer look to corporate or political power to provide health care, education, welfare or even justice. Because Christians are willing to make the cruciform decisions to live justly, kindly, humanly in the world -- and provide that health care, education, welfare and justice to the world (Christian and non-Christian, alike).
In the process, Hwang dares to envision a whole new world. One, like I said, that business leaders and politicians will find infuriating, precisely because it is dis-empowering.
Stan Hauerwas has it right, in his recommendation on the back cover of the book: Hwang "demonstrates how to go on" and has provided us with one of the most important introductions to theological politics I've ever read.
This book is a must-read for 2020!
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I received a free copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for my honest review here.
