Book Review: Jesus and the Powers, Tom Wright and Michael F. Bird (SPCK)

If the unenforceable pub ban on Sex, Politics, or Religion, as topics of conversation to ensure that tempers do not get too frayed, then clearly Wright and Bird are skating on thin ice in tackling two out of the three volatile subjects.

Tom Wright is well-known for an intellectual and theological approach to New Testament interpretation in its historical setting without somehow losing the common touch. It’s a skill he possesses and has brought once again to this book on Politics and Christianity.

In summary, he and Bird not only argue that for Christians to retreat from politics with either a small p or capital P is as much a terrible mistake as interpreting Christianity and the call of Christ entirely within the bounds of social reform and justice for all. I particularly like this sentence:

‘The gospel cannot be reduced to a this-world project of social betterment. But neither is the gospel an escapist drama for the soul pining for the angelic door of heaven’.

Is the book sufficiently punchy? Yes, ‘I’d say so. It’s not a ‘tome’ at 178 paperback pages. It’s more a collection of well-argued and sometimes entertaining articles stitched together culminating in defence of liberal democracy as the best, or maybe the ‘least worst’, form of government to date, better than the tyrannical reign of totalitarian regimes whether religious like the Taliban, or political like Communist, or fascist dictatorships, or kings and queens.

Is the book timely? Definitely. With Trump versus Harris, our recent electoral swing to Labour, and hotly contested social and political issues like gender fluidity, sexuality, cancel-culture, Israel and Gaza, Russia and Ukraine, China and Taiwan, and the worldwide trades in human trafficking and the millions on the move as refugees (almost exclusively away from totalitarian regimes to liberal democracies), this is a very timely book.

If you’ve never really stepped back as a Christian to consider issues of conscience, and where the limits of obedience to the state should lie, this is a great read. And the limits of fought-for civil liberties such as free speech, freedom of belief, association, and assembly, that we’re in danger of taking for granted, read on!

And, if you are not a Christian but find yourself living in a society shaped, at least historically, by biblical morality and the teaching of Jesus, this is a book for you, if only to consider in a fresh light how we have reached this point in our political evolution in 2024.

This is one of those Stop and Think books.

Is it light-hearted? No, but I did enjoy the authors’ brief foray into the mind and political thinking of JRR Tolkien and the Lord of The Rings and made a mental note to re-watch the DVD set when winter draws in!

This is one of those Stop and Think books

Only one thing irritated me. At first, I thought it was a typo, but as the error is repeated throughout the book, it must have been an editorial decision, an error of judgement maybe, but not a careless mistake. I’m referring to lowercase ‘h’ and ‘s’ when referring to the third member of the Trinity, the Holy Spirit. But I’ll leave that for you to judge!

I feel I haven’t done the content of the book justice, but to do so would add too many words. Best to beg, borrow, or buy a copy.