Blogalogue

Jim, I feel some frustration too because what you’ve done so far is speak mostly in generalities. The real pattern in Biblical politics only becomes clear when you look at an extended series of concrete practical issues from a Biblical perspective – say, the death penalty, immigration, Islamic terror, gun control, censorship, drug legalization, and…

Your post is difficult to respond to. I am not interested in trying to debunk your caricature of me and my ideas point-by-point. It appears to be mostly one-liners and sweeping generalizations about whole groups of people without much substance. For example, there are those you would call liberals who have a very strong ethic…

Jim, if in your opinion the Bible is neither liberal nor conservative, if God truly is non-partisan, if He isn’t in sympathy with Democratic more than with Republican policies, would you tell me the last major Republican candidates you voted for?

Thanks for your post, David. I’m looking forward to this discussion with you. You claim that the Bible has a conservative rather than liberal worldview. I would suggest that the Bible is neither “conservative” or “liberal” as we understand those terms in a political context today. I have written about what I call “prophetic” politics…

Jesse Jackson has rightly called Barack Obama’s presidential bid a “theological campaign.” Indeed, in the primary season, the leading Democratic candidates all correctly emphasized that spiritual values play a legitimate role in shaping political values. That’s thanks in part to your influence, Jim. Congratulations. Liberals and conservatives alike have claimed the mantle of religious authorization…

David Klinghoffer is a senior fellow in the Discovery Institute’s program in Religion, Liberty, and Public Life and the author of How Would God Vote? Why the Bible Commands You to Be a Conservative (Doubleday). His other books include Why the Jews Rejected Jesus and the spiritual memoir The Lord Will Gather Me In. He…

Jim Wallis is an author, public theologian, speaker, preacher, and international commentator on religion and public life, faith and politics. His latest book is The Great Awakening: Reviving Faith & Politics in a Post-Religious Right America (HarperOne, 2008) is a New York Times bestseller, as was God’s Politics: Why the Right Gets It Wrong and…

Thanks, Bart, for a further characteristic (and as you say forceful) response and fresh statement. You’ve taken a few more words this time (I’m delighted to see) and I will happily do the same. Let me begin by trying to clarify the first two matters which you picked up. I’ll take them in reverse order…

Tom, Thanks so much for your most recent post, which clarifies your view considerably. It is a forceful, and I would even say elegant, statement. Before responding, let me address two minor points that you make in passing, one about my argument and the other about me.

Thanks, Bart, for your response and further statement. I suspect we are both going to find that we start hares running in one another’s minds which there won’t be time to chase. I think the question of the definition and description of apocalyptic had better be one of those; we could talk another time perhaps…

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