August 12, 2024 | Kaitlyn Schiess
“The most fruitful conversations about politics and the church in my own experience [have been] when we are on week six of a Bible study, and we have been able to see that [the people in this group] care deeply about scripture, and that we are trying to discover together what God is saying to God’s people, and whoa, there it is. There’s a verse that applies to our political life, or provokes a question, or makes us think deeper about something. And the trust that you’ve built. . . offers so many more fruitful possibilities for figuring out how we should live in our political life.”
Kaitlyn Schiess, a doctoral student at Duke Divinity School, cohost of The Holy Post podcast, host of the Curiously, Kaitlyn podcast, and author of The Ballot and the Bible: How Scripture Has Been Used and Abused in American Politics and Where We Go from Here, explores the significance of approaching Bible-based political conversations with curiosity and discernment rather than confrontation, to foster deeper understanding and connections. She also emphasizes the importance of context in exploring Christian political theology and urges Christians to read larger passages to grasp the broader biblical narrative as they shape their beliefs.
"I have found the most fruitful conversations about politics in the church in my own experience working in the church, when we are on week six of a Bible study, and we have been able to see that it is true of the people in this… Share on X "In the midst of all of the misuses, which are just heartbreaking sometimes, especially, there's a whole chapter on civil war and antebellum era and the misuse of scripture to harm people's lives, to justify the enslavement and… Share on X "Hopefully doing that in community saying, 'I want my posture to be one of curiosity and I need other people who are willing to be curious with me,' then, like you said, leads to curiosity about each other. A lot of the folks that… Share on X "There are places in Scripture that we don't think of as politically relevant texts that nevertheless should be shaping our public life. Christianity has great gifts to our public life that include things, like how Scripture… Share on X