Resisting Idolatry, Remembering Baptism
One of the most egregious acts in a sea of egregious acts is placing God’s mantle over the President and his administration. The activities of the Trump administration are political maneuvers based on human will and human ideology; there is nothing ordained about them. There is no divine sanction for the activities of our government.
Stripping any political regime of this idolatrous mantle is a fundamental task of theological education. Whether in scripture, history, theology, pastoral care, or ethics, distinguishing God from what human beings say about God is foundational. It initiates the critical inquiry that catalyzes learning. From this foundational distinction, we explore the historical dimensions of religion, the complexities of translation and interpretation, and the many debates over doctrine and practice. We also participate as reflective practitioners in a living tradition, doing our best to discern God’s purpose and respond faithfully. Theology is faith seeking understanding, not faith seeking endorsement.
Central to the task and purpose of theological education is the critical monitoring of what H. Richard Niebuhr called the conflation of human will and the unfolding divine campaign. At a time when our federal government claims divine sanction for everything it does, such monitoring requires more than critique and deconstruction in our classrooms, though that is crucial. These times demand a public witness in the tradition of Christian nonviolent resistance, one that finds strength in the grace of a loving God whose power cannot be reduced to an ideological endorsement. They also demand the daily work of remembering where loyalty and power truly lie and of resisting the authoritarian levers designed to instill fear and compel allegiance. In the language of Christian practice, these times demand that we remember our baptism.
One of the crucial features of baptism is its communal nature. We welcome people into the community and re-dedicate ourselves to the values, norms, and commitments that define, shape, and make us who we are. We say ‘yes’ to God’s gift of grace, reaffirm our convictions, and re-dedicate ourselves to ways of being and doing that reflect God’s presence.
We remember who we are and rededicate ourselves to this covenant with God.
While we articulate these commitments together in a particular ecclesial space, we live them out in the world. When we feel pressured to act contrary to our values, we remember our baptism. When we feel coerced into declaring other loyalties, we remember our baptism. When we feel tempted to cut corners, shirk responsibilities, fudge the data, stay silent, or throw someone else under the bus to protect ourselves, we remember our baptism. When we face idolatry, selfishness, and cruelty, we remember our baptism. When we feel fearful, intimidated, and threatened, we remember our baptism. And when we fail, we remember our baptism.
We do not live out our commitments in generic terms or on an abstract level, but in daily actions in particular places, using what we have to do what we can. In places of higher education, we are being scrutinized by a temporal authority that seeks to control admissions and recruitment, teaching and research, and hiring and professional advancement. Threatened by free speech, critical thinking, social analysis, and political protest, let alone efforts to reckon with our history of racial injustice, this temporal authority uses the power levers of money and litigation to force ideological compliance. I urge those of us in theological education to remember our baptism by taking some very concrete steps. First, we must refuse to be afraid. Second, we must attend to the needs of students, staff, and faculty colleagues, especially those most vulnerable to the levers of power. Third, we must protect our classrooms as places where students can challenge authority, exercise their freedom of thought and speech, conduct research without political influence, draw their own conclusions, and speak and learn without fear. Finally, when we fail and fall short, we must remember our baptism and try again.