Political Church: The Local Assembly as Embassy of Christ's Rule

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InterVarsity Press, Mar 1, 2016 - Religion - 407 pages

The church is political.

Theologians have been debating this claim for years. Liberationists, Anabaptists, Augustinians, neo-Calvinists, Radical Orthodox, and others continue to discuss the matter. What do we mean by politics and the political? What are the limits of the church's political reach? What is the nature of the church as an institution? How do we establish these claims theologically?

Jonathan Leeman sets out to address these questions in this Studies in Christian Doctrine and Scripture volume. Drawing on covenant theology and the "new institutionalism" in political science, Leeman critiques political liberalism and explores how the biblical canon informs an account of the local church as an embassy of Christ's kingdom. Political Church heralds a new era in political theology.

Studies in Christian Doctrine and Scripture, edited by Daniel J. Treier and Kevin J. Vanhoozer, promotes evangelical contributions to systematic theology, seeking fresh understanding of Christian doctrine through creatively faithful engagement with Scripture in dialogue with church.

 

Contents

Preface
13
Acknowledgments
19
Introduction
21
1 What Is Politics?
55
2 What Is an Institution?
98
3 The Politics of Creation
142
4 The Politics of the Fall
172
5 The Politics of the New Covenant
239
Name Index
393
Subject Index
395
Scripture Index
399
The Studies in Christian Doctrine and Scripture Series
405
Praise for Political Church
406
About the Author
408
More Titles from InterVarsity Press
409
Academic Textbook Selector
410

6 The Politics of the Kingdom
294
Conclusion
389

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About the author (2016)

Jonathan Leeman (PhD, University of Wales) is the editorial director for 9Marks, an organization that produces church leadership resources in Washington, D.C. He is the author of The Church and the Surprising Offense of God?s Love and Church Membership: How the World Knows Who Represents Jesus.

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