@Ben_Westđ¸ this is not really a substantive comment, but just wanted to say that this is the only time Iâve seen someone mention Tolstoyâs The Kingdom of God is Within You (imo one of the all-time great theological tracts) online or in real lifeâthat was pretty exciting. Thanks for writing this; I really enjoyed the read!
One comment on a trivial thing: You said that Satanâs temptation of Jesus is not typically interpreted as meaning that governments are intrinsically Satanic. I think thatâs right. But, I donât think itâs correct to say that the Bible clearly states that civil authority is intrinsically godly.
Your quote from the Cambridge Bible argues this, but their reasoning proves too much: If God is sovereign, you could use the same argument to say that everything (including sin) is divinely mandated because itâs all created by God. Some Christian theological factions do actually hold that viewâfor example, by saying that God created sin in order to demonstrate His power and gloryâ but most do not.
I think the mainstream Christian view, sourced from a variety of Scriptures (but especially from Jesusâ comments on Roman taxes in Mark 12) is something like âcivil authorities are somewhat morally neutral; you should default to obeying their commands unless theyâre clearly in opposition to Godâs commands.â
My best guess is that Tolstoy and many other Christian anarchists would actually agree with the precise logic of that statement, but where theyâd differ from mainstream Christians is in the their interpretation of whatâs âclearly in opposition to Godâs commandsâ. Theyâd argue that the set of civil commands that are contrary to Godâs commands is just very largeâmaybe including all civil commandsâbecause such commands enabled the governments in their contexts to do ungodly things.
But, itâs complicated; I think the debate in Christian theological circles about how to understand the morality of institutional behavior is very much alive!
@Ben_Westđ¸ this is not really a substantive comment, but just wanted to say that this is the only time Iâve seen someone mention Tolstoyâs The Kingdom of God is Within You (imo one of the all-time great theological tracts) online or in real lifeâthat was pretty exciting. Thanks for writing this; I really enjoyed the read!
One comment on a trivial thing:
You said that Satanâs temptation of Jesus is not typically interpreted as meaning that governments are intrinsically Satanic. I think thatâs right. But, I donât think itâs correct to say that the Bible clearly states that civil authority is intrinsically godly.
Your quote from the Cambridge Bible argues this, but their reasoning proves too much: If God is sovereign, you could use the same argument to say that everything (including sin) is divinely mandated because itâs all created by God. Some Christian theological factions do actually hold that viewâfor example, by saying that God created sin in order to demonstrate His power and gloryâ but most do not.
I think the mainstream Christian view, sourced from a variety of Scriptures (but especially from Jesusâ comments on Roman taxes in Mark 12) is something like âcivil authorities are somewhat morally neutral; you should default to obeying their commands unless theyâre clearly in opposition to Godâs commands.â
My best guess is that Tolstoy and many other Christian anarchists would actually agree with the precise logic of that statement, but where theyâd differ from mainstream Christians is in the their interpretation of whatâs âclearly in opposition to Godâs commandsâ. Theyâd argue that the set of civil commands that are contrary to Godâs commands is just very largeâmaybe including all civil commandsâbecause such commands enabled the governments in their contexts to do ungodly things.
But, itâs complicated; I think the debate in Christian theological circles about how to understand the morality of institutional behavior is very much alive!