Do our political views center on Christianity or Christendom?
You couldn’t find two people from history that were more opposite than Jesus Christ of Nazareth, the founder of Christianity, and the Emperor Constantine the Great, the founder of Christendom.
Jesus was a humble Jewish preacher, born and raised in poverty, in the backwoods hick town of Nazareth; Constantine was a Roman emperor, born to a prominent military commander in an important Roman city. Jesus never traveled more than 200 miles from his home; Constantine traveled everywhere from Britain to Persia. Jesus inaugurated a spiritual kingdom; Constantine conquered an earthly kingdom. Jesus had some hundreds of lower-class followers; Constantine ruled millions of subjects.
Jesus, among a people that was clamoring for a leader to rise up in revolt against Rome, unequivocally preached peace; Constantine engaged in bitter civil warfare for years to claim his throne. Jesus submitted to a humiliating torture and death while loving his enemies; Constantine humbled and executed many of his enemies. Jesus lived a sinless life; Constantine lived a sinful life and then was baptized just before his death (waiting so he could be absolved of as much of his past sin as possible).
So, what exactly is this aforementioned Christendom? An early experience of Constantine’s life may illustrate it. According to the church historian Eusebius, while he was in the midst of a protracted civil war with rival claimants to the imperial throne, just before a pivotal battle, Constantine saw a vision of the cross along with the words,”By this sign you will conquer.” He then decorated his soldiers’ equipment with Christian symbols, and his army won the battle decisively. It’s a cool story, but considering how emphatically Jesus insisted that the kingdom he preached was not a worldly kingdom, this may serve to illustrate the kinds of misconceptions Constantine had about Christianity. He viewed Christianity as an aid in his conquests, a means to advance the interests of the state.
Jesus told his followers to expect no favorable treatment from much of anyone, let alone the state. He told his followers to anticipate being hated and persecuted, and to reject worldly goods in favor of heavenly riches. But when Constantine rose to power, for the first time Christianity found favor with the state. While Constantine didn’t make Rome an officially Christian state — that was one of his successors, Theodosius, about 70 years later — he made it so that there were incentives to be a Christian. He created an environment where it was advantageous, even expected of the average citizen, to be a Christian. Laws and customs sprang from Christianity, and even enforced its practice (or distortions of it.) Entire kingdoms and nations came to be considered “Christian.” What was supposed to be a spiritual kingdom started to look a lot like a worldly one. Christendom was born, and with it cultural Christianity.
Now we’re back in familiar territory. Amazingly, the phenomenon Constantine started continues down to the present day. For most of American history, it was the same way. An American was pretty much expected to be a Christian. It’s still that way today in some places, almost as a matter of duty. National values such as capitalism, independence, patriotism, individualism, ambition, and the American dream have been exalted to the level of distinctly Christian values like charity, love, community, sacrifice, peace, purity, and knowledge of God.
It’s not that those American values are necessarily bad things. But, like in every other nation of Christendom, they have become so conflated that those on the outside looking in often aren’t sure whether to associate Christians more with Jesus’ values or American values, with Christianity or Christendom. Even in some churches, it seems that these values are ardently preached from the pulpit, and faithful members are expected to enthusiastically uphold these American values in addition to Christian ones.
And which one is it? Are we more concerned for Christianity, or Christendom?
It’s no secret that the United States is becoming less Christian and more non-religious. Cultural Christianity, the Christianity that one was expected to profess simply by virtue of being an American, is fading away. In addition, many traditional Americanvalues are also falling into disfavor. And so we lament that America is not what it once was, that moral values are declining, and that Christians are increasingly portrayed negatively in the media. We perceive it as the decline of Christianity, but I think what we are witnessing is the decline of Christendom.
Yes, over the coming years, Christian influence in politics is probably going to decrease. Less percentage of Americans will probably identify as Christian, or more accurately, as citizens of Christendom. But even under Christendom, there has always been just a minority of Christians who were dedicated enough to go out and live the faith as Jesus taught it. That hasn’t changed, and it won’t change if Christendom goes away. It’s what Jesus told us to expect. A worldly Christendom led by worldly rulers isn’t what Jesus envisioned anyway. The real Christendom will be when he returns.
No one’s saying we shouldn’t be involved in politics, and we should certainly advocate for policies that we believe will be best for the country. That will probably happen to align with our values as Christians. But we must be careful not to conflate our Christian values with the values of American Christendom. Christendom is fading away, but real Christianity is already, and has always been, a minority.
If the backlash against religion among the younger generations escalates and we are eventually marginalized in society, it will be distressing, but it will be exactly what Jesus told us to expect. It shouldn’t be cause for panic. It will also be the conditions the early church thrived and grew under, even when not undergoing intense persecution. While we would love to see multitudes of people be saved and know Jesus, it will be by the influence of Christianity, not Christendom. As we engage in the political realm, we must remember that our primary battle is in the spiritual realm, and while we may influence the culture, that will mostly be done by sharing the gospel with individuals.
