Religion and politics are entwined and, because the United States is majority-Christian, that means Christianity continues to play a large role in the politics of the nation.
Fishers resident and historical theology professor Miranda Zapor Cruz has written a new book that looks into how people of different Christian beliefs apply faith to their civic duty. “Faithful Politics: Ten Approaches to Christian Citizenship and Why it Matters” was released Aug. 20 by InterVarsity Press, a faith-based publishing company.
Cruz, a professor at Indiana Wesleyan University, said the book was inspired in part by questions from her students over the past decade.
“They’re expressing confusion and distress and real concern for how they are supposed to engage with politics, or whether they’re even supposed to engage with politics,” she said of the 18- to 22-year-olds. “They’re wrestling with these political questions for the first time, and they’re doing all of that in a context that is so tense, where there’s so much distrust and name-calling and division. I see their anxiety about politics and that’s kind of who I had in mind as I was writing the book.”
Cruz is Christian and said she was a college student herself when she became interested in the topic in the early 2000s.
“I got really interested in the ways that politicians use religious rhetoric and quote the Bible or use usually Christian phrases and the ways Christians respond to that,” she said. “So, for the last 20ish years, I’ve been paying attention to that and trying to think through what is that relationship? How are Christians or people of other faith traditions thinking about religion and politics? It’s academic for me, but it’s also personal because I’m navigating that same tension.”
Cruz said politics in the United States has always been deeply infused with religion — Christianity, specifically — but religion has become more political in recent decades.
“That’s not just my impression; there’s all kinds of data on the ways that Christians have aligned politically and the degree to which — especially evangelical Christians — align with the Republican Party,” she said.
In her book, Cruz said she looks into the historical and theological background of why different branches of Christianity approach politics in different ways. Although the book focuses on Christianity and politics, she said readers who aren’t Christian will gain an understanding of the issues, as well.
“I think the tendency is to look at politics and to see the way that Christianity influences politics and to not understand what in the world is going on there, or to think of Christians as just one kind of monolithic group,” she said. “So, for someone who’s not a Christian reading the book, I think they (will gain) a good understanding of how it is that Christians actually do have a pretty broad spectrum of political views, even while holding to the same core beliefs.”
“Faithful Politics” is an academic, nonpartisan look at the topic and Cruz said people who have read advance copies tell her they can’t tell what her own positions are.
“That was my goal,” she said. “I think most books on politics, and especially on religion and politics, are written by people who are trying to convince others that they need to think a certain way. I’m not trying to convince anyone to think a particular way about politics. I’m mostly trying to get people to think about politics.”
Cruz said she does offer suggestions to readers about how to apply faith to politics, such as considering the common good and valuing a diverse society. She also differentiates Christian nationalism from other Christian approaches.
“I explain why I don’t think Christian nationalism is a good or faithful way forward for Christians,” she said. “I think for a lot of people — Christian and not — it gets presented as: If you’re a Christian and you want your faith to influence your political thought, then that’s Christian nationalism. I kind of break that down more — what actually is Christian nationalism and why is it a problem? What are the alternatives for Christians who do believe that their faith has to influence their politics?”
For more, visit ivpress.com/faithful-politics. Cruz’s book also is available on Amazon.
