The Scattered Voice: New Book Offers Unique View of American Politics

September l990

WASHINGTON, D.C.—Zondervan Publishing Company has just released The Scattered Voice: Christians at Odds in the Public Square. The author, James Skillen, tries to capture the dynamics of American political life through the eyes of seven different Christian perspectives. Then at the end he pulls together various insights from each of the different perspectives to make the case for a principled pluralist approach.

Brookings Institution president Bruce MacLaury says the book is a "balanced synthesis" that "brings together these disparate strands into a truly meaningful tapestry."

The seven different views evaluated in Chapters 2 through 8 include: pro-American conservatives; cautious and critical conservatives; sophisticated neo-conservatives; traditional and reflective liberals; civil rights reformers; pro-justice activists; and theonomic reconstructionists. These are not mutually exclusive categories, Skillen says, and readers may find themselves identifying with more than one of them or with none at all. But they represent major tendencies and points of view.

Duke University professor George Marsden sees the book as providing a "scorecard" for identifying different Christian players and says that the author "offers valuable critiques and suggests an alternative worth contemplating."

"Pro-American conservatives" is the description Skillen uses for many on the Christian right, including Jerry Falwell, Pat Robertson, James Dobson, Phyllis Schlafly, D. James Kennedy, and Tim and Beverly LaHaye. These Christians are strong moralists who do not distinguish clear political criteria for their activism. John Eidsmoe's book God and Caesar comes up for particular attention in Chapter 2.

Among the "cautious and critical conservatives," in the author's view, are Charles Colson, Mark Amstutz, Ken Myers, and Doug Bandow—four very different people who nonetheless share a cautious reserve about government initiatives while expressing self-criticism because of human sinfulness.

Richard John Neuhaus and Michael Novak are the two activist authors whom Skillen evaluates in a chapter titled "sophisticated neo-conservatives." Neuhaus and Novak show a keen awareness of the diverse complexity of society, but their political philosophies remain underdeveloped in Skillens estimation.

"Traditional and reflective liberals" is a description that embraces both Protestant and Catholic figures, including the American Catholic bishops who published an important pastoral letter on the U.S. economy. In Chapter 5 Skillen also discusses Max L. Stackhouse, author of Public Theology and Political Economy, and M. Douglas Meeks, author of God the Economist. These representative figures start with the assumption that government should take positive initiatives to create a just society—a just political community. But Skillen criticizes them for not distinguishing clearly enough the proper sphere of the state in its relation to non-political institutions and communities such as families, schools, churches, and business enterprises.

Christian "civil rights reformers" such as Martin Luther King, Jr., Jesse Jackson, and many others, believe that politics is above all a crusade for securing and protecting rights. Given the history of American racial discrimination, the inspiration behind this approach seems obvious. But today when any cause at all might try to march under the banner of "civil rights," Christians need to take a new look at the nature of the Bill of Rights and at the full political/governmental context in which civil rights and liberties have their proper meaning.

Ronald J. Sider and Jim Wallis are the most prominent people examined in Chapter 7--the "pro-justice activists." Skillen applauds their quest for biblical justice, but asks whether these evangelicals have adequately identified a political target for their activism.

The "theonomic reconstructionists" are those who believe with R.J. Rushdoony, Greg Bahnsen, and Gary North that the Old Testament's case laws and legal standards are directly applicable today. They want a radical reconstruction of American politics—one that goes further than merely recovering an earlier "Christian America." This approach is not at all comfortable with the kind of pluralism that Skillen sees as grounded in biblical revelation.

Wheaton College professor Mark Noll calls The Scattered Voice a landmark book—for breadth of analysis, charity of interpretation, and clarity of vision."

Richard John Neuhaus, Ronald J. Sider, and Charles Colson—all of whom come under examination in the book—urge readers to consider it carefully. "Attending carefully to our disagreements," Neuhaus writes, "Skillen illumines the transcendent hope that enables us to respect the diverse patterns of public discipleship in this time short of the Kingdom's consummation."