Episode 165 | Politics, Part 1: The Purpose Of Politics

Apr 3, 2024    Autumn Gardner, Hunter Beaumont

When we talk about “politics,” we usually mean elections and debates about public issues involving our government and “politicians.” But we can’t think well about governmental politics unless we understand “politics” in a bigger way, as an aspect of our inter-relational existence created by God.


Hunter and Autumn discuss two paradigms to get at this bigger meaning of politics. The first paradigm utilizes the biblical movements of creation, fall, and redemption to elucidate the intention, complication, and redeemed modality of politics. The second paradigm relies on the biblical terms shalom, justice, and righteousness to inquire how a redeemed body politick, the Church, can pursue wholeness as the purpose of “politics.”