The Politics of Discipleship (The Church and Postmodern Culture): Becoming Postmaterial Citizens

The Church and Postmodern Culture #5

by Graham Ward

Internationally acclaimed theologian Graham Ward is well known for his thoughtful engagement with postmodernism. This volume, the fourth in The Church and Postmodern Culture series, offers an engaging look at the political nature of the postmodern world.

In the first section, "The World," Ward considers "the signs of the times" and the political nature of contemporary postmodernism. It is imperative, he suggests, that the church understand the world to be able to address it thoughtfully. In the second section, "The Church," he turns to practical application, examining what faithful discipleship looks like within this political context. Clergy and those interested in the emerging church will find this work particularly thought provoking.

Genres: Theology, Politics, Philosophy, Discipleship

362 pages, Kindle Edition

First published September 1, 2009

About the author

Graham Ward is an English theologian and Anglican priest who has been Regius Professor of Divinity at the University of Oxford since 2012. He is a priest of the Church of England and was formerly the Samuel Ferguson Professor of Philosophical Theology and Ethics and the Head of the School of Arts, Histories and Cultures at the University of Manchester. Previous to that he was the Professor of Contextual Theology and Ethics and Senior Fellow in Religion and Gender at the university.

Reviews

[Ian Carmichael · Rating 4 out of 5]

A rattling good read about discipleship, power, participation and relationship and how to live as first-allegiance Christians in our complexly-created world (for which we bear some responsibility). One of the quick take-aways was his simple remark that in our exercise of power and participation we may contribute to suppression, to liberation, or to maintenance in the setting of our power. (He puts it better!)
By the time you conclude the book, you'll be much more up-to-date with post-modern theology and post-colonial thinking. In this short book there is a resplendent festoonery of footnotes. And for me, most of the references were new.
A serious book, but readable, and perhaps revolutionary for your discipleship. It's rattled mine a little!

[Warren Davie · Rating 3 out of 5]

For a book in part of a series written toward “non-specialists” (as detailed on the inside cover), this book is a maze of jargon. I would not recommend this book to the average reader, unless you are highly interested (and educated) in this subject.

With that being said, I appreciated the first half (“The World”), and the exploration of current cultural trends. I believe his analysis helped shed light on later events such as the Trump administration and responses to COVID-19. The strength of a theory can be tested by its fit to the real world, and I believe his theory fits well with what we have seen.

Toward the end, his writing started getting a bit more emphatic (chapters 4, 5, and 7 were great calls to action, but ch. 6 took all the momentum out with a long detour), but even with this passion, it felt like there was more to be said practically. He gives a call for Christians to think politically, that we should pray more often, and that we should do more, but does not elaborate on what exactly that can look like. Perhaps that is intentional, left to the reader to decide, but I would have liked to see more practical applications and next steps from a book that claims to be an impolite call to arms.

[John Hayward · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Discipleship is political because it is implicated in a messianic reversal of established values and is a challenge to received authorities and principalities." "secularization undermines the possibility for democracy because it disregards the theological foundations of sovereignty." "It is a well-known political platitude that if a citizenship feels insecure, then it demands more authoritarian forms of governance. At the opening of the twenty-first century, the word "postdemocracy" is being coined to describe the prevailing political condition." "Globalization is transforming democracy, undermining what makes democracy flourishâ€â€a vigorous civil society." "Cowardice is the cost we pay for comforts that may not last long, for nor rocking the boat. ... Fear rules so much Christian accommodationismâ€â€fear that is sugar-watered down to speak of love."

[David · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ward's goal in this book is to develop a Christian "theological imaginary" (think worldview, kind of) that "might modify and transform aspects of that civic imaginary that is so antithetical to Christian living today" (17). The first half of the book is an analysis of that civic imaginary, the world we live in, and the second half builds a view of the church within that world that will lead to discipleship.


That first half of the book consists of chapters on democracy, where Ward looks at how we have moved into a "post-democratic" state. By this he refers to people not being as involved in the democratic process, choosing to pursue leisure and entertainment instead as well as the blurring of lines between government services and private businesses and the power a wealthy minority has in disproportion to its size. The next chapter tackles globalization, which Ward argues is an extension of a specifically Christian idea ("go into all nations and make disciples"). It is here that we are introduced to the term "post-material" which describes a living where basic material needs are met and so much of life is lived virtually. But through this awareness of the costs of producing such lives is lost. The final chapter of part one focuses on post-secularity, looking at the resurgence of religion worldwide.

The second half centers in on what a church living in this world ought to look like. A key term Ward introduces at the beginning of this part is the "eschatological remainder." A secular world may optimistically be moving towards the goal of a better future. A Christian view differs, not in being optimistic, for a Christian view has a hope that this better future will come. Instead a Christian view differs in realizing all our works, no matter how great, are not the ultimate. There is more in the future work of God. The Church then acts in the world. Here Ward talks about the city, arguing that the church works on behalf of the city. But while the secular city works towards an ultimate goal of its own glory, the goal that a Christian acts towards is one of fully humanity, virtue and goodness.

Next Ward seeks to construct a metaphysics of the body that runs counter to the dehumanizing views of our current culture. In this he investigates the apostle Paul's view of the church as the body of Christ in both unity and diversity. The final chapter moves into politics, calling on Christians to realize that the separation of religion and politics is both alien and dangerous. Ward's chapter on politics is not about how to vote or anything along those lines. A Christian politics is one of love, of discipleship with Jesus and lots of prayer. Does this sound theocratic, Ward asks? Well it kind of is. Christians admit one Lord above all earthly powers. We come to the political table as we are in honesty, but we work for the common good with all those in our diverse society.

This last part could bring fears in people, I was surprised in Ward's bluntness, for he is no fundamentalist calling on Christians to take back America for God. Maybe that's the key point - his version of Christian politics is not one that seeks to institute a Christian country. Instead he calls for Christians to admit our motivations as we enter the political arena, but in his Christianity we are motivated by human flourishing and the common good for all people. I suspect there is a lot more that ought to be said here and Ward leave it unsaid.

So overall this is a challenging book that leaves you with a good bit to think about, whether you agree with the author or not. It is the fourth book in a series and the toughest to read of all of them (the others I have read are by James KA Smith, Carl Raschke and John Caputo). Tough, but rewarding. I think to bring it alongside the other books in the series it could have been a bit more targeted to an audience of pastors and not scholars, like the other books in the series.

[Micah · Rating 3 out of 5]

Solid read about philosophical roots of modern politics. This book is, for the large part, another book in the trend of analyzing the philosophical roots of our modern (/postmodern/secular/postsecular - choose your word...) society. Ward does a fairly good job about giving a lot of context and presenting an interesting analysis of history, but his extensive scholarly tone and editing of quotations makes the first part of the book a bit laborious to read.

The part where I started getting frustrated with Ward's reasoning was when he started giving a Hegelian dialectic reading of the way of the cross that just didn't seem to fit very well philosophically with much of his other streams of argumentation.

He offers a critique of democracy as is common among such religious works of philosophy, but I would like to see a little more - namely some positive suggestions to concretely theorize about the relationship between the Church and politics.

[Lyndon · Rating 3 out of 5]

Clear thesis, dogged analysis, imaginative application. Ward takes the grammar of 'the world' and 'the church' through several cycles of economic and theological critique. The result is a work touched by the blarney stone of postmodern jargon, but nevertheless, a work that provides a political (and not polite, as Ward reminds us often) imaginary for faithful discipleship in the milieu we find ourselves.

[Brandon · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow. Wow. Wow. Great read so far, particularly the first half dealing with "the world".

[Luís Branco · Rating 4 out of 5]

It is a really interesting book to read. It was neat to have a clue on postdemocracy.