Karoline’s Reviews > The Desire of the Nations: Rediscovering the Roots of Political Theology > Status Update

These final two chapters are easier reading, perhaps because the material is more familiar, or perhaps because I've adjusted more to O'Donovan's writing style. He doesn't aim for clarity or quotability but the density is strangely addicting.

Notes on first few pages of Ch. 5 . . . the church is a complete (but hidden) political society with a reigning king and a law, which exists in tension with earthly powers who do not command its final allegiance. While aspiring to live quiet and peaceable lives, members of the church do so from a position of independence, showing their courtesy and good conduct to earthly regimes without being enslaved to them.

well . . . I'm happy to say that after about three times through each chapter, I understand about half of it. Hopefully once I've finished the whole book each piece of the argument will fall more securely into place. Meantime, I'm newly appreciating just how political the language of the Bible is. The true king has come & his kingship now sets the terms of/illuminates all political aspirations. Not vice versa.

Very proud of every page I complete and moderately comprehend. 😅 Political theology is new territory for me and O'Donovan is probably NOT the best place for a beginner to start! But sometimes it's just intriguing to peer into an unfamiliar discourse and watch a smart and seasoned person at work.

While bearing in mind that a little learning is a dangerous thing . . . so don't inflate your spectator status.