Episode: Beginning with Jesus's kingship, Tom Wright and Michael Bird speak to about the potentials and perils of contemporary politics. Discover a Christian vision for government not as an overbearing nanny or a terrifying bully but as God's servant. Cohosted by Matthew Bates.

The Book: Tom Wright and Michael F. Bird, Jesus and the Powers: Christian Political Witness in an Age of Totalitarian Terror and Dysfunctional Democracies (SPCK/Zondervan, 2024). Should Christians be politically withdrawn, avoiding participation in politics to maintain their prophetic voice and to keep from being used as political pawns? Or should Christians be actively involved, seeking to utilize political systems to control the levers of power?

In Jesus and the Powers, N. T. Wright and Michael F. Bird call Christians everywhere to discern the nature of Christian witness in fractured political environments. In an age of ascending autocracies, in a time of fear and fragmentation, amid carnage and crises, Jesus is king, and Jesus’s kingdom remains the object of the church's witness and work. (Publisher's description, abridged).

Guests: N.T. Wright is Senior Research Fellow at Wycliffe Hall at Oxford University.

Mike Bird is Academic Dean, Postgraduate Coordinator, and Lecturer in Theology at Ridley College at Ridley College in Melbourne, Australia.

OnScript's Review of Jesus and the Powers: The gospel is that Jesus is king. And, yes, this is a political claim. But what should that mean for our politics today? Wright and Bird make a powerful Christian case for liberal democracies as the least worst option, because they protect liberties, curb evil, and create space to love our neighbors well. Discover how Christians can participate wisely in government to help it remain God's servant. -- Matthew W. Bates, author of Why the Gospel?; professor of theology, Quincy University

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