The Liturgy of Politics
A generation of young Christians are weary of the political legacy they've inherited and hungry for a better approach.
They're tired of seeing their faith tied to political battles they didn't start, and they're frustrated by the failures of leaders they thought they could trust. Kaitlyn Schiess grew up in this landscape, and understands it from the inside.
Spiritual formation, and particularly a focus on formative practices, are experiencing a renaissance in Christian thinking—but these ideas are not often applied to the political sphere. In The Liturgy of Politics, Schiess shows that the church's politics are shaped by its habits and practices even when it's unaware of them. Schiess insists that the way out of our political morass is first to recognize the formative power of the political forces all around us, and then to recover historic Christian practices that shape us according to the truth of the gospel.
"This is a clear-eyed look at the forces of spiritual formation inside and outside of church—and the political discipleship that American Christians too often accept without thinking about it. Schiess offers a powerful call to examine hidden assumptions and false idols, and to explore the whole two thousand years of Christian tradition in order to breathe new life into twenty-first-century evangelicalism."
"This is a powerful challenge from a young heart and a mature mind. Schiess seems to touch every unexamined habit of Christian thought, work, leisure, and worship. With a wide sweep of life's liturgies and church liturgies, of spiritual formation and political responsibility, of Bible reading and communication with others, Schiess goes straight for the heart in relaxed conversation that packs a prophetic punch about our complacency, ignorance of Scripture, cultural conformity, and more. Her urgent message is for communities of Christian faith to repent and turn ourselves over entirely to God, as disciples of Jesus Christ have always been called to do. It is hard to imagine how this young woman has been able to read so widely and think so profoundly about so much of life. Here you'll find fresh insight and compelling hope that will renew your labors for the coming of God's kingdom. Young people, old folks like me, and everyone in between, read this book now!"
"Liturgy is about worship and inner life. Kaitlyn Schiess takes a careful, hard look at how we do our politics and how we should do our politics, viewed from the inside not the outside. The difference is significant, and seeing it may give us a better heart for others. As a result, our politics may change us for the better as we seek to engage a world that needs to see what the gospel looks like in real-life practice."