The Christian and Power

On this morning's walk, I listened to Dr. Andrea Sterk talking about the Uses and Abuses of Power in the Christian Roman Empire, in which she examined the way Christians utilized power in the 125 year period beginning with the conversion of Emperor Constantine.

Power, she said, is something of an ambivalent thing — it depends on who uses it and how it is used whether it is good or bad. Indeed it can even be ambivalent in the hands of the same individual, as she provided examples in her talk. The primary example of good use of power involved Basil of Caesarea, who used his influence as bishop to establish something of a combination hospital and Mustard Seed Street Ministry — gaining funding from both civic and imperial government as well as from private interests.

Nevertheless, it seemed to me that her examples followed a downward trajectory as the period wore on. The Christian community never really got over its self-perception as a minority, and a previously persecuted and potentially still persecuted minority at that, even after many years of rule by Christian emperors. Add to that the concern over the dilution and diminution of the faith with the large scale pragmatic conversions to a nominal Christianity, and there soon developed an anxiety toward opposing evil and maintaining a pure and devout faith. Social, civic and even imperial power began to be utilized in dealing with heresy, on an increasingly coercive and violent basis. From there things spread to persecution of pagans and Jews, as well as heretics — often utilizing the same religio-political rhetoric and reasoning as had previously been used by pre-Constantinian rulers to outlaw and persecute Christians. As polarization increased, the voices of moderation and conciliation were also marginalized and squeezed out.

Dr. Sterk drew some parallels to the situation surrounding the last US presidential election, where increasingly religious rhetoric was used to identify one side (or the other) of various political issues as being synonymous with Christian faith. All sides felt marginalized and oppressed; the so-called "religious right" still felt the marginalization from earlier periods, the solidly left feared the increasing power of the right who seemed to be taking over government and particularly the White House, and those in the middle felt shunned and oppressed by the extremes from both sides.

Much of the lecture reminded me of the concern expressed by the Dean of the National Cathedral in Washington, D.C. at the memorial service held in the immediate aftermath of the September 11 incident, when he prayed that "we not become the evil that we deplore." Insecurity concerning one's place in the world, a conviction that one is morally in the right, and the belief that the fate of civilization is at stake makes the availability of power a very dangerous thing — it is far too easy to take up the weapons of one's adversary and, in the end, simply become him.

In The Lord of the Rings, Galadriel faced this very temptation when Frodo offered to give her the one ring. "Instead of a dark lord, you would set up a queen; beautiful and terrible as the dawn. All shall love me, and despair." regrettably, history reveals that far too many Christians have not passed this test, as Galadriel did — whether faced with power in the political realm, or even just within the church.