Singing our Christian Citizenship: Congregational Song and Political Identity

by Jonathan Welch

Politics and religion. Something almost instinctual encourages many to avoid conversations on each subject. In The Righteous Mind: Why Good People are Divided by Politics and Religion, social psychologist Jonathan Haidt, who specializes in morality and politics, addresses politics and religion primarily because they are widely considered “two of the most important, vexing, and divisive topics in human life.”¹ Even for those who want to proceed with caution in discussion of either subject, mixing politics and religion is considered to be culturally taboo. Americans commonly pride themselves on the separation of church and state. Any mention of politics and religion in the same sentence conjures feelings akin to Nazi Germany or an American Christian nationalism typified by a version of “God” that favors some American political candidates and policies over others.

Yet, since the late 1990s, a resurgence of scholarship in Protestant political theology seeks to reconsider the relationship of politics and religion. Such studies should hold particular merit for scholars interested in studies of music and Christian worship, because these studies validate the impact of congregational song beyond the corporate worship gathering. Studies in political theology affirm that the liturgical action of congregational song cultivates the political identity of the body of Christ in the world.

Three theologians, in particular, have engaged and advanced a Protestant political theology. Anglican theologian Oliver O’Donovan is a pioneer in this form of public theology. In his seminal work The Desire of Nations: Rediscovering the Roots of Political Theology, O’Donovan laments the general incoherence of a contemporary political discourse often characterized by an inattention to authority. O’Donovan’s remedy is a biblical-theological description of authority, obtained by connecting political history to the history of the “reign of God.”² Baptist theologian Jonathan Leeman utilizes biblical-theological and historical-theological methodologies to substantiate the political dimension of the Church in Political Church: The Local Assembly as Embassy of Christ’s Rule. Reformed philosopher James K. A. Smith appropriates liturgical nomenclature to many non-cultic scenarios throughout his Cultural Liturgies trilogy, demonstrating the complexities of authentic spiritual formation. Smith’s most recent work, Awaiting the King: Reforming Public Theology, endeavors to examine “the political (broadly construed) through the lens of liturgy.”³ O’Donovan, Leeman, and Smith all turn to liturgy, arguing that liturgy is the central location for the formation of Christian identity within society.

For each scholar, the political is described from a Christian perspective with God as the architect of societies, authority structures, and citizenship. Consider the explanation provided by Leeman, which serves to summarize a common position in Protest political theology,

Political obligation is built into the very structure of our existence, which means that all of life is political in a broad sense of the term. It also means that that most religious of acts, worship, is political in its very essence. We are, by creation, worshipers (and by the fall, antiworshipers). To bow the knee in worship is an act of political fealty — an affirmation of God’s persons, activities, and judgments. Indeed, humanity’s political mandate, in a word, is to worship. It is to corporately reflect the Trinity’s own holiness, justice, love, unity, and glory through the process of bringing God’s generously authorizing rule to all creation.⁴

Citizenship, then, contains a heavenly and an earthly dimension for the Christian. While heavenly citizenship (Phil 3:20) should take priority over the earthly citizenship, the authors featured here would agree that earthly citizenship should be engaged and certainly not disregarded. They find support for such positions by revisiting Augustine’s City of God and Calvin’s Institutes. Some find additional support in the life and works of Abraham Kuyper, the Dutch neo-Calvinist pastor-theologian, who was Prime Minister of the Netherlands from 1901–1905.

Protestant political theology provides insight into ritual studies and the function of music in worship. Congregational song plays a vital role in the formation of the body of Christ in the world. By approaching this liturgical element through the lens of political theology, I offer three brief considerations in answer to the question — How does the liturgical event of congregational song relate to the cultivation of Christian citizenship?

First, Christian congregational song brings glory to the true King, Jesus Christ. Theologians remind us that truly Trinitarian worship is Christocentric. O’Donovan’s striking analysis parallels the Kingship of Jesus in the New Testament and the Kingship of YHWH in the Old Testament, demonstrating the political rule of the triune God.⁵ This point holds particular importance against the emergent forms of narcissism in our present age. Images that strike “awe” in the current cultural milieu frequently pertain to celebrity culture, material wealth, exhilarating experiences, or even various forms of self-deification. Social media boasts a treasure trove of evidence in support. Yet, through the practice of congregational song, the idols of the local community are exposed and supplanted with the gospel of Jesus our King, the only Sovereign worthy of awe, reverence, and praise (Col 1:13–20; 1 Tim 6:15–16; Rev 1:5, 19:16).

Second, Christian congregational song presents an overt statement of the corporate nature of Christian identity, standing in contrast to the ultra-individualized idolatries germane to Western society. Independence remains particularly hardwired into the ethos of the American psyche. Should we want further evidence, let us look no further than the preponderance of selfies and the individualized competitions of reality television. Thomas Bergler draws out the progressive individualization of American Christianity in The Juvenilization of American, noting, “To put it simply, they [i.e. Christians today] continue to believe what they learned in adolescence…. God, faith, and the church all exist to help me with my problems. Religious institutions are bad; only ‘my personal relationship with Jesus’ matters.”⁶ Congregational song can counter such overly-individualized narratives with a resoundingly corporate activity — a body of people singing together as one. Indeed, congregational song can produce a multifaceted unity, due to music’s unique ability to unite diverse people with common lyrics, pitch, and rhythm. The remarkable relationship of harmony and melody reinforce this point, a simultaneous embodiment of unity and diversity. In corporate worship, even one glance around the room — no matter how small or large — is a physical reminder that the essence of Christian identity is plural. Salvation, worship, and the Christian life are all meant to be realized as a part of God’s chosen people (1 Pet 2:9–10).

Third, Christian congregational song affords expressions of our allegiance to God’s kingdom and our faithful and enthusiastic participation as heavenly citizens. The living God is alive and reigning over all creation. After all, he is the one who institutes and allows earthly authority structures (Rom 13:1). As the people of God sing, the functions of congregational song cultivate political identity in Jesus Christ by reminding God’s people of our heavenly citizenship (Eph 2:19; Heb 11:13–16) and providing an opportunity to declare theological realities as both a personal profession of identification and a public declaration to others. Through congregational song, God’s people are effectively pledging their allegiance to the true King and his kingdom, which means ultimate allegiance cannot belong to anything or anyone else. As we see and hear through corporate worship the truths of God’s advancing kingdom, congregational song provides an opportunity for God’s people to declare their willingness to follow Jesus no matter the cost (Matt 16:24; Mark 8:34; Luke 9:23) and make disciples of all nations (Matt 28:18–20). Such statements of purpose convey political ramifications, that participation in the mission of God’s redemptive work is the primary purpose for God’s people, not individual health, wealth, or comfort.

As we can see, congregational singing affects the political identity of the worshiper. While the status of heavenly citizenship belongs to Christians at conversion, heavenly citizenship on this earth can be qualitatively cultivated and even evaluated to the extent that Christians live out such theological truths. Theologian Craig Bartholomew affirms that this concept of Christian faith and identity being nourished and cultivated through our ultimate Christian citizenship finds support in the theology of Kuyper. Bartholomew identifies, in Kuyper’s work, the nourishing and motherly role that the church plays in the life of the believer, a concept inherited from the work of John Calvin.⁷ Indeed, a renewed interest in heavenly citizenship should lead to more — and not less — loving engagement in our earthly citizenship, as we pursue the command of our King to love our neighbors as ourselves (Luke 10:27).

Herein lies an invaluable point that connects what we do in corporate worship to the rest of the week and the rest of our everyday lives. Congregational song affects the decisions of Christian citizenship; corporate worship cultivates Christian citizens. For the days and moments where scholars might wonder whether or not our research matters, forays into political theology remind us of the practical ramifications of our research. As more musicologists, liturgical scholars, and theologians of all types explore the interplay of political theology, local communities will undoubtedly see and feel the impact.

1. Haidt, The Righteous Mind, xviii.
2. O’Donovan, The Desire of Nations, 19 ff.
3. Smith, Awaiting the King, 13.
4. Leeman, Political Church, 171.
5. O’Donovan, The Desire of Nations, 93–119.
6. Bergler, The Juvenilization of American Christianity, 224.
7. Bartholomew, Contours of the Kuyperian Tradition, 162.

Biography

Bibliography

Bartholomew, Craig. Contours of the Kuyperian Tradition: A Systematic Introduction. Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity, 2017.

Bergler, Thomas. The Juvenilization of American Christianity. Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 2012.

Haidt, Jonathan. The Righteous Mind: Why Good People are Divided by Politics and Religion. New York: Pantheon Books, 2012.

Leeman, Jonathan. Political Church: The Local Assembly as Embassy of Christ’s Rule. Downers Grove, IL: IVP Academic, 2016.

O’Donovan, Oliver. The Desire of Nations: Rediscovering the Roots of Political Theology. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1999.

Smith, James K. A. Awaiting the King: Reforming Public Theology. Grand Rapids, IL: Baker Academic, 2017.

JONATHAN WELCH is a Ph.D. student in Theology and Worship at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary and director of the Summit Institute in Raleigh-Durham, North Carolina.