Faith and Politics

[HKHaugan]

John Stott has given us a definition of political and religious interaction when he says,

“Relations between church and state have been notoriously controversial throughout the Christian centuries. To oversimplify, four main models have been tried: --

First, Erastianism (the state controls the church),

Second, Theocracy (the church controls the state),

Third, Constantinianism (the compromise in which the state favours the church and the
church accommodates to the state in order to retain its favour),

Fourth, Partnership (church and state recognize and encourage each other's distinct God-given responsibilities in a spirit of constructive collaboration).

The fourth seems to accord best with Paul's teaching in Romans 13.”