Review of An Ethic for Christians and Other Aliens in a Strange Land - Part 1

Stringfellow, William.

An Ethic for Christians and Other Aliens in a Strange Land.

Eugene, Oregon: Wipf & Stock, 2004. Pp. 160. Paper. $19.00. ISBN 1592448747.

This book, originally published in 1974, was written during a time in American history not too unlike our own when an unpopular war, political controversy, and ethical entanglements of technological advancement were front and center in the minds of many concerned Americans. One such American who sought to discern those times in which he lived was William Stringfellow (1928 – 1985), an astute Episcopalian layman and Harvard Law trained attorney.

After graduating from law school in 1956 Stringfellow moved into a small apartment in the East Harlem ghetto of New York City and dedicated himself to a life of engagement and activism on behalf of the oppressed in his community (p. 1). He was no stranger to controversy. He was in a committed relationship with a same-sex partner; indicted and under surveillance by the American government for “harboring a fugitive;” relentlessly active in local and federal politics; and unrestrained in voicing his own indictments of America’s degeneracy via his writings and speaking engagements around the country (p. 4).

Stringfellow wants readers to understand America in light of the Word of God. But two obstacles stand in the way. The first is that for too long many Christians have sought “to construe the Bible Americanly…for the convenience of America” (p. 13). This, he says, “represents a radical violence to both the character and content of the biblical message” (p. 14). As a result American Christians have erroneously and irresponsibly identified America as God’s chosen nation, the new Zion, whose overall exploits and actions necessitate the sanction of God. “It is profane, as well as grandiose,” he writes, “to manipulate the Bible in order to apologize for America” (Ibid). The way forward is to read the Bible on its own terms in order to discern the true politics of the Bible, because, says Stringfellow, the Bible is predominantly about politics:

The biblical topic is politics. The Bible is about the politics of fallen creation and the politics of redemption; the politics of the nations, institutions, ideologies, and causes of this world and the politics of the Kingdom of God; the politics of Babylon and the politics of Jerusalem; the politics of the Antichrist and the politics of Jesus Christ; the politics of the demonic powers and principalities and the politics of the timely judgment of God as sovereign; the politics of death and the politics of life; apocalyptic politics and eschatological politics (pp. 14-15).

But while many incorrectly Americanize biblical politics, the second obstacle is the “contradictory custom among many Americans to denounce the truth that the Bible is political.” A quick overview of the history of Israel, the crucifixion of Christ, the kingdom of God, the conflict between the church and state in the New Testament, and the book of Revelation should easily dispel that myth (p. 15). Both extremes must be overcome in order to rightly comprehend America biblically.

Stringfellow uses the book of Revelation as a parable to understand America and show people how to live according to the word of God: “The book of Revelation is both an exciting exposition of biblical ethics and a preeminent example of the practice of biblical politics” (p. 16). The book “is a polemic...an exhortation for biblical living for which the book of Revelation furnishes precedent in substance and style, in ethics and political tactics” (Ibid).

The greatest evils he belabors to expose are the “principalities and powers” of this world, terms which he uses synonymously. These represent “all authorities, corporations, institutions, traditions, processes, structures, bureaucracies, ideologies, systems, sciences, and the like” (p. 27). The principalities and their demonic influence over the world have received far too little attention in American Christianity (p. 17). This is due in no small measure to the naïve understanding American Christians have concerning the Fall (p. 19).

The Fall has tainted all of creation, not just individuals. Societal structures are fallen; nations are fallen; America is fallen – all principalities are fallen. Coming to grips with this fact is “decisive” if one seeks to transcend the stupor many Americans suffer (Ibid).

Stringfellow’s methodology in the book is to move from analysis, to ethics, to politics; to identify “the deadly atmosphere which pervades America now as the essential truth of existence for nations and other principalities in estrangement and conflict with human beings” and appeal “to the authority and style of the Book of Revelation because Revelation contains a parable of the fallenness of the nations and similar powers, and because Revelation offers a witness to the biblical politics which cope with that condition” (p. 21).

(Part 2)