约拿单·李曼，《再思信仰与政治》，书摘20条20Quotes from Jonathan Leeman on Rethinking Faith and Politics

作者: Matt Smethurst   译者: Duncan Liang

https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/gMf9X0W9NzNpWwmFpKS7qA

https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/article/20-quotes-jonathan-leeman/

以下是我读约拿单··李曼的新作，《万邦如何争闹：再思一个分裂世代的信仰与政治》（Howthe Nations Rage: Rethinking Faith and Politics in a Divided Age (ThomasNelson, 2018)）时摘录的20条书摘。

The following 20 quotes caught my attention as I read Jonathan Leeman’s outstanding new book, How the Nations Rage: Rethinking Faith and Politics in a Divided Age (Thomas Nelson, 2018). Also check out Collin Hansen’s TGC podcast conversation with Leeman.

我的感觉就是，按党派路线把基督徒分成多数派和少数派，这是撒但在当代美国取得的其中一样最重大胜利。  (9)

It’s my sense that one of Satan’s greatest victories in contemporary America has been to divide majority and minority Christians along partisan lines. (9)

教会和国家是神赐下的不同机构，它们必须保持分离。但每一家教会从上至下、自始至终都是政治性的，而每一个政府都是宗教意味甚浓的众神战场。没有人让他们的政治和宗教分离——基督徒，诺斯替主义者和世俗的进步党都不会这样。不可能做到这一点。(13)

Church and state are distinct God-given institutions, and they must remain separate. But every church is political all the way down and all the way through. And every government is a deeply religious battleground of gods. No one separates their politics and religion—not the Christian, not the agnostic, not the secular progressive. It’s impossible. (13)

地方教会应成为世人面前的模范政治共同体。它是最政治化的聚集，因它代表了要最终审判总统和首相的那一位。我们聚集在一起，以我们君王的话语作光，我们的生命作盐，直斥万邦，定万邦的罪，向万邦发出呼吁。(14)

The local church should be a model political community for the world. It’s the most political of assemblies since it represents the One with final judgment over presidents and prime ministers. Together we confront, condemn, and call nations with the light of our King’s words and the saltiness of our lives. (14)

正如我们的内心是诸神的战场，同样公共领域是众神的战场，我们宗教战争的战场。我们不是请求国家扮演救主的角色，就是用不同的方式表达相同的意思，要求国家作我们众神的仆人。有时我们的众神彼此意见一致，有时并非如此，这时公共领域的战斗就开始了……一个国家的公共领域，就是国民代表他们的众神开战的地方。(28)

Just as our hearts are battlegrounds of gods, so the public square is a battleground of gods, the turf of our religious wars. Either we ask the state to play savior, or, to say the same thing a different way, we demand it plays servant to our gods. Sometimes our gods agree with one another; sometimes they don’t. And that’s when the fighting starts in the public square. . . . A nation’s public square is where a citizenry wages war on behalf of their gods. (28)

即使我们不承认，圣战也在如火如荼进行中。我们的众神决定了我们的道义，他们决定了我们的政治，这无可避免。他们并不总是互相认同，在我们看来，他们并不总是明显，但他们总在那里，决定我们的政治姿态和立场。不存在灵性中立的政治这样的事情。(29)

The holy battle rages on, even if we deny it. Our gods determine our morality, and they determine our politics—unavoidably. They are not always consistent with one another. They are not always apparent to us. But they are always there, determining our political postures and positions. There is no such thing as a spiritually neutral politics. (29)

想象机场安检的金属探测器，但不是检测金属，而是在公共领域的入口检测宗教立场。任何时候，某人走过安检，在他心里其中一样坚定信念中藏着一位超自然大写的神，机器就嘟嘟作响，但这机器探测不到人自我制造，或由社会构建的小写众神。进入这公共领域的，有世俗主义者、唯物主义者、进化论者、消费主义者、精英人士、沙文主义者，坦白来说，还有法西斯主义者，他们都能随身带着他们小写的神进来，这些小写的众神就像他们口袋里面刀削的木制玩偶。但基督徒、犹太人和穆斯林的情况却并非如此。他们若要进来，为他们大写的神发声，警号就会像消防车一样响起。这意味着，公共领域无可避免要倾向支持世俗主义者和唯物主义者。在意识形态方面，公众领域的对话是遭不正当手段操纵。(35)

Imagine an airport security metal detector that doesn’t screen for metal but for religion standing at the entrance of the public square. The machine beeps anytime someone walks through it with a supernatural big-G God hiding inside one of their convictions, but it fails to pick up self-manufactured or socially constructed little-g gods. Into this public square the secularist, the materialist, the Darwinist, the consumerist, the elitist, the chauvinist, and, frankly, the fascist can all enter carrying their gods with them like whittled wooden figures in their pockets. Not so for the Christians or Jews or Muslims. Should they enter and make a claim on behalf of their big-G God, the siren will sound like a firetruck. What this means is that the public square is inevitably slanted toward the secularist and materialist. Public conversation is ideologically rigged. (35)

存在着地狱，这是圣经其中一样让人难以置信的事情。然而通向政治和睦、和谐和整全的道路，始于承认我们配下地狱。在我们承认这点之前，我们都会继续宣示我们统治的权利。当你宣示宣示你的权利，我宣示我的权利，冲突就不可避免。“把方向盘给我。”“不，把方向盘给我。”(58)

The existence of hell is one of the most difficult things in the Bible to believe. Yet the path to political peace, harmony, and wholeness begins with the acknowledgement that we deserve hell. Until we do, we will continue to assert our right to rule. And as you assert your right and I assert mine, we cannot help but clash. “Give me the steering wheel.” “No, give me the steering wheel.” (58)

加入新约共同体，这意味着我们可以不再利用我们不同的群体实现自我称义的宏图大计。我们不再需要向任何人证明我们是圈内人，至少不需向我们自己证明。这让我们可以不必牢牢抓住所有这些成员身份不放。在有可能的地方，我们可以使用这些身份做成好事，而在不可能的地方，我们能松手放弃。我们不再是我们任何所属群体的奴隶。特别的是，唯独因信称义的教义，是政治合一的伟大历史源头。(66)

Joining the new-covenant community means we can be done using our various groups in the grand project of self-justification. We no longer need to prove we’re insiders to anyone, least of all to ourselves. It allows us to hold all those memberships with a loose grip. We can use them for good where we can, but let them go where we cannot. We are no longer slaves to any of our groups. Remarkably, the doctrine of justification by faith alone is history’s grand source of political unity. (66)

人是否承认圣经是他们的经书，这并不重要。圣经对政治具有现实意义，这完全取决于神和神的审判是真实存在。如果神和祂的审判不是真实存在，圣经就没有任何现实意义。但如果神和祂的审判是真实存在，圣经就具有现实意义，直到永远。这是否意味着基督徒要把全本圣经施行在与他们同为基督徒的人，以及非基督徒身上？我们无权把任何事情施行在任何人身上，但神有。更好是这样问，神把哪些命令施行在哪些人身上，如何施行，在什么时候施行？是的，就在现在，祂要通过政府把一些事施行在每一个人身上，这就是祂一开始就把权柄赋予政府的原因。其他事情，祂现在通过父母施加在儿女身上。还有其他事情，现在祂只施加在教会成员身上。简单来说，神把不同的司法权授予不同的机构。那么我们的任务就是密切留意，神已为政府、父母和教会确立了什么样的司法权，只推荐祂已授权每一个机构的那些命令。并且祂最终要相应审判每一个人。(81–82)

It doesn’t matter whether people acknowledge the Bible as their book. The relevance of the Bible to politics depends entirely on the reality of God and the judgment of God. If either God or his judgment is not real, the Bible has no relevance whatsoever. But if God and his judgment are real, the Bible is eternally relevant. Does that mean Christians should impose the whole Bible on fellow Christians and non-Christians alike? Well, we don’t have the right to impose anything on anyone. But God does. The better question is, what commands does God impose on which people and how and when? Yes, he means to impose some things on everyone right now through governments. That’s why he gives authority to governments in the first place. Other things he imposes right now on children through parents. And still other things he imposes right now only on members of churches. In short, God assigns different jurisdictions to different institutions. Our task, then, is to pay close attention to what jurisdictions God has established for governments, for parents, and for churches, and only recommend those commands that he has authorized for each. And he will ultimately judge everyone accordingly. (81–82)

这就是要分清直线问题和锯齿形线问题的重要原因：教会和牧师应在直线问题上规范人的良心，把锯齿形线的问题留在基督徒自由这领域。一件事情越是直线问题，教会作为机构就越要讲论。牧师要在讲台上讲，一家教会可以在这问题上施行教会纪律惩治。一样事情越是锯齿形的问题，牧师就要越少使用他们的牧师身份对此进行阐述，就应让在这问题上对立的基督徒都感到受接纳……在这些日子，基督徒当中如此多的政治对话是漫不经心地把每一件事当作直线问题，造成分裂。(90,93)

Here is why distinguishing between straight-line and jagged-line issues is important: churches and pastors should bind consciences on straight-line issues, while leaving jagged-line issues in the domain of Christian freedom. The more something is a straight-line issue, the more the church will institutionally address it. Pastors will talk about it from the pulpit, and a church might exercise discipline over it. The more something is a jagged-line issue, the less pastors should lend their pastoral weight to addressing the matter, and Christians on both sides of an issue should be made to feel welcome. . . . So much political dialogue among Christians these days thoughtlessly and divisively treats everything as a straight-line issue. (90, 93)

我在一家多种族教会的生活，在我身上培育出谦卑、理解和对公义的追求。这教导我行事为人和思想要更小心，说话要更谨慎。这教导我要爱仇敌，找我自己眼中的梁木。这教导我一种更好的政治。靠着神的恩典，我相信我要继续长进，也许甚至我的政治思维要跟上在我左边和右边的弟兄姊妹。(134)

Life in a multiethnic church is incubating me in humility, understanding, and a desire for justice. It’s teaching me to walk and think more carefully, to speak more circumspectly. It’s teaching me to love my enemy and look for the plank in my own eye. It’s teaching me a better politics. By God’s grace, I trust that I will continue to grow, maybe even catch up in my political thinking to brothers and sisters to the left and to the right of me. (134)

如果你宣称关心政治，却不是一家地方教会活跃的成员，我就倾向认为你根本不了解政治。你就像某人因在地板上玩模型车，口中发出模拟汽车加速的巨响，就宣称自己是车迷。站在远处对政治政策发声，这是多么容易。起来，登上一辆真车，开动引擎。加入一家教会，学习如何爱那看起来与你不同的人，或挣钱比你多得多或比你少的人，甚至得罪你的人。(135)

If you aim to care about politics and you are not an active member of a local church, I’m tempted to think you don’t understand politics at all. You are like someone who claims to love cars because you play with Matchbox cars on the floor making “Vroom!” noises. How easy it is to make pronouncements on political policies from afar. Get up, climb inside a real car, and turn on the ignition. Join a church and figure out how to love the person who looks different from you, or who makes a lot more or less money than you, or who even sins against you. (135)

教会最有威力的政治词汇就是“福音”，教会最有力量的政治见证就是作为教会存在。福音和作为教会存在，当中的政治力量大于选举一位总统，任命一位最高法院大法官，甚至修改宪法。如果你不明白这一点，你就不应当牧师，还是换一份工作吧。一位卓越的总统或一部卓越的宪法，可能带来几十年之久的冲击。一位格外优异的总统，或一部格外优异的宪法，可能在几个世纪之后仍能让人感受到其影响力。但是，一位忠心的牧师和一家忠心的教会，是在永恒这时间维度上做工。他们不仅仅通过法律。靠着神的话语和圣灵，他们改变人心。他们让死人复活。他们让瞎眼的看见。他们把人带进那真正的义，真正的公平和真正的爱里面。(146)

The church’s most powerful political word is the gospel. And the church’s most powerful political testimony is being the church. There is more political power in the gospel and in being the church than there is in electing a president, installing a Supreme Court justice, or even changing a constitution. If you don’t understand that, you should not be a pastor. Change jobs. An excellent president or constitution might make a decades-long impact. An exceptional president or constitution might be felt for centuries. A faithful pastor and church, however, work on the time scales of eternity. They don’t just pass laws. Through God’s Word and Spirit, they change hearts. They raise the dead. They give sight to the blind. They usher people into true righteousness and true justice and true love. (146)

牧师的职业规范良心。他只应用神的话语规范听众的良心。让事情从无到有，让这荣耀新世界井然有序的，并不是他的政治意见、算计或最好的猜测。(150)

A pastor’s occupation is conscience-binding. And he should only bind the conscience of his hearers with the Word of God. It is not his political opinions, calculations, or best guesses that call into existence the things that are not and then give order to this glorious new creation. (150)

除非你正活出一种多文化生活，否则就不要期望建造一家多文化教会。而且，如果你身处一个多文化处境中的单一族裔教会，也许你的教会就是比你意识到的更讲求党派。(156–57)

 Don’t expect to build a multicultural church unless you’re living a multicultural life. Moreover, if you are in a monoethnic church in a multicultural context, it may be that your church is more partisan than you realize. (156–57)

如果你要成为一家向外接触的教会，你就必须不断强调这事实，即最终极的，就是教会要向上接触，而不是向外接触。(159)

If you want an outwardly engaged church, you must continually emphasize the fact that the church’s upward engagement, not its outward engagement, is ultimate. (159)

表明你更认同你的意识形态部落，而不是认同耶稣的一个记号，就是好事出于另一个部落时，你却充耳不闻。(182)

One sign that you identify more with your ideological tribe than you do with Jesus is that you cannot hear what’s good when it comes from another tribe. (182)

对美国基督徒来说，至关重要的就是要认识到，真正的公义并不始于我们的权利，而是始于神的义，以及祂对何为正确的理解。我们做正确的事，包括尊重他人权利，以此行公义。首先是正确（right），然后是权利（rights）。这顺序至关重要。神说是正确的，这是根，权利是花朵。(216–17)

Here is what’s crucial for American Christians to recognize. True justice doesn’t start with our rights. It starts with God’s righteousness and his understanding of what’s right. We do justice by doing what’s right, which includes respecting people’s rights. First right, then rights. The order is crucial. What God says is right is the root; rights are the flower. (216–17)

世俗对种族和族裔的看法，不是强调人人都应符合一种客观文化标准（也许这更通常是保守派的错误？），就是强调人人皆不同，我们无法彼此理解（也许这更通常是自由派的错误？）。基督徒的看法承认我们共同的人性，也承认我们受造的差异。就我们在亚当里为一，（相信的人）在基督里为一（加3:28）而言，这要求我们作色盲。就我们不同的经历、历史和文化传统，以及不同的人能荣耀神的独特方式(林前12:13–14; 启7:9)而言，这要求我们对肤色敏感。(221)

The secular approach to race and ethnicity either insists that everyone should conform to one objective cultural norm (perhaps the more common conservative error?), or insists that everyone is different and that we cannot understand one another (perhaps the more common progressive error?). The Christian path affirms both our common humanity and our created differences. It requires color-blindness with respect to our oneness in Adam and (if believers) in Christ (Gal. 3:28). It requires color-consciousness with respect to our different experiences, histories, and cultural traditions, as well as the unique ways different people can glorify God (1 Cor. 12:13–14; Rev. 7:9). (221)

神的普遍恩典让许多国家的状况比它配得的更好，但对于美国在基本面上不认识对神的义和公义，却能长久继续保持强大、繁荣和自由，我是几乎不抱有任何信心。这并非因我相信一种民事成功神学：即顺服神，国民就是神的选民，就要蒙神祝福。这是因为我相信，神的义和公义的道路是智慧之道。繁荣富强通常临到有智慧的人。国民没有神的义，却可以强大，比如独裁的国家强大，或按“自由“一词某种平淡和满目苍夷的意义，这国可以是“自由”，就像一条流浪狗是自由一样。但这国不可能两样都是。这把我带回到健康教会的问题。如果国民要有希望，这是通过教会的见证和工作。我们的教会有机会就在此刻，通过在他们团契关系当中转变的政治，作为被转变的文化，活出得到转变的生活——这一切都是为了神的荣耀，我们邻舍的益处。(238)

God’s common grace grants many a nation better than it deserves, but I have little confidence that America will long remain strong, prosperous, and free without any concept of God’s righteousness and justice somewhere in the background. That’s not because I believe in a civil prosperity gospel: obey God and the nation will be blessed as his chosen people. It’s because I believe the way of God’s righteousness and justice is the way of wisdom. And prosperity and flourishing ordinarily come to the wise. The nation can be strong apart from God’s righteousness, like a totalitarian state is strong. Or it can be “free,” in some impoverished and mangy sense of that word, like a stray dog is free. But it won’t be both. Which brings me back to healthy churches. If there is hope for the nation, it’s through the witness and work of churches. Our congregations have the opportunity to live transformed lives as a transformed culture through a transformed politics in their own fellowships right now—all for God’s glory and our neighbors’ good. (238)