Is Christianity being hijacked by politics? Dr Brian Brock on God, War and Human Worth

Unbelievable?

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Christianity, Religion & Spirituality

4.7 • 2.4K Ratings

🗓️ 30 June 2026

⏱️ 69 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

What does Christianity really offer a world searching for God, meaning and moral clarity? In this episode of Unbelievable? The Interview, Luke Martin speaks with Dr Brian Brock, Professor of Theology at the University of Aberdeen, about some of the most urgent questions facing Christians today: should Christians seek political power? Is the idea of a “Christian nation” faithful to the gospel, or does it risk confusing the church with the state? How should Christians think about war, violence, just war theory and political enemies? Brock also brings the conversation into deeply personal territory, reflecting on his son Adam, who has Down syndrome and autism, and explaining why disability theology challenges our culture’s obsession with productivity, success and control. This is a powerful conversation about faith, politics, human dignity and the image of God in an age of spiritual hunger and public division. For Luke Martin: follow on X https://x.com/luke_s_martin Subscribe & Support 👉 Support thought-provoking conversations and help keep the show going at www.premierunbelievable.com/geolink/donate💡 🎧 Never miss an episode! Subscribe to the Unbelievable? podcast at www.premier.plus/unbelievable 🎙️ 🔗 Get bonus content, updates, fascinating articles, and early access to new episodes - absolutely free! Join now at www.premierunbelievable.com 📢 Follow usInstagram: https://instagram.com/premierunbelievable Facebook: https://facebook.com/premierunbelievable Tik Tok: https://tiktok.com/@premier.unbelievable X: Premier Unbelievable? (@UnbelievableFE)

Transcript

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0:00.0	This episode is brought to you by the University of St Andrews and its online Bible and the Contemporary World program.
0:07.8	Design for flexible part-time study, it enables students to engage major contemporary issues,
0:13.8	including politics, ethics, inequality, trauma, climate change and the arts,
0:19.1	through biblical and theological reflection.
0:21.9	With short focus teaching, interactive discussion and strong academic support, it fits around
0:28.0	work and other commitments. To find out more, search St Andrew's Bible and the Contemporary
0:33.3	world online. Hi, welcome to Premier Unbelievable. I'm Luke Martin and today my guest was Professor
0:41.3	Brian Brock. Brian is a professor of theology at Aberdeen University. He specializes in Christian ethics.
0:50.3	We talked about Christianity and politics, the ethics of war and disability theology, including a bit about Brian's own personal story.
1:01.0	I really hope you enjoy the show.
1:05.7	Brian Brock, welcome to the show.
1:08.1	Thanks for having me, Luke.
1:09.8	Let's start with Christianity and politics.
1:13.0	I got a few questions. Should Christians vote? Definitely unless it would say more in the time and
1:20.3	place to not vote. Should Christians, some Christians get involved in politics, say, by becoming an MP or something like that?
1:30.3	Yeah, I think it's a natural extension of being involved in all kinds of governmental roles.
1:37.3	Should Christians allow their Christian worldview to influence how they go about engaging in politics?
1:47.0	Well, I think that's inevitable. And the only question is how much they put that in the foreground or the background.
1:55.0	This is a bit more tricky. should Christians form a Christian party I would say no I think there's
2:08.1	lots of wrinkles involved in that but the minute that we say this is the Christian position
2:15.9	we're as Christians at strong danger of beginning to water down
2:22.2	what we take to be the Christian position.
	...

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