Neither Right Nor Left Nor Religious: Reclaiming the Radical Politics of Jesus (Sermon on the Mount Series, Part 1)

Voxology

Religion & Spirituality, Philosophy, Society & Culture

4.7 • 1K Ratings

🗓️ 19 July 2020

⏱️ 58 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

How elevating Jesus’ countercultural vision in the Sermon on the Mount invites us to deconstruct politics as usual, reimagine our role as the people of God, and embody a different way of being in a divided world.

Mike and Tim kick off a brand new journey through the Sermon on the Mount by laying crucial groundwork: asking how the teachings of Jesus are inherently political — not in the Republican vs. Democrat idea of politics, but in how we shape life together as communities of faith. With insight from Lee Camp’s Scandalous Witness and personal reflections on the dangers of partisanship, this episode explores why Jesus' way is "neither right, nor left, nor religious," and what that means for the church in America today.

Key Takeaways:
• Jesus Is Political — But Not Partisan: How the Sermon on the Mount redefines what it means to be “political” by offering a radical alternative to coercive power and political idolatry.
• Deconstructing the American Church’s Political Entanglement: Understanding why neither conservatism nor progressivism reflects the full vision of the Kingdom of God.
• Unlearning Cultural Christianity to Recover Jesus: Why starting with the words and way of Jesus — especially post-deconstruction — helps reorient faith toward the radical love, justice, and mercy of the Gospel.
• The Church as a New Political Community: Embracing our identity as a people marked by reconciliation, hospitality, nonviolence, repentance, and self-sacrificial love.
• Living “Proleptically” in a Not-Yet Kingdom: How the church is called to embody God’s future now — resisting both escapism and culture war postures that miss the heart of Christ.

Resources Mentioned:
• Scandalous Witness by Lee Camp – Amazon Link
• Faith Improvised Podcast with Tim Gombis – Link
• Tim Schell Podcast with Bonnie – [Link pending]
• The Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5–7) – Bible Gateway

Join the conversation as we rediscover the Sermon on the Mount not as spiritual suggestions but as revolutionary marching orders for the people of Jesus. Subscribe, leave a review, and follow Voxology on social media to make sure you don’t miss any of the series.

As always, we encourage and welcome discussion as we pursue this journey together. Email us your thoughts or questions at [email protected] and connect with us on Facebook and Instagram.

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Learn more at the Voxology Podcast

Subscribe on iTunes or Spotify

Support the Voxology Podcast on Patreon

Find curated playlists and bonus tracks at our Voxology Spotify channel

Follow Mike on Twitter: @mikeerre

Music in this episode by Timothy John Stafford

Instagram & Twitter: @GoneTimothy

As always, we encourage and would love discussion as we pursue. Feel free to email in questions to [email protected], and to engage the conversation on Facebook and Instagram.

We're on YouTube (if you're into that kinda thing): VOXOLOGY TV.

Our Merch Store! ETSY

Learn more about the Voxology Podcast

Subscribe on iTunes or Spotify

Support the Voxology Podcast on Patreon

The Voxology Spotify channel can be found here: Voxology Radio

Follow Mike on Twitter: www.twitter.com/mikeerre

Music in this episode by Timothy John Stafford

Instagram & Twitter: @GoneTimothy

Transcript

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0:00.0	Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the Vox podcast, Mike Erie, Tim Stafford, still missing Bonnie.
0:22.1	We love Bonnie.
0:23.0	Check out our new podcast, Tim Schell.
0:25.5	Gombus, new podcast, Faith Improvised.
0:28.5	Both of them have their first episodes out, as it is, as we are recording now.
0:34.1	Yeah.
0:34.4	And Bonnie is full Bonnie and Gombus is full Gombus.
0:38.3	That's great.
0:39.3	So you're not getting deluded either.
0:41.3	And we love being a part of that family.
0:44.3	So that's fun for us to see happen.
0:47.3	Tim and I, however, are left in the unfortunate place of being two white men stuck on a podcast together,
0:59.0	which differentiates us in no way, shape, or form from all the other podcasts out there.
1:07.0	So what we thought, I think we've, you know, we recognize losing a feminine theological
1:16.6	voice is a big deal.
1:18.6	And the mayonnaise thing is a big deal.
1:21.6	And so what we've learned, if we've learned anything from paying attention these last several
1:28.8	months, is the importance of elevating voices that normally get elevated.
1:35.0	And so we feel like we want to elevate probably the voice that has been the most
1:42.1	minimized in American Christianity.
1:51.1	And that is the voice of our Palestinian friend Jesus, who, I don't know if you know this,
1:57.5	but there was this fellow, not a white man, member of a minority group in the first century,
	...

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