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Essay on Theology of Church and State Relationships
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Added on 2020-05-08
Essay on Theology of Church and State Relationships
Added on 2020-05-08
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Running head: CHRISTIAN ETHICSCHRISTIAN ETHICSName of the StudentName of the UniversityAuthor Note
1CHRISTIAN ETHICSThe history of Christianity lies in the history of the church of the Christians and theChristian religion. It dates back to the times of Jesus and the apostles of the preacher and stillextends to the modern times. The origins of Christianity lay in the city of Jerusalem that was thenruled over by the Romans. During that time, the city of Jerusalem was predominantly but notentirely a Jewish society. The philosophies of the society were distinct from the thoughts of theClassical Greeks which were dominant at that point of time. The following essay deals with thetheology of the church and state relationships. The essay goes on to further discuss theengagement of a Christian in the arena of politics. The essay aims to put across a viewpoint onthe present day issues of marriage between two people of the same gender.Christianity is a monotheistic religion based on the life of the Messiah and his teachings(Freud, 2016). The religion took birth approximately 2000 years ago in the 1st century AD inNazareth a city in the country of Judea, the modern day Israel. It started as a Jewish cult as Jesushimself was a Jew. He travelled around the villages and taught the religious authorities to roottheir approaches to religion in love and service. He taught his apostles about the will of theSupreme Being and the way in which humanity would be restored to the world. It spread quicklythroughout the Greco-Roman world. In spite of the Christians being oppressed earlier by theRoman Empire, Christianity ultimately came up to be the state religion (Adkins & Adkins,2014).Governments and churches have developed varied number of relationships all over thehistory of the world since the advent of Christianity. These relations have not always beenamicable. They have been hostile as well in some cases. These cases have been largely groundedin the different perspectives of the Bible. The Bible is a collection of many books which has beenwritten over a span that exceeds a millennium. It contains diverse outlooks on government and
2CHRISTIAN ETHICSreligion. Hymns were sung in the Temple located at Jerusalem. These hymns were known asPsalms. The Psalms represent the king to occupy almost a divine position. The Psalm110:1demonstrates a king to be positioned at the right hand side of God. In Psalm 2, God assures theking: “I will give you the nations for an inheritance and the ends of the earth for your possession.You shall rule them with an iron rod; you shall shatter them like an earthen dish” (Kidner, 2014;Calvin, 2013)According to the Psalm in discussion, the kings receive the responsibility of thenations as an inheritance from the Supreme Being himself. Certain hymns also known as thecoronation hymns were used to celebrate the special relationship that the kings shared with theSupreme Being. This viewpoint influences the self-judgement of the kings ruling over Judah, aprovince situated in the province of the ancient Israel.A sharp contrast to this is seen in the words of Prophet Samuel. Prophet Samuelcondemns the kings as oppressors and sinners who have been allowed by the Almighty as anadjustment for the sinfulness of the humans. Prophet Samuel preaches to the common tribal menof the country that they should not choose a king. He preaches that the kings, if appointed, woulddraft the young men of the country in the royal army. He would allegedly devote all the youngwomen in his service. In this way, prophets who were thought to be the messengers of theAlmighty God, stood up to the rulers of the land in ancient Israel and criticized their sinfulness.In the similar manner as Saul was denounced by Samuel, David was criticized by Nathan; otherlater prophets criticized the rulers of their time as well. In the Gospel of John, it is found that theMessiah declares that he desires to establish the rule of God over the whole world rather thanrule over a single kingdom of the world. In the gospel, there are repeated notifications to the factthat Jesus, the Messiah, had been offered the kingship of a particular land. He had denied theoffer every time. The religion can be divided into three different traditions, the Catholics, the
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