Anthony has a post about his thoughts on the James K.A. Smith post about Jim Wallis as “Constaninian of the Left?” I first noticed Anthony’s blog when he commented on Jonathan’s posts about Smith’s crtique of Wallis here

Musings of an Emergent Postmodern Negro: Martin Luther King Jr….Constantinian Christian?

There is an interesting school of Christian thought and praxis that has deeply resonated with me on many levels. It is called Radical Orthodoxy. Some of its scholars and theologians I have read are William Cavanaugh, John Milbank, D. Stephen Long, Daniel Bell, and James Smith. Their critique of liberal social orders resonates with me as I try and struggle to be faithful to the gospel in this North American context. Recently there have been some interesting statements from one of the voices of this group, James Smith. My comments here have to do with the long time efforts of Jim Wallis of Sojourners to bring Evangelicals to the table to deal with issues relating to social justice and Christians becoming prophetic, transcending the tired-old liberal/conservative chasm.

As you who read my blog a bit will know, I find a lot in Sojourners and Wallis, and in many ways, they have been like a “continuing ed” seminary for me, keeping me abreast of “theological” issues in the world today. They have brought me to a place where I can also find myself resonating with Radical Orthodoxy, as Anthony also seems to be saying. He goes on with further reflection about MLK , which I had also brought into the mix of my reactions to Smith’s critique of Wallis

Because as a negro Christian I find some similarities between King and the prophetic black Church and Wallis’ project. One being their understanding of the gospel compelled them to witness to the State as well as the Church. Which got me to thinking.

Were Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and those in the prophetic black Church during the Civil Rights movement Constantinian Christians because they used the mechanism of the “nation-state” to bring about a more just society? Were they “statist” Christians?

If so, then I wonder…I really really wonder what James Smith and those in the Radical Orthodoxy camp would have told black Christians in Montgomery, Alabama during Jim Crow. What would Smith and others say to young black Christians who wanted to see change in the society? Go to church and worship Jesus? and wait for white Christians in power to become virtuous Christians on the issue of race and class? What’s up? Somebody help a brother out. The reason I ask this is because there is much I agree with in Radical Orthodoxy. Their critique of liberal individualism, the pathologies of capitalism, and so forth. Also, I see their books on alot of emerging blogs.

I will be delving more into this as time permits. Because I am sort of torn right now. What would America be like now…what would many Churches be like right now without the prophetic witness of Christians, like King, towards both the State and the Church, had they remained in their respective Churches worshipping King Jesus?

I was glad to find this post last night. Anthony has commented here before when Harbinger (Steve Bush) referred to one of my posts back in late May (here).

Eric and I have debated this one quite a bit, but we both know that each of us analyzes this matter of language and Constanininaism with much the same perspective: that the Kingdom Jesus preached and the people that Jesus calls are assuming quite a different scenario about “the way things are” and what God calls us to (which is to be, above all, a people who live out a very different kind of “peace” than the world knows.

So many people have “sat up and taken notice” of Wallis’ narrative lately that I cannot help but consider this a good thing. I also lean a bit toward the notion that notions such as “values” and “democracy” and “freedom” can and should be explored with the intention of broadening and deepening and “transforming” the notions into what is a more “Biblical” notion of what constitutes “true justice” and “true freedom” and “true values”. I had suggested earlier that I challenged Smith’s notion of eschewing the “values” debate that Wallis has opened, and see that same abandonment of the use of terms being bandied about in the current theological debates between left and right, all the way to “Christianity” and “faith” itself, since the way that “Christian” and “people of faith” have been neutered quite a bit by those who seem to want to meld Christianity with America. That , to me, is a notion worth admonishment.

I affirm that the first task and the first response is to BE the embodiment of the life in the Kingdom of God. The Church of the Saviour and other rare and dedicated and alternate communities have born this out. It is COS’s witness through their very life as a corporate body (corporate in the sense of a cooperative, communal, “body” of activity and seekers of reconciliation) that has drawn scores of folks from all walks of life to leave their former lives in the world’s corporations and professions, and move to join a people who are serious about participating inthe alternate life of the Kingdom.