Harbinger and RoundTower talk Progressive Evangelicalism:

RoundTower: Conversing with Progressive Evangelicalism: Pt. 4 – A Response

Roundtower:

Jim Wallis, for example, decries the hyper-politicization of E and would identify that as a key reason he wanted to differentiate himself from E. That’s why it’s problematic if that problem shows up in PE.

Steve B.:

If you are selecting partisan politics as a crucial error in evangelicalism, the question is why is partisanship an error for evangelicals, given their other commitments? And if it is the case that partisanship is also a defining feature of PEs, why is that an error for them, given their other commitments? What is about partisan politics in principle that is theologically problematic? Those to me are the most substantive questions.

But fair enough, at the end of the day, you’re right: it’s an interesting question as to who is more invested in partisanship.

and
(from here

In my previous post, I mentioned that the statement issued by Sojourner’s this past November made some helpful points by outlining some general Christian concerns and priorities for thinking about politics. The statement highlighted general principles that, in my estimation, any Christian would have to take seriously in engaging politics. Where the statement went wrong, I argued, was in its unpacking those principle in ways that seemed partisan and constricted. But that a very broad spectrum of Christian could have endorsed that statement had it refrained from its not-so-subtle hidden message is a point well worth taking very seriously.

Roundtower (David) does a pretty impressive job of talking about some areas where “differences” are more policy/implementation differences than theological/telos differences. That is certainly true in SOME cases, but then Roundtower acknowledges what I would also offer:

At the same time, as Christian we must manifest a healthy suspicion for the ways in which the interests of such experts shape the conclusion they come to and the solutions they propose. We must be aware that investigators (like the rest of us) are often driven by their own sin-corrupted agendas and avoid for our own part falling into the trap of buying into one particular “conservative” or “liberal” vision.

So there ARE many many telological differences , based on real theological differences.

Then Roundtower says this, whcih resonates with me, especially in regards to the way in which I defend Jim Wallis against what I consider to be unwarranted association of his language with that of Constantianian interests.

In this way could a focus on shared ends open the door to a fruitful and faithful unity that refuses to allow the boundaries of the church to be defined by the shallowness of American politics. At the same time, together, Christian could undertake the task of evaluating just what policies would further the ends of the Kingdom without the freight of viewing the matter as a debate about the reality and meaning of that Kingdom itself.

I realize that someone can be “lured” into the trap of adopting the opposition’s assumptions, and play into their hands, but I also have to balance that against how the hell to talk to people who eschew overly “theological/pietistic” language, or who are attracted to the terminology of liberal democracy (I even confess some tendency to want to “work with” some of those concepts such as “values” and “democracy” and “people of faith” , but with the intention of opening up these more abstract ideas into their “Kingdom envsioned counterpart/expression/incarnation.

Steve replies:

David, I think many PE’s will find this appealing. I hope you will have opportunity to develop these thoughts further and apply them to more issues. For instance, how would this pertain to nominees for the Supreme Court? Or the war in Iraq? I’d also be interested to hear more about your thoughts on the relation between culture and politics, and what specifically you have in mind by affecting culture. Anyways, good stuff!

Really good stuff in this exchange, and so go and read on Harbinger and Roundtower, and read in comments too.