50 years ago — August 22, 1966
The cover quote set the theme of an issue that reviewed the World Conference on Church and Society meeting from Geneva. “In politics, and most plainly in the politics of democracy, every citizen and every institution is involved, whether they want to be or not.” Christians are called to be actively involved in the world because of our theology. The incarnation is the very heart of the gospel message. God came into the world and experienced it in the person of Jesus. “The incarnation means that God’s passion for the world’s actual life — including its politics, along with all else — is such that he enters and acts in this world for himself.” Without the incarnation Christmas has no meaning, Easter is without its redeeming quality and Pentecost remains an agricultural feast. “In other words, the church and Christians are not simply involved in politics because of the nature of politics … but because they know that the world — in all its strife and confusion, brokenness and travail — is the scene of God’s work and the subject of God’s love.”
From “Dissenter in a great society” by William Stringfellow
