Citizenship Without Illusions by David T. Koyzis

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Citizenship Without Illusions by David T. Koyzis (https://amzn.to/4eZbxJH) will be released on 11/26/24.

Article Snapshot:
Book Review Rating: 7/10

This Book Is:
- A short and accessible book on political engagement for Christians.
- Easy to read due to many personal stories and anecdotes.
- A global perspective (not overly focused on politics in the US).
- Practical and applicable to our current political moment.

This Book Is Not:
- A partisan perspective on politics.

My Takeaways:
Rights and Responsibilities:
My top takeaway is the importance of the responsibilities that come along with the rights of living in a democracy. I tend to take the rights for granted. I would prefer to enjoy the rights without the responsibilities. For, me the most interesting part of politics is understanding why people think what they think. This intellectual exercise doesn’t actually change anything in reality. The extent of my political involvement historically has been limited to voting in major elections. Koyzis provides good prompts to think about what mobilizing for political action could look like.

Think Local:
In the US, the election for president dominates the political focus of most Americans. The practical reason for this is the media. The presidential election is the election that we all vote on. A local election in a small community isn’t going to get the attention of anyone beyond the community. The reality is that the local elections are where individuals have the most agency to create change that will have the most impact on their daily lives. Local politics also requires more of us. It takes more effort to attend the city council meetings and the school board meetings. Local politics provides a more concrete way to love my neighbor than merely voting for a national election.

Why Some Votes Don’t Matter:
My last takeaway is the way our current electoral system in the US doesn’t work well. It was enlightening to learn about the ways other countries try to balance the local/territorial-based needs and the geographically dispersed political positions/parties. In some countries you vote for individual candidates, while in others you vote for a particular party. In some you vote for both. I don’t see the electoral system changing any time soon in the US, but I think it would go a long way to create more moderation that aligns better with what most Americans actually desire.


My Evaluation – Citizenship Without Illusions by David T. Koyzis
Writing about politics and religion requires navigating a mine field and Koyzis does it splendidly. He does a good job of presenting both sides while maintaining a nonpartisan perspective throughout the book. I also appreciate that the book is not too US centric. Koyzis is an American who lives in Canada and had family in Europe. This global perspective adds insightful comparisons that highlight what is common across countries and what makes the US unique.

Citizenship Without Illusions is short and accessible. There are quite a few personal stories and anecdotes that make it an easier book to read and makes the concepts more concrete. Koyzis also provides numerous examples from Scriptures to support his points. This adds to his credibility to address these important issues in our current political moment.


Book Summary – Citizenship Without Illusions by David T. Koyzis
Our faith has implications for the way we engage as citizens of a political community. David T. Koyzis provides a guide for Christians in today’s culture who are interested in getting beyond partisan buzz words and idolatrous ideologies in order to find a way to be faithful to following Jesus as Lord with the responsibilities that come with citizenship.

"For Christians, the issue of citizenship and political loyalty is significant because, as followers of Jesus Christ, we claim that our ultimate loyalty is to the kingdom of God and never to a mere earthly community. Yet, we recognize that we have responsibilities to the communities of which we are a part."

Understanding Citizenship:
Citizenship is just one of many roles or callings that we have. We are members of smaller groups (like family, church, social club) as well as members of larger groups (race, gender, species). We are members of a political community of citizens led by a government charged with doing public justice.

The concept of citizenship traces its roots back to the ancient Greeks and Romans. Koyzis provides a brief description of how this concept carried through the Middle Ages, absolute monarchies, and then into the formation of modern democracies. While most people are citizens of one state, it is possible to have multiple citizenships.

How To Be a Citizen:
Justice is the defining features of a political community. Public justice refers to the networks of individuals and communities that are interconnected where each is affected by all the others. This requires an orderly legal framework. As Christians, we seek justice for everyone in our community. People will disagree on the specifics, but as Christians, we must advocate for the defense of the most vulnerable.

Public justice requires that we:
- Obey the law.
- Pay taxes.
- Stay informed about events in the world around us.
- Focus on the local level.
- Respond when called (e.g. jury duty, conscription).

There has been conflict between Christian commitments and government demands at different times and in different places. These require discernment to determine what actions to take.

When Kingdoms Collide:
Christians are citizens of two kingdoms. There are several ways of categorizing the ways Christians related to these two kingdoms, but in reality, it often boils down to taking an oppositional approach in some situations and taking an accommodationist approach in others.

A Christian may resist justice through civil disobedience. Koyzis describes historical figures (like Martin Luther King) who practiced civil disobedience. When deciding whether a law is unjust, there are four things to consider:

1) Avoid revolution where reform is possible.
2) Discern whether to obey or disobey in community.
3) Consider the appropriate means of civil disobedience.
4) Be prepared to accept the consequences.

We must also avoid political illusions. Being a faithful citizen means resisting the ideologies that have developed with the secularization of the West even when they have become the majority opinion within a democracy. Every ideology has its own version of a redemptive narrative and are religious in nature. Christians should advocate for freedom of religion in the public square and not let others privatize religion.

How to Vote:
Koyzis provides a history of voting rights in several countries and some of the regulations around voting. Next, he describes the problem of low voter turnout due to the electoral system in countries like the United States that have a single-memberplurality system. When representation is territorial in nature, many votes simply will be wasted because they will never come close to winning the majority in certain territories. Koyzis looks at electoral systems in other countries and describes how proportional representation and a mixedmember-proportional system can be better alternatives. He ends with what a Christian political party could look like.

With the current electoral systems, many Christians may find themselves with no great candidates and will resort to voting for a candidate that will do the least harm. Christians will also disagree on which elements of a candidate’s political agenda are worthiest of support. Christians should avoid becoming too tied to one political party.

"If we find ourselves always parroting one party’s agenda and vilifying the other party’s, I suggest that something is amiss."

Mobilizing for Political Action:
Think local when mobilizing for political action. You have more agency to make a difference with the local issues that arise within your community. The rise of the internet and social media has created many dispersed communities. These online communities create a virtual illusion that they are the most important communities instead of the physical ones that have nurtured us and formed us to be who we are. Koyzis provides several examples of what this could look like in different communities.

Progressives and Conservatives:
The difference between progressives and conservatives is fundamentally a default response to change. Progressives push for innovation and conservatives are skeptical of change. This creates a tension between the two groups. A balanced view would hold on to what continues to be of value and make genuine improvements on the past. Christians should affirm norms while living with pluralism. Koyzis uses examples of urban renewal projects and marriage as case studies for how to navigate the conservative vs liberal tension.

Global Citizenship:
Christianity teaches that we are part of the larger human community to which we have obligations. All humans are created in the image of God and have inherit worth. Christians have understood that the gospel is a global message, and we have a mission to join God in his plan for redemption across the world. This goes beyond strictly evangelism and includes bringing love and justice to those in need. Some issues of justice extend beyond national borders, like environmental degradation. This then requires coordination across the world.

Prayer, Politics, and Church:
Koyzis concludes the book with a call to pray for the political leaders. He then describes various church confessions and the way they prescribe the relationship between the church and the state. Next, Koyzis states that church attendance is an important element of the Christian life. It connects us to others in our local community around the gospel of Jesus.

My Top Takeaways – Citizenship Without Illusions by David T. Koyzis
Rights and Responsibilities:
My top takeaway from Citizenship Without Illusions is the importance of the responsibilities that come along with the rights of living in a democracy. I tend to take the rights for granted. I would prefer to enjoy the rights without the responsibilities. For, me the most interesting part of politics is understanding why people think what they think. This intellectual exercise doesn’t actually change anything in reality. The extent of my political involvement historically has been limited to voting in major elections. Citizenship Without Illusions provides good prompts to think about what mobilizing for political action could look like.

Think Local:
In the US, the election for president dominates the political focus of most Americans. The practical reason for this is the media. The presidential election is the election that we all vote on. A local election in a small community isn’t going to get the attention of anyone beyond the community. The reality is that the local elections are where individuals have the most agency to create change that will have the most impact on their daily lives.

Local politics also requires more of us. It takes more effort to attend the city council meetings and the school board meetings. It takes more effort to research the pros and cons behind each issue. Watching our local school board meetings during the early days of the COVID pandemic was eye opening. It quickly became apparent the influence that members of the community can have on decisions made that have a real impact. Local politics provides a more concrete way to love my neighbor than merely voting for a national election.

Why Some Votes Don’t Matter:
My last takeaway is the way our current electoral system in the US doesn’t work well. It was enlightening to learn about the ways other countries try to balance the local/territorial-based needs and the geographically dispersed political positions/parties. In some countries you vote for individual candidates, while in others you vote for a particular party. In some you vote for both. I don’t see the electoral system changing any time soon in the US, but I think it would go a long way to create more moderation that aligns better with what most Americans actually desire.

Conclusion:
At Faithful Intellect, our goal with book reviews is to explore the ideas and implications of the author and also share the top takeaways and critiques that shape our thinking. We hope that you will benefit from these insights even if you aren’t able to read the book yourself.

Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for an advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Books:
Political Visions & Illusions: A Survey & Christian Critique of Contemporary Ideologies by David R. Koyzis (https://amzn.to/48ctXEU)
Ballot and the Bible: How Scripture Has Been Used and Abused in American Politics and Where We Go from Here Paperback by Kaitlyn Schiess (https://amzn.to/4dFcA0B)
Exiles: The Church in the Shadow of Empire by Preston Sprinkle (https://amzn.to/4eWeEmp)
Jesus and the Powers: Christian Political Witness in an Age of Totalitarian Terror and Dysfunctional Democracies Paperback by N. T. Wright and Michael F. Bird (https://amzn.to/4024mwn)
The Liturgy of Politics: Spiritual Formation for the Sake of Our Neighbor by Kaitlyn Schiess (https://amzn.to/3NlI8Oa)
Also take a look at our Resources page for what has influenced our thinking.

Take a look at our other Blog posts for articles engaging culture with faith and reason.

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I'm not going to bury the lede: this is a phenomenal little book about Christian political engagement.

David T. Koyzis's new work is in some ways a distillation of his earlier work, Political Visions and Illusions, and in some ways is something that only could be written in our current political moment. The book begins with a brief sketch of what citizenship is supposed to be and then moves into a few different topics of interest:
- The tension Christians feel as members of two different kingdoms
- The importance (or lack thereof) of one's vote
- Mobilizing for political action
- Progressives, Conservatives, and how much a Christian can "belong" to a political party
- Whether we owe any allegiance to the broader globe beyond one's own borders
- Politics within the church

I realize that it's a bit sensationalist to say a book is "phenomenal," so let me defend that claim.

It's blessedly short
People who write about theology tend to be super wordy, and it's largely the same with politics. You'd think that a theological book about politics would be extra long, but instead it's really approachable.

It's convictional, yet hospitable
Koyzis writes from a Reformed perspective, but without the grating tone of self-assured cockiness that can often take. Instead, it strikes me as the best of what the Reformed perspective can be: rooted in Scripture with an eye toward engagement in the world while recognizing that there are other traditions that think about things in different ways. Koyzis demonstrates an admirable posture of speaking his own convictions but with charity and a willingness to understand those who disagree with him.

It offers a global perspective
A lot of Christian books are written by Americans and published by American publishers for a primarily American audience, and as such they suffer from tunnel vision. That can sound like, "Here's why all Christians must be Republican" (which assumes that all Christians live in democratic countries with a party called "Republican"), or it can sound like, "Here's why Christians can vote Democrat" (which rests on the same fundamental assumption). Plenty of Christians do not live under such a political system, though. Even in other democratic nations, the contours of political engagement for an individual are simply different. Koyzis manages to cover those differences without then descending into bland abstractions. It's still practical.

It offers wisdom to a post-2020 world
The racial unrest of 2020 gave white Christians who were willing to listen an awareness of why Black Christians tend to hold different party affiliations. Koyzis takes a different line from other Evangelicals and is able to see why sincere Christians of good faith would vote differently. Even so, he's open and earnest about his desire for Christians to feel a stronger bond to other Christians than to the party they vote for.

Should you read it?
Of all the books in this general territory that I've read, this is the one I'd recommend to folks. Are you going to agree with everything in it? Of course not—I know I don't. When I found myself disagreeing with him, though, he had earned my respect such that I was willing to hear him out rather than angrily dismissing him. When I think about the Christians in my life who are further left or further right than I am, I genuinely think I could recommend this to them and then have an interesting discussion from the questions he lists out at the back. So yes, I think you should read it!

DISCLAIMER: I received a copy of this book from the publisher for the purpose of a fair, unbiased review.