However, Christian assimilation to US culture has gutted Christianity’s own claims (30–31). In light of this, Christians should live proleptically (23). For Camp, that context is the coming of the Kingdom of God already inaugurated by Christ and the expectation of God's ultimate victory. Central among Camp’s propositions is the view that Christianity is an interpretation of history, a perspective from which Christians can see and understand history in its context. After all, Jesus was not crucified because of spirituality (18, 134). Contrary to the more typical apologetic argument for Christianity’s congruence with one particular party, Camp states that the tradition is “neither right, nor left, nor religious,” but a “politic” (4–5 see also proposition 11). He claims only to be stating “noncontroversial assertions, simple restatements of orthodox Christianity” (9)-arguably one of Camp’s most effective assertions.Ĭamp’s propositions-among them that history is not merely time passing but has a telos, an end, that the substance of Christian hope is not the US but Jesus Christ, that the corruption of Christianity largely comes from within itself-are intended as a “syllabus” for Christians to “reconfigure their faith” and wrest it from the US empire’s grasp (9). While some might balk at Camp’s proposed end goal (after all, the majority of Christian denominations have assimilated quite well to American culture), Camp earnestly denies any attempt at originality. To do so, Camp’s book advocates for a fourth option: Jesus’ “socio-spiritual-political option” (8).Ĭamp draws broadly from a diverse set of evidence to assemble a cumulative and comprehensive argument that culminates in a concise and compelling rationale for Christians to reclaim the “scandalous” identity Paul considered intrinsic to Christianity (3).
Yet, he offers evidence that such hope can only be realized if Christians get out of their own way. Denying the faith’s apparent impotence, Camp begins with a bold claim: “The faith of the Christian is the last great hope of earth” (1). But in Scandalous Witness: A Little Political Manifesto for Christianity, Camp is unwilling to accept these options.
In response to this relationship, Camp argues that American Christianity is being redefined in one of three ways: first, as a “cult of greatness and imperialist power” (of which the evangelical fandom of Donald Trump is sufficient evidence) second, as an ahistorical spiritualizing of Christianity concerned only with the afterlife (which, Camp reminds the reader, for the early Christians was a “grave heresy”) or third, a reduction of Christianity to social action (5–8, 11). Camp views Christianity’s relationship with the United States as characterized by the nation’s manipulation, co-optation, and abuse of a religion that has lost its prophetic edge and is subjugated to the nation, if not headed toward obsolescence altogether.
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