Within the political philosophy of liberalism, just societies must be centered around a neutral, political space of shared normative assumptions, like the right to free speech. They must contain a public square in which the Church is one voice among many, and in which citizens have the capacity to choose the Church out of a marketplace of ideas, rather than being coerced into belief. The maintenance of this neutral space ostensibly allows for the Church to be a champion of human freedom, but it disallows a public square in which Christ is king, Lord over our souls, the marketplace, and the government. To introduce Christ into the collective, normative assumptions that make up the political sphere destroys its neutrality; “that all men have a right to their opinion” sits uneasily next to “that all institutions must be redeemed in Christ Jesus.” Many who hold this liberal ideal, colloquially expressed as “the separation of Church and State,” justify their position from a particular Biblical passage: “render unto Caesar what is Caesar’s, and unto God what is God’s.” We are bound to give to God our hope for salvation, our souls, and our prayers; we are bound to give Caesar our obedience, our respect, our fidelity as compliant citizens, and our filial love for our nation.
At face value, it seems quite plausible that Jesus’ words demarcate a “political sphere” quite apart from a “religious sphere.” But a patient look at the passage, its historical context, and even the tradition’s interpretation of it, suggests a different understanding, diametrically opposed…
