Toward an Anabaptist Political Theology

A. James Reimer's (1942-2010) theopolitical project, intended to be a fully theologically conceptualized political theology, offers a constructive and creative contribution to this burgeoning field of theological inquiry. Reimer's thesis for this theologically derived politics focuses on the necessity to take seriously the biblical-Trinitarian foundations for all Christian social ethics, but also on the importance of astute and faithful engagement by Christians in public institutional life, including the political realm. While Reimer understood himself to be working as an Anabaptist, and hoped to invite that tradition to embrace a more positive view of civil institutions than has historically been the case, he was not limited by that tradition or beholden to take only its sources into account. Ever alert to the problems inherent in every kind of reductionism, and especially so in cases where theology is reduced to either ethics or politics, Reimer's political theology pursues the investigation of theological realities that are to serve as the engine, the generative force of a political theology that seeks to articulate both a critical and a positive-constructive approach to public/political life and institutions.

"These working-papers composed in preparation for a wide-ranging political theology will certainly make us feel how much we have lost by James Reimer's death. Yet the result is not simply a might-have-been. They show us enough of his historical and conceptual inquiries to encourage us to reopen questions we may have thought closed, and to find more plausible the prospect of a convergence of Radical and Magisterial Protestant traditions, true to the commitments of both sides."
--Oliver O'Donovan, Emeritus Professor, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, Scotland

"At once pushing the boundaries of Anabaptist theology and offering a critical perspective from within that same tradition, these pages offer no less than an annotated roadmap on how to read the world both politically and theologically. A cherished gift and must-read for all who desire to heed God's call to faithful living!"
--Harry Huebner, Director, International and Inter-Faith Theological Initiatives, Canadian Mennonite University, Winnipeg, Canada

A. James Reimer (1942-2010), professor of religious studies and Christian theology at Conrad Grebel University College and at the Toronto School of Theology, was named Distinguished Professor Emeritus upon his retirement in 2008.

Paul G. Doerksen is associate professor of theology and Anabaptist Studies at Canadian Mennonite University in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. He is the author of Beyond Suspicion: Post-Christendom Protestant Political Theology in John Howard Yoder and Oliver O'Donovan.