The Twofold Reign of Christ: A Baptist Approach to Two Kingdoms Theology
The thesis argued in this dissertation is a Baptist political theology can and should maintain Christ’s twofold kingship and entails: (1) a maximalist form of church governance as regenerate membership and congregationalism in keeping with new covenant positive laws are ordered to their supernatural/heavenly ends in Christ, and (2) a perfectionist form of civil governance, ordained to exercise prudence and directing society toward its natural ends, both negatively in the form of proportional retribution for evil conduct, and positively in the form of commending that which is good unto human flourishing—in keeping with the law of creation. Chapter 1 introduces the discipline of political theology, providing an overview of the methodological approaches to be employed and surveying the state of historical and contemporary discourse on Christ’s universal and mediatorial kingship among Protestant political theologians/theorists. Chapter 2 provides a response to Stephen Wolfe’s case for Christian Nationalism, in which I make a biblical-theological case for nations being a postlapsarian adventitious good. This is followed by a critique of Wolfe’s two kingdoms doctrine from a Baptist perspective. In chapter 3 I interact with David VanDrunen’s political theology, critiquing his interpretation and application of the creation covenant and Noahic covenant, arguing his proposal is attenuated due to a strict bifurcation of “common” and “redemptive” activities and undermines the stability and durability of creational/natural/moral goods. In chapter 4, I offer a critique of Douglas Wilson’s Mere Christendom by exegeting Psalm 2 in comparison to Wilson’s interpretation; I argue that a proper understanding of the two ages and NT priority leads to the conclusion that Christ will not rule the nations with a rod of iron until his Parousia and final judgment. Chapter 5 provides a Baptist approach to Christ’s twofold kingship, and to do so the work of Jonathan Leeman and Andrew Walker (alongside others within the Baptist tradition) is considered. After making a case for Baptist covenantal and ecclesiological distinctives, it is shown how the different emphases of Leeman and Walker complement one another in developing a sound understanding of Christ’s twofold kingship. The biblical-theological methodology of Leeman (inflected toward ecclesiology) works well with the systematic-philosophical categories promoted by Walker (inflected toward ethics and public policy) combining for a robust political theology. Chapter 6 concludes the study by reviewing and reinforcing the need for Baptists to have a coherent and consistent theology to rightly define and apply Christ’s twofold kingship, encouraging Baptists to learn from our rich heritage as we seek to be faithful in our own day in both the church and the public square.
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The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary