Many Christians say, “The church shouldn’t be political.” But Jesus and politics were never separate. His ministry directly confronted empire, exposing how faith rooted in love and justice will always challenge systems built on power and fear.

In this episode, Kristen confronts the myth of a neutral, apolitical faith and exposes how empire-shaped Christianity has confused control for holiness. Drawing from Obery M. Hendricks Jr.’s The Politics of Jesus (2006), Howard Thurman’s Jesus and the Disinherited (1949), and Walter Brueggemann’s The Prophetic Imagination (1978), she reclaims the radical truth that Jesus’ ministry was, and still is, a political act of compassion, justice, and liberation.

We’ll explore:

• Matthew 22:15–22 | “Render unto Caesar” as a coded act of resistance, not compliance.
• Matthew 21 | The Triumphal Entry as protest, not pageantry.
• Mark 11 | Flipping tables in defense of the poor, not in the name of outrage.
• Psalm 24:1 | “The earth is the Lord’s, and everything in it,” a reminder that every empire answers to God.

Kristen unpacks how:

• Christian nationalism is what happens when empire shapes our theology instead of the Gospel.
• “Kingdom politics” restores people instead of protecting power.
• Fear, nostalgia, and moral performance have replaced compassion in much of modern faith.
• Post-Roe laws claim to defend life, yet the same systems cut food aid, healthcare, and childcare, protecting the unborn while abandoning the born.
• Jesus’ politics still expose every empire’s lie: that power can save us, that violence can secure peace, that fear can sustain faith.

This episode traces three prophetic voices that still speak today:

• Obery Hendricks | Jesus as a revolutionary of compassion, justice, and liberation.
• Howard Thurman | Fear, deception, and hate as the “hounds of hell” that enslave the disinherited.
• Walter Brueggemann | The prophetic imagination that awakens us from numbness to grief and hope.

Because Jesus didn’t run for office.
He redefined what power looks like.

References:

• Obery M. Hendricks Jr., The Politics of Jesus: Rediscovering the True Revolutionary Nature of Jesus’ Teachings and How They Have Been Corrupted (Doubleday, 2006).
• Howard Thurman, Jesus and the Disinherited (Abingdon Press, 1949).
• Walter Brueggemann, The Prophetic Imagination (Fortress Press, 1978; revised 2001).
• Matthew 22:15–22; Matthew 21; Mark 11; Psalm 24:1

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Here’s to a faith that flips tables, heals wounds, and pursues justice.

RESOURCES:

www.kristenannette.com

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