Ideologies

In all my doctoral studies, the one book that might have been the most helpful was the book "Political Visions and Illusions" by Canadian political scientist, David Koyzis. There were two concepts in particular that helped me think well about how Christians ought to think about our place in the world.

I'll write the the other another time, but the one I want to hit on briefly here is his discussion of ideologies. Of course, I had heard the word thrown around before, but I had never heard an intelligent conversation about just what an ideology is.

Koyzis writes, "I view ideologies as modern manifestations of that ancient phenomenon called idolatry, complete with their own stories of sin and redemption...Like these biblical idolatries, every ideology is based on taking something out of creation's totality, raising it above that creation, and making the latter revolve around and serve it. It is further based on the assumption that this idol has the capacity to save us from some real or perceived evil in the world."

So, for instance, the problem with the socialist ideology is not that it get everything wrong. In fact, there are some aspects of socialism that can align with the biblical injunction to care for one another in community.

There are problems with all ideologies.

First, no ideology can explain everything. All the problems of the world cannot be solved by collective or government ownership. Are there some valuable insights from socialism (or conservatism, or liberalism, or capitalism, or even Marxism)? Absolutely! There are grains of truth in each. But they cannot explain everything and they cannot be our saviors.

Second, when ideologies take hold in a society, they often try to take control of it, sometimes violently, and always doing great damage. Ideologies might do some good for a while, but eventually the attempt to solve every problem with one solution will do more damage than good.

This is explained because the vision of every ideology creates its own version of heaven...we usually call these utopia.

Every attempt to create a utopia has ended in a kind of dystopia.

This is true of even "Christian" utopias. Jesus tells his followers, "In this world you will have trouble..." In other words, we will not be able to create a perfect society. We can and should do much good in the world, but we must resist the urge to try to save the world. The Bible tells us that is a role reserved only for Jesus and only at a time in the future.

As believers, we must be clear-eyed about the ideologies we are tempted to embrace. We must be willing to see which parts line up with Scripture, and which parts contradict it. Ultimately, we must remember that Jesus is the only one worthy of being our all-in-all. Only Jesus will save the world and only at a future time when he returns and brings about the new creation.