The Good Samaritan and…political competence?!

What is a Faith and Law “reading group?” Let’s peek into the small conference room where, on a rainy Friday back in May, two dozen Senate staffers met over lunch to reflect deeply about their vocation on Capitol Hill. Senate reading group leader, John Shelton, summarizes what they discussed:

Like all Faith and Law’s reading groups, the Senate group subsists primarily on a diet of tried-and-true Christian classics. C. S. Lewis’ “Learning in War-Time” and “The Inner Ring” are common fare for their perennial lessons about truth and temptation. 

On this particular Friday, however, the group invited Benjamin Storey, a senior fellow at American Enterprise Institute, to discuss his recent essay, “Christianity and Political Competence.”

A former university professor, Storey gave reading group participants a crash course in political philosophy, unpacking the thought of two important French intellectuals: René Girard and Pierre Manent. Storey showed how a seemingly arcane debate between these two philosophers matters deeply for Christian faith and life, helping us to read the Bible more faithfully.

According to Storey, Girard offers a “tempting misreading of the Gospel message” that calls all politics demonic, encouraging Christians “to protect their moral purity by embracing political passivity.”

Manent, by contrast, offers a deep reading of the parable of the Good Samaritan that “inspires human beings to cultivate the competence they need to exercise the virtue of charity in politics as well as other domains.”

Time and again, the Samaritan demonstrates the skill, insight, and prudence necessary to care for the wounded man before him. In Christ’s instruction to “go and do likewise,” we are also summoned to “cultivate competence” as we seek to “do justice, love mercy, and walk humbly with God.” 

Faith and Law’s Senate Reading Group has been meeting continually for almost a decade (about twice the length of the average congressional career). Each month, staffers strive to develop more of the competence necessary to do the Lord’s work in the Lord’s way on Capitol Hill.

Isn’t that grand?