This is a brief review of Tremper Longman, III, The Bible and the Ballot: Using Scripture in Political Decisions (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2020). Longman is a recently retired professor of Old Testament/Hebrew Bible at Westmont College. As such, he has been a stalwart of conservative, evangelical academics. The present book will, in some ways, satisfy his longtime students and readers and in other ways not.

I anticipated the publication of this book for many months prior to publication, especially as I saw Dr. Longman talk about it on social media–and heard his fellow evangelicals attack him with scathing ferocity, echoing the bifurcations of our current political society, basically parroting commentators talking points and refusing to have honest conversations with a man with whom many of them had been friends and evangelical academic co-workers for decades. So, I said that I would give my thoughts after reading it. So, hear goes. It is a little long for a blog post, sorry!

After spending about 50 pages setting some interpretive (hermeneutical) foundations, Longman moves into some important themes for political conversations using the Bible. He then addresses ten important political topics, asking how he believes the Bible addresses the topics (1. Nationalism, Patriotism, and Globalization; 2. Religious Liberty; 3. War; 4. Abortion; 5. Criminal Justice and Capital Punishment; 6. Immigration; 7. Same Sex Marriage; 8. The Environment; 9. Poverty; 10. Racism). I will touch on some of these points. I will begin by saying that Longman offers as many questions as answers, an approach that evangelicals typically eschew. He is adamant that he is asking what the Bible says related to the topics and only offers conclusive suggestions when they seem particularly warranted. I appreciate that approach, but many of his friends did not!

His first principle for reading the Bible for political decisions is to remember that the Bible was not written to us (16-17). As an example, he uses the ubiquitous 2 Chronicles 7:14, which was written to the people of ancient Israel over 2000 years ago, before Jesus came to the world, and is not easily applied to our setting. Several of the principles are helpful, but I have no space here. So, here are some of my thoughts on the rest of the book. The chapter on nationalism and patriotism is quite helpful, as he reminds us that Paul and Peter were willing to go to jail because they felt that the laws of the land went against God’s law for their circumstance (contra the apologetic use of Romans 13). Also, he suggests (correctly in my mind) that nationalism and patriotism are quite different things. Nationalism can place a nation in place of God’s kingdom, while patriotism is to be proud of one’s country. What I would consider the major flaw in the book is found in this chapter, however. Longman talks about nation-states in the ancient world (and the Old Testament) and in the modern world without any significant distinction between the two. The modern nation-state is infused with and/or influenced by modern rationalism, enlightenment thought, radical 19th century nationalism and imperialism, and political philosophy overhauls of the 19th and 20th centuries. This distinction should (in my opinion) influence the conversations of nationalism and immigration, at least, more than it did.

On the other topics, Longman reminds the reader that religious liberty “is not a biblical principle” (102-103), by which he means that in the New Testament (especially) there is no religious liberty–in practice or expectation. Therefore, religious liberty is not required for Christianity to flourish. His chapter on abortion will likely please no one, but he tries to be biblical. He points out that abortion is not actually a biblical topic, and that discussions of murder do not include abortion, even though abortion was practiced in the ancient world. Therefore, calling abortion “murder” is not really a biblical approach, although opposing abortion on the basis of dignity of all human life can be seen as biblical. In the end, abortions are not going away, and our political decisions need to consider that reality. In the chapter on criminal justice and capital punishment, Longman emphasizes the importance of truth in the Bible. Our opinions on this issue must take into account the role of truth, unbiased and non-prejudicial. Therefore, in our justice system, fairness must be apparent, especially in conversations of capital punishment.

I will conclude with four controversial chapters–immigration, same-sex marriage, poverty, and racism. First, I believe that the chapter on immigration suffers from the same problem as the chapter on nationalism. There is no distinction made between ancient empires and nations and modern nation-states. I believe that this is a fatal error in these chapters. In the present chapter, I also feel that Longman does not adequately define sanctuary cities, especially as I have seen this practiced in my own city of Houston, Texas. (Full Disclosure: I teach at a school in the city of Houston!) However, his conclusions remain valid. Nations certainly have a right, even responsibility, to protect and manage their borders. However, followers of Jesus have a responsibility to see that justice is done and that anyone treated unjustly is cared for. The chapter on poverty is quite helpful, with many scripture quotations to make his point. What is the point? Followers of God have a mandate to help the poor (262-267). This mandate is unequivocal and ubiquitous in scripture. If you are so interested, he concludes the chapter with a brief discussion on the “sin of prosperity thinking,” with specific reference to the issue of poverty (268-270). Finally, we get to racism. Since he completed the book early in 2019, writing this review in the summer of 2020 is interesting. He defines “racism” well, and briefly talks about race issues in the Bible and America. He also debunks the biblical interpretations that were used during the past 200 years or so to support white supremacy and racist activities against people of color. Finally, he addresses the question of reparations. Should people who did not commit the sins of their ancestors feel guilty for and repent for the sins of their ancestors? If Ezra and Daniel are an example, the answer is “yes.” Also, Longman points out that Deuteronomy 12:12-15 requires that a slave that is freed must be supplied with the means to live and make a living. Since this was not done for slaves in the USA, Longman argues that biblically we need to have discussions about making amends for this failure.

Again, in this book, Tremper Longman is simply trying to apply the Bible to political decisions–his and ours. An over-arching biblical theme emphasized in the book is the importance of human dignity and fairness in scripture. This means that we need to read the Bible carefully and have fair and honest conversations on these matters. I hope that my brief discussion of a 300-page book might encourage you to pick it up. It is worth reading and pondering. Thanks, Dr. Longman!