IN 1973, in the context of the Vietnam War, Episcopal theologian and lawyer William Stringfellow (a Sojourners contributing editor until his death in 1985) published his classic work An Ethic for Christians and Other Aliens in a Strange Land. He wrote: “A nation ... may pursue such a course which so demeans human life and so profits death that it must be said ... that that nation ... is in truth governed by the power of death. ... The biblical story of such a realm is the saga of Babylon [in Revelation]. The extraordinary in-stance in the present time of the same situation is the United States of America.”
Stringfellow’s analysis was profoundly biblical and remains the most trenchant theological analysis of American life, culture, and politics published in the last half century. As the United States marks 250 years since the signing of the Declaration of Independence, there’s value to engaging Stringfellow’s voice in our current national conversation.
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