CHRISTIAN VOCATION, AND THE COMMON GOOD

By Jeffery J. Ventrella, Op-ed contributor Monday, January 15, 2024

Law and Justice, Scales of Justice, Universal declaration of human rights on a wooden background, human rights concept. | Getty Images/ Vladimir Cetinski

Ambrose's choice: the common good, Christian Vocation, and human growth

How do we understand the necessary conditions for Human Development? What are the forms of Public Justice and an orderly society? Let's talk about a story, a true story, a Christian story.

After the Edict of Milan (313), Christian religious practices were no longer considered unlawful. "Constantinian settlement" is the name used after it.The Empire continued to provide freedoms, including new religious freedoms, along with the Social spread of Christianity. [1]

70 years later (383), another Emperor Theodosius allowed immigration to the eastern regions of the Empire. This policy of welcoming foreigners came from Christian teachings rooted in the Old Testament and now applied to Roman society.

In 387, a cleric from Milan baptized a disciple named Augustine, performing the now common and ordinary rite of "religious, spiritual and heavenly" initiation. Spiritual and "otherworldly" good is an act that should only be performed by clerics, at least according to sacred/secular dualistic ideas.

In 390, the Empire experienced a revolt in the East. The immigrants of the city of Thessalonica were the victims. A Roman military officer was killed in this riot. Full stop.

When Empower Theodosius heard the news, he immediately sent troops to stop the riots, and in the process, he sent a message by killing about 7,000 immigrants without racial boundaries. What's the message? Don't get involved with the Romans.

However, the Baptist clergy, who had completed their "spiritual" responsibilities by preaching and observing the sacraments, were aware of this murder. What exactly is he doing? Is he happy to make a "higher calling" when performing spiritual rituals? Almost nothing. Instead, he confronted the Emperor Theodosius.[2] Bishop Ambrose was a cleric who had moral conviction, moral clarity, and the courage to engage the worldly in the public square for public justice and the common good.  He rejected the dualistic story that his Christian vocation limited him to doing work considered "eternal" in the other world in a "spiritual heavenly" environment, which included rituals, sermons, and other "church things".Instead, he sternly told The Great emperor that, as a Christian, taking one innocent life violated God's law; how many more sins would the taking of 7,000 innocent lives entail?  After that, Ambrose forbade the emperor to take part in the Eucharist until he repented. By the grace of God, Theodosius did it seven months later.

The main principle is that Ambrose's actions unite and reveal his choice as bishop. There is a connection between theology and ethics. Here, the lesson it conveys is clear and dispels all theories of dualism: religious beliefs must encourage and produce public religious exercises for the common good.[3] this event provides an excellent overview of how regulated freedom should be viewed. For faith to be promoted and practiced, including its moral teachings outside the church, there needs to be a public and civil space, or freedom.

A truly formed Christian, like Ambrose, would oppose any dualism that pits the law against the Gospel; the sacred against the secular; nature against grace; the clergy against the laity, and so on. In the worst case, dualism will privatize beliefs and, in turn, create an increasingly unjust society. Reserved freedom is not available.

While avoiding prayer and reliance on the overbearing Leviathan state, Ambrose's choice demonstrates a way of behaving that reflects a Christian calling, protects human development, and encourages the common good for all.Actually, the state is the problem here.  In many ways, these principles were "incarnated" by classical liberalism.

As these events show, this Christian perspective on public space provides the basis for orderly freedom. In particular, the foundation determined that 1. there is no authority above the law of God; 2. arbitrarily destroying people created in the image and likeness of God, regardless of tribe, clan, or nationality, shows injustice, and 3. The state, and its positive laws, have roles and limits. As Benjamin Wiker explains, this is a significant recognition:

Christian Roman civil law instilled a profound revolutionary truth in the minds of converts that the will of the ruler is only law insofar as it conforms to The revealed moral Law of God-and no further—by recognizing the moral code that stands above all human laws and judging them.[5]

In particular, Ambrose did not make his own act. Instead, Christian public justice practices that developed under God's universal moral standards were applied by him. Most of the information on this subject did not appear until after the ascension of Christ. For example, the earliest uninspired Christian writing, The Didache (90 ad?), possibly combining religious beliefs with religious practices, such as instructions for murder, abortion, adultery, and so on.[6] Tertullian, a church father and lawyer, coined the term and advocated "religious freedom".Conscience and freedom of religion were protected among pagans and Jews by the Christian law code of Emperor Justinian. Gregory of Nyssa preached boldly against the dominant social evil, chattel slavery.[99]

These Christian predicates and examples point the way to human progress, showing that orderly freedom is the best way to achieve it and protect it. This freedom recognizes: 1. known positive law, which sets the standards for assessing the assertion of coercive power; 2. the dignity of every person, which provides the basis for equal treatment under the law; 3. the essential role of civil society, which gives community, predicate, and agency to subsidiary and sovereign spheres; and recognizes the legitimacy and limits of the state. Ambrose's option points the way forward for our times of personal, social, and public conflict.

[1] Peter J. Leithart, defending Constantine, the cleverness of an empire and the dawn of Christendom, (2010)

[2] This is no different from John the Baptist confronting King Herod for violating another norm of creation: marriage.  Matt. 14:1-4.  Asserting that faith has nothing to do with politics-politicians and / or policies – means ignoring not only the implications of the Lordship of Christ, but also much of the scriptural narrative.  See also Jeffery J. Ventrella, Law & Public Policy-Not A Gospel Issue?  (2019)

[3] I call it the " Ambrose option.”

[4] Leviathan's "country of Saviors" could not compete with the Lordship of Christ.  If Christ is the Almighty King, the state cannot act as such appropriately.

[5] Benjamin Wiker, worshiping the state: how liberalism became our state religion (Washington, DC: Regnery Publishing, Inc., 2013), 70.  Contrast this with the contemporary indulgence of state power currently supported by the political right by Catholic integralists, Protestant "retrievalists", as well as supporters of " national conservatism "and so-called" Christian nationalism.”

[6] early Christians engaged culture by exposing evil, opposing evil, and finally, confiscating evil.

[7] Robert Louis Wilkin, freedom in the things of God: the origins of Christian Religious Freedom, (2019)

[8] https://www.placefortruth.org/blog/gregory-of-nyssa-a-lone-voice-against-slavery

[9] Robert Louis Wilkin, freedom in the things of God: the origins of Christian Religious Freedom, (2019)

Dr. Jeffery J. Ventrella served as a senior advisor and senior vice president for Academic Affairs and training at the Alliance Defending Freedom. Since joining the ADF in 2000, she has designed curricula for a number of ADF training programs, including The Blackstone Legal Fellowship, a unique training and professional development program for law students. He also helped design the ARET ADF International Academy Europe, Asia, and Latin America Academy, which provides training for outstanding international advocates and cultural leaders who are on the path to future leadership in a variety of disciplines.

His book cathedral builders: the pursuit of cultural beauty (2007) was part of the Blackstone Legal Fellowship's core curriculum project, which he also edited. He is the author of numerous monographs and has contributed to or edited nine books. Ventrella received her bachelor's degree in music education, magna cum laude, from the University of Northern Colorado, where she specialized in trumpet performances. He holds a doctorate in church and state studies from Whitefield Theological Seminary and earned a juris doctorate from the University of California Hastings College of Law. He has practiced law since 1985 and is a member of the state bar of Idaho. He was also admitted to practice before the U.S. Court of Appeals. S. for the Ninth Circuit, District Court A. S. for the District of Idaho, and the U.S. Supreme Court. S..

News Sources : https://www.christianpost.com/voices/the-ambrose-option-toward-human-flourishing-and-common-good.html