One of the first major books I'm reading for my Directed Reading course is a book by Luke Bretherton called 'Christ and the Common Life: Political Theology and the Case for Democracy.' It's basically an overview of political theology, which is the stream that the rest of my readings and writings will fall within.

Anyways, I came across this interesting idea while reading this morning; Bretherton makes a distinction between politics and war, suggesting that war and violence signals the end of politics and the start of something else.

"The bullet and the ballot box are mutually exclusive routes to solving shared problems."

He gets there because his view of politics is based in relational power with others rather than power over others. It is an understanding of power that requires a commitment to listening and negotiating rather than coercing and dominating.

It also requires a commitment to non-violence, something that is largely lacking in our society these days.