Throughout history, Christians have often failed to adequately understand the nature of the proper relationship between the Church and power.

All too often, Christians seem to believe that the rock on which the Church is built is little more than that of worldly power.

The Roman Catholic Church is the oldest Christian denomination, claiming even to have begun with St. Peter, and as such it is natural that its misunderstanding of its proper relation to power has the longest history.

The abuses of power by Rome during the “Dark Ages” are well known and there seems little reason to specifically mention them here. Perhaps if Rome had listened to St. Francis of Assisi, the story of Roman Catholicism might not be so problematic.

St. Francis and the early Franciscans were well aware of the worthlessness of Rome’s wealth in relation to carrying out the Christian mission.

Rome’s lack of success in wielding worldly power can be seen by looking at present day Italy. Those areas in Italy which at one time comprised the Papal States, being under the direct control of the Pope, have fewer Catholics today than those areas in Italy which were not ruled by the Pope.

The Christian Right has been in the news a great deal as of late and seems to have gained some newfound political power.

Every Republican presidential candidate, except perhaps Arlen Specter, perceives them as significant enough a factor in the nomination process to extended some gestures of friendship.

In addition, the Christian Coalition boasts of itself as a “grass roots” organization, which is in some manner of speaking is true. The backbone of the Christian Right, however, has always been and remains a number of financial empires: churches with congregations of tens of thousands, television ministries, radio stations, cable channels, bookstore chains, etc.

It is no accident that this “grass roots” movement has a strong tendency to support a pro-business economic agenda (fewer taxes on the wealthy, fewer regulations to protect workers and consumers), as the movement has been nurtured for years by a small group of financial, media and pastoral elites which stand to gain from such policies.

Though not as entrenched as the Roman Catholicism nor as brazenly opportunistic as the Christian Right, mainline Protestantism possesses its own wealth and is far from immune to the temptations of worldliness.

St. John’s Lutheran in Des Moines illustrates my point rather well. In addition to the church building per se, St. John’s also owns one square block of downtown Des Moines real estate, valued at about one million dollars, which it rents out for parking.

It is extremely important that Christians understand that the existence of the Church in the world is not dependent on the manipulation of worldly power by human beings, but rather on the power of God. It is God’s power which sustains the Church.

A level-headed look at Western Civilization reveals that Christianity appears to be in the process of dying. The response of churches is largely what I have sketched above: act prudently, seize what you can, or at least, don’t let go of what you have. These measures are completely inadequate in that they assume that Church is dependent on worldly power.

If I remember correctly, Dietrich Bonnhoeffer proposed, in one of his letters written while imprisoned, that the Church give away all of its wealth to the poor in an act which might be called something like “institutional redemption.”

This does not seem a bad idea in the least. It would redeem the Church in the eyes of the world, as Bonnhoeffer suggests, as well as in the the eyes of many inside moreover.

Most importantly of all, however, it would constitute the greatest revival of faith in nearly two thousand years. It would show that Christians have more faith in God’s love and power than in their own ability to acquire and manipulate power.

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Tyler Wayne Roach is a senior in philosophy, English and religious studies from Des Moines.