Desiring the Kingdom (): Worship, Worldview, and Cultural Formation (Cultural Liturgies Book 1)

by James K. A. Smith

I pledge allegiance to the Flag of the United States of America, and to the Republic for which it stands: one Nation under God, indivisible, With Liberty and Justice for all. While God is invoked, it is actually the flag and the republic to which one is pledging allegiance (that is, pledging devotion and loyalty). The republic claims to have an identity and unity about it, and even claims to have achieved the goal of shalom—to already be a nation “with” liberty and justice for all. (That last clause must have stuck in the throat of young black Americans in the Jim Crow South and, indeed, must still.) No hint of eschatological deferral; no sense of a “not yet” failure to measure up; but a confident claim of justice here and now, secured by the republic.