New Creation Conversations 098 - Kaitlyn Schiess on How the Bible Has Been Used (and Abused) in American Political History

Welcome to episode ninety-eight of New Creation Conversations. This week’s conversation is with Kaitlyn Schiess. Kaitlyn is a writer, minister, and doctoral student at Duke Divinity School studying political theology and biblical interpretation. She has written about theology, politics, and culture for Christianity Today, The New York Times, Christ and Pop Culture, RELEVANT, Sojourners, and the Huffington Post. These days she may be best known for her participation on The Holy Post Podcast with Phil Vischer and Sky Jethani. 

We spend our time discussing her most recent book, The Ballot and the Bible: How Scripture Has Been Used and Abused in American Politics and Where We Go from Here (Brazos). In the book, Kaitlyn unpacks the history of America and how we have connected the Bible to politics in the past and explores what lessons and warnings we can glean from those moments. She combines American political history and biblical interpretation to help readers faithfully read Scripture, talk with others about it, and apply it to contemporary political issues – and to their lives.

It is a wonderful and important book, especially in the current moment. I’m really thankful for the work Kaitlyn is doing in this area, and am a little jealous of her ability (at such a young age) to reflect so insightfully on both our history and our moment. I’m a big fan of The Holy Post and was delighted to get a chance to meet Kaitlyn and have this rich conversation.