Power; it is a word that has managed to wrangle up watchword level distinction in the rhetorical realm and culture of American Christianity. Upon first examination, power is a rather simple word. It is composed of two mere syllables, and we hear and us it often; of course, we imagine and even rightfully assume that we know what power implies and consequently understand its associated meaning and subtexts. And yet, as we suggested often in our class, power is a multifaceted word. For example, the website Dictionary.com, our illustrious contemporary Websters, defines power with a sum total of 32 different clauses. Herein, Dictionary.com designates that power refers to the “capability of doing or accomplishing something,” as our class likewise affirmed, and its definition also is made wider, expanding to include such notions as “political or national strength,” the “possession of control or command over others,” and even “deity or divinity” ( ). And thus, even though power has found itself forming and informing ample rally cries and analyses, it is expressed in innumerable ways, and thus the word is intricate, vast, and innocuous.
It is words like these that remind us scholars that we do in fact have important work to do. We are the celebrators of ambiguity, those who find the task of re-definition a deeply reverent one. Therefore, grappling with the word power and offering more shades of substance to our notions of power and the impact of these notions on contemporary American Christianity is one of the objectives of this paper. For ultimately, if we look into our traditional concepts of power, likewise impacted by our culture, and juxtapose these definitions with specific Gospel depictions of power, the meaning that emerges for contemporary Christians is momentous. Likewise, this re-definition of power is pertinent for the task of reconciliation. As American Christianity becomes increasingly polarized by ideologies and opposing facets strive to build up support and power for their side, we are challenged to imagine the shape of God’s power and what God would, in fact, have us do. This brings us to the second word that will largely inform this narrative; the word is grace.
