In Playing God: Redeeming the Gift of Power, Andy Crouch poses a set of provocative questions:
- “What if power is a gift of God and is inherent in being human?”
- “What if power is not coercive but creative?”
- “What if power is not zero-sum, but multiplies when we give it away?”
- “What if we were made to exercise power ? … What if power is rooted in creation, in the very image of God in us?”
The Bible's Surprising View of Power
In a provocative analysis of the Bible’s use of power, Crouch surprisingly counters the myth that all power results in violence and domination. He argues, almost counter-intuitively, that this broken world needs not less power, but more power, power wielded by followers of Christ who do more “God-bearing” and less “god-playing (injustice) and god-making (idolatry).”
According to Crouch, our allergy to power is a sign we haven’t read the Bible very closely. From the very beginning of the biblical narrative, God commissioned humanity to exercise power, to bear His image as we tend and till the earth so that all the potential and promise of God might be revealed.
Power as a Gift
Indeed, the biblical narrative argues that power is a creative gift and when we exercise that power rightly, we image God and love our neighbors. Thus, if we fail to exercise power, we fail as image-bearers.
As faculty, we have power, the power of position, of influence, of shaping the hearts and minds of students. In our research, we can direct the course of knowledge. How we use that power is critical, however.
Crouch argues that, “the deepest form of power is creation.” We should re-imagine power as “creative love”—the kind of power that multiplies when it is shared, a power that empowers. It’s the kind of power the ascending Jesus promised to his followers when he echoed the creation narrative at Pentecost and said “You will receive power” (Acts 1:8).
When Power Goes Wrong: Idolatry and Injustice
Crouch is certainly not naive to the ways power goes wrong when it turns into domination, repression, violence and exclusion. “Power at its worst,” he observes, “is the unmaker of humanity.” Such exercises of power lead to idolatry and injustice—ways in which god-playing steals, kills and destroys.
When we misuse power, we create idols that oppress and exclude. “Whether making false gods (idolatry) or playing false gods (injustice) the result is identical—the true image of God is lost, and not just lost but replaced by something that purports, often very persuasively, to represent the ultimate truth about reality.”
FC Editorial Team