In recent weeks, Jason Scott Montoya has been posting snippets of longer conversations we have had in the past. Jason has a gift for bringing out the best in the people he interviews and deserves to get more subscribers to his YouTube channel. Here is one such snippet below on the subject of sovereignty:
11 February 2025
INCHE proceedings published
In November 2023 I delivered a remote address to the Eighth Latin American INCHE Consultation. INCHE stands for International Network for Christian Higher Education, which began in 1975 in South Africa and now stretches around the globe. My topic was "The Christian university and public policy in North America." The proceedings of this event have now been published in Spanish, and my address is included.
10 February 2025
'Amplify' interview
As a boy I was fascinated with radio broadcasting, especially after my father gave me a shortwave radio enabling me to tune in the world. Thus I found it a minor thrill to be on what may be the oldest commercial radio station in the US, whose call letters antedate the assignment of initial "W" call letters to stations east of the Mississippi. KDKA went on the air in November 1920, only two years after the end of the Great War and before radio began to make its way into the homes of North Americans
Ordering our loyalties
Christian Courier carries a review of my new book, Citizenship Without Illusions, written by Ian DeJong: Ordering our loyalties. An excerpt:
In this book I see three takeaways on what it means to set our loyalties in order as Christian citizens. First, ultimate loyalty to God and loyalty to governments often go hand-in-hand . . . . However, this is not to say that we should politicize the church, nor does it mean that obeying the government always aligns with obeying God . . . . Second, ultimate loyalty to God should make us both appreciative and suspicious of partisan politics. “If we find ourselves always parroting one party’s agenda and vilifying the other party’s,” Koyzis writes, “I suggest that something is amiss.” . . . Third, ultimate loyalty to God requires political humility.
04 February 2025
Carmen LaBerge interview
On 23 January Carmen LaBerge interviewed me for The Reconnect with Carmen LaBerge over Faith Radio. The interview can be heard here or immediately below:
03 February 2025
CRCD review
The book is a wonderful complement to his earlier volume and both books should be read together. Christians today need to have some hard conversations about the notion of citizenship in the worlds where alternative political ideologies are proliferating. Christian citizenship and political loyalty are significant because Christians claim that ultimate citizenship is in the kingdom of God, but at the same time Christians “have responsibilities to the communities of which we are part.” For this reason, I pray that Koyzis’s work is read widely [and] motivates Christians to seek the welfare of the city.
31 January 2025
New York sojourn
YouTube channel organized
- Political Visions and Illusions
- Interviews and conversations
- Commentaries and lectures
- Citizenship Without Illusions
- Hymns for guitar
- The Niagara Psalter, and
- The Genevan Psalter
Some of these playlists include videos from other channels relevant to my work, including reviews of my books and personal interviews. I will be adding more to these lists over time. In the meantime, take a moment to click on some of the links immediately above and see what's on offer.
30 January 2025
Citizenship Without Illusions: review 6
As someone who has benefited from [Koyzis'] mentorship, I can attest to his love for teaching and his desire to help the body of Christ think through complex problems surrounding faith and politics. This pastoral motivation is the undoubted impetus for this book, and his passion for empowering lay people shines through in his writing style. Instead of the pithy statements that so often characterize political commentary today, Koyzis articulates complex ideas in a winsome and engaging manner. He skillfully blends personal experiences with historical rigour, making his work accessible and thought-provoking. His ability to blend these elements and bring lofty principles to bear on everyday events results in a short and practical book that appeals to laypeople and political enthusiasts alike.Once again the full interview can be found here.
29 January 2025
Disarming Leviathan interview: citizenship and nationalism
Late last year I was again interviewed by Caleb Campbell, pastor of Desert Springs Bible Church and author of Disarming Leviathan: Loving Your Christian Nationalist Neighbor, for his Disarming Leviathan podcast. The interview has now been posted and can be viewed here or immediately below:
Campbell, incidentally, is a native Phoenician, but not of the Sidonian or Carthaginian variety.
28 January 2025
A more nuanced ecclesiology: responding to Wood's review
21 January 2025
FT's evolution: 'populism' overtakes 'highbrow'
On friday I received in my campus mail box the latest issue of my favourite periodical, First Things, which is published by the Institute on Religion and Public Life in New York and edited by the redoubtable Fr. Richard John Neuhaus. I suppose one might describe it as a largely Catholic journal, with significant confessional protestant and observant Jewish contributions as well. Its tone is probably best described as neoconservative. While I myself cannot in good conscience call myself a neoconservative as such, I am quite happy to admit that thoughtful articles of substance appear in every issue making it well worth reading.
16 January 2025
Fixing what's broken
If the United States were to adopt PR [proportional representation], the party system would become less rigid and more flexible. New parties could rise and take their place in Congress, and the old parties would disappear if they no longer served their original purposes.
NYT gets on board with PR
In less polarized political times, winner-take-all systems can do a decent job of reflecting public opinion and maintaining democratic stability, but when a nation is deeply divided and large numbers of people fear that they will not be represented at all, the result is an erosion of trust in government and rising extremism and political violence. As the political scientist Barbara F. Walter has observed, a majority of civil wars over the last century appear to have broken out in countries with winner-take-all systems.
15 January 2025
Recent activities for January 2025
03 January 2025
Citizenship Without Illusions: review 4
Joel Wentz reviews my new book immediately below. I am, of course, grateful for such a positive assessment of my work.
02 January 2025
Citizenship Without Illusions: review 3
Writing about politics and religion requires navigating a mine field and Koyzis does it splendidly. He does a good job of presenting both sides while maintaining a nonpartisan perspective throughout the book. I also appreciate that the book is not too US centric. Koyzis is an American who lives in Canada and had family in Europe. This global perspective adds insightful comparisons that highlight what is common across countries and what makes the US unique.
Here is another excerpt on an issue that I am pleased to see highlighted:
Followers
Blog Archive
-
▼
2025
(17)
-
►
January
(11)
- New York sojourn
- YouTube channel organized
- Citizenship Without Illusions: review 6
- Disarming Leviathan interview: citizenship and nat...
- A more nuanced ecclesiology: responding to Wood's ...
- FT's evolution: 'populism' overtakes 'highbrow'
- Fixing what's broken
- NYT gets on board with PR
- Recent activities for January 2025
- Citizenship Without Illusions: review 4
- Citizenship Without Illusions: review 3
-
►
January
(11)