Owen Barfield once commented that what C.S. Lewis thought about everything was contained in what he said about anything. Lewis himself pointed to the opposite tendency somewhere when he said that modern men have been trained to have a dozen incompatible ideas bouncing around in their heads. But a Christian world and life view is consistently Christian throughout. The Christian faith is not held “over here” while the other thoughts we think on our own get to be “over there.” Our love for Christ, and our commitment to His lordship, are a love and commitment that need to be suffused through everything.
But we are accustomed to think in terms of biblical principles only “as far as it goes,” and it usually goes right out to the borders of our self-interest. And so there we stop, content to turn around in order to head back to our provincial village — or theological seminary, as the case may be. We want biblical worldview thinking applied as long as it is our ox that is being gored, and then, after that, to bring in another member of the animal kingdom, we are content to let sleeping dogs lie. All this is to say, in the current culture madness, Christians and conservatives can be, and frequently are, as inconsistent as anybody. Indeed, in some respects we have actually pioneered this kind of intellectual schizophrenia.
Intellectual fragmentation is one of the sins of the age. The problem is pronounced when Christians with a great deal of throw-weight get behind what they are pleased to call a “two kingdoms” approach. And you know, I could actually be just fine with a two kingdoms approach. But before I sign up, just answer me this. How many kings?