The phrase ‘resident aliens’ has become associated with Stanley Hauerwas and William Willimon since they wrote a book of that title nearly forty years ago. But the idea is as old as Christianity itself. John Climacus, whose treatise on the spiritual life is read by many Orthodox Christians every Lent, begins his account of the ascent to God with renunciation of the world. And the second-century Letter to Diognetus puts it starkly
Christians are distinguished from other men neither by country, nor language, nor the customs which they observe. . . . They dwell in their own countries, but simply as sojourners. As citizens, they share in all things with others, and yet endure all things as if foreigners. Every foreign land is to them as their native country, and every land of their birth as a land of strangers. . . . They pass their days on earth, but they are citizens of heaven. (Letter to Diognetus, ch.5)
This is a far cry from the heretical ‘Christian’ nationalism that seems so popular nowadays. Christians are called to obey the laws of the land as far as they can without compromising their faith but always to remember that they are resident aliens, citizens of another kingdom.
