146 Chapter 3 world’ (Stronks & Stronks, 2014, p. 44). Therefore, they felt the need for a ‘theology of citizenship’ (pp. 44–45). A strong basis for such a theology can be found in Wolterstorff’s shalom idea. ‘If we broaden our understanding of politics to the concept of citizenship, then we have a framework in which to encourage engagement with the world’ (p. 50). A theology of citizenship would start by focusing on who God is: ‘As revealed by the Trinity, God is relational and created people to be relational as well’ (Stronks & Stronks, 2014, p. 45), which motivated the call for solidarity found in Wolterstorff’s (2004) shalom idea. ‘Both the Old and New Testaments tell us that God is glorified when communities and nations reflect God’s will for justice, shalom, and care for the poor. God has shown a deep care for social issues and a deep anger towards injustice’ (p. 45). They added that teachers and students should be careful not to approach this as works righteousness. Instead, they should attempt to approach the shalom idea from a perspective influenced by the central Biblical notion of grace. In their theological underpinning, Stronks and Stronks (2014) repeatedly situated both Biblical truth and the shalom idea in relation to an approach that they termed holistic, as they referred to: a good creation, the holistic effects of evil and sin, the holistic scope of Christ’s redemption, authentic faith is not an addendum to our lives but is holistic and pervasive, God’s sovereignty over all of life, God’s Lordship is over all the earth. (p. 9) Another example of how Wolterstorff’s shalom idea has inspired Christian citizenship formation can be found in an article by Joldersma (2016). He showed how standing up for the needs of vulnerable minority groups works within the Christian college itself, provided it bothers to be a shalom community. The case he made concerned LGBT students in Christian schools. As Joldersma (2016) argued, this group of students can easily feel oppressed, intimidated or excluded within the setting of a faith-based school. The question he raised concerned whether they are fully admitted to a ‘secure place in Christian schools, without verbal harassment, physical assault, and intimidation because of their sexual orientation or gender identity’ or whether they are ‘relegated to a second-class citizenship’ (Joldersma, 2016, p. 42). Doing justice to these students means explicitly including their positions and interests in the school’s non-discrimination and anti-bullying policies, in addition to providing professional development for teachers and other staff members regarding effective intervention strategies to create safer environments. Joldersma (2016) did not choose one side or the other with regard to the Biblical exegesis of texts about how LGBT sexuality should be valued from a
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