In my last post, I asked what remedy Christians might offer for the social and psychological brokenness that has given rise to the Trump phenomenon.

I observed that within the liberal tradition there has been a history of transformative social interventions, contrasting with the more traditional emphasis on individual conversion. And I suggested that, if ‘civilisation’ is failing, we might need to revisit that dichotomy.

This is about shame and reconciliation. It is an edited version of a sermon I gave last Sunday. It draws on two stories: the biblical story of Zacchaeus (Luke 19:1-10), and a modern comparison with a conversation I had with a sex worker.

All societies praise some people and despise others in a system of honour and shame. Modern societies don’t emphasise it as much as earlier societies did, but we still have systems of honour and shame.

In my last post, I began to expand on the idea of Donald Trump as ‘the id of the American people’, and to explore what theology has made of that particular Freudian concept.

The Jewish Rabbis, unconstrained by the story of St Paul’s spiritual struggles, are much less negative about the id than Christians have tended to be.

What on earth has happened in the USA?  And what does it mean for liberal Christians?

Until the actual voting, there seemed to be a simple socio-economic explanation for ‘the Trump phenomenon’ and similar phenomena in other countries. A whole swathe of the population felt disenfranchised by globalisation and the neo-liberal project.

Syriza, Podemos, Le Pen, Brexit, now Trump. What’s happening? As long as the debates are conducted in black and white, each side too angry too understand the other, we will not find a satisfactory way forward.

This post describes some historical causes with theological significance.