JD Vance and Rory Stewart are arguing about theology. Who’s right? Well, it’s complicated

A spat between the sitting US Vice President and a former Tory MP has generated a huge amount of debate online. What is ordo amoris, why does it matter and how should Christians respond?

Most Christians would agree that one of the key challenges Jesus offered to his followers was to see beyond tribal boundaries. 

The Kingdom of Heaven, which will contain people “from every tribe and tongue and nation” (Revelation 7:9), ultimately transcends all the divisions between groups of people that exist on this side of eternity. Jesus insists that we love our enemies. He tells the parable of the Good Samaritan, one lesson of which is that our true neighbour might be a member of a different, despised nation.

So there was a good deal of hostile reaction to US Vice-President JD Vance last week. In an interview with Fox News, he stated “there’s this old school concept – and I think it’s a very Christian concept, by the way – that you love your family, and then you love your neighbour, and then you love your community. And then you love your fellow citizens in your own country, and then after that you can focus and prioritise the rest of the world.”

Former Tory MP Rory Stewart was among those who criticised Vance, suggesting that…