When it comes to church fathers, Ambrose gets a bad rap. The fourth-century bishop is usually remembered for two things: being Augustine’s mentor and using too much allegory. Both of those are probably true, but Ambrose also had a good handle on the right relationship between church and state. We don’t live in fourth-century Italy, but we certainly still deal with the tension between church and state. The biblical—and dare I say, Lutheran—wisdom of Ambrose can help us here. Throughout early Roman history there was never much separation between the church and the state. In 27 B.C. Augustus became Rome’s first emperor and took the title, “Pontifex Maximus,” or, “Greatest Priest.” The state and the so-called church were collapsed into one, with the emperor leading both. Not much changed through the first few centuries of church history, even when Emperor Constantine famously converted to Christianity in 312 A.D. After generations of imperial persecution, Christians were suddenly showered ...