Presbyterian Church inspires action in the public arena

Austin Seminary student James Talarico’s first step on the journey from a nine-year-old protesting in favor of hate-crimes legislation in front of the Governor’s Mansion to being named one of the ten best Legislators in Texas began in a Presbyterian church.

“St. Andrews in north Austin (Rev. Dr. Jim Rigby MDiv/DMin’79, pastor)—it’s still the church I go to—really shaped my worldview," he says. "My church always taught me that the love of Jesus Christ is both universal and radical. That’s how I got into politics … If we really love our neighbors as ourselves, that requires us to enter the political arena, because that’s where justice is won.”

The activism he learned as a child continued as a UT student interested in college affordability and education for all. That led to becoming a public school teacher in one of the poorest zip codes in the state of Texas, which led him to run a nonprofit and ultimately to a successful run for the Texas Legislature at the age of twenty-eight.

After two terms as the youngest member in the Texas House, Talarico was named one of the Ten Best Legislators by Texas Monthly magazine in 2021, noting his intelligence, collegiality, and street smarts: “Like any good millennial, Talarico is a savvy user of Twitter. In April, following a Type 1 diabetes diagnosis, he authored a thread about paying $684 for his first thirty-day supply of insulin and received more than 60,000 retweets. Over the next few weeks, he was instrumental in passing a bill limiting insulin co-pays to $25 a month.”

Other achievements have been legislation to allow incarcerated minors to earn a high school diploma, cap pre-K class sizes, and improve early childhood, a bill Texas Monthly described as “twenty years in the making.” His plans for the current Session are even more ambitious. He has introduced or co-signed onto several initiatives, including:

• A $15k teacher pay raise
• Closing remaining child prisons in Texas
• Allowing Texans to buy their prescription drugs cheaper in Canada
•  Stopping surprise ambulance billing
• Providing tax relief to childcare centers

James started seminary because of Jesus’s two commandments, Love God with all your heart and soul and mind and strength and Love your neighbor as yourself. He says, “Those were given as two equal commandments because you need both. I had been politically active since high school, but I felt I needed to explore that first commandment, and I thought there was no better place to do that than Austin Seminary.”

This semester he is taking “Intro to New Testament" with Dr. Rod Caruthers, and Hebrew exegesis of Genesis with Dr. Suzie Park. The early morning and late afternoon classes bookend his 9-5 gig at the State Capitol. That schedule “feels balanced,” he says. “When I’m here at the Capitol, I’m really focused on “Love Neighbor” through public policy; how do I help my fellow Texans, whether they’re school children, prison inmates, they’re sick and need health insurance. It’s about serving others. But I was missing that first commandment of “Loving God.” That’s what sustains you to do the work of loving your neighbor—which can be exhausting work. Austin Seminary has been providing me the nourishment and energy to do the difficult work at the Capitol.”

As for the future, James says, “I want to continue both tracks … the political and the spiritual work. I would love to run for higher office at the state level but I would also like to lead a church someday. That’s always been a dream of mine, and it’s still a dream of mine.

“It’s kind of tempting to find literal sanctuary within the walls of our churches and hide ourselves from the world. It’s also tempting to only do political work and never think about the spiritual side and cultivate an inner life. I’ve seen people fall into these two extremes. But I think it’s important to hold them in balance. It can be any type of spiritual practice; what’s important it to keep your inner and outer life in harmony. And that’s what I’m trying to do.

“People at Austin Seminary have been so welcoming and supportive of me. The Texas Capital can be a very difficult place to work. There’s a lot of infighting and backstabbing and scheming, and it’s so nice to have a safe, welcoming, loving place to go.”

Read Politico's July 2023 profile of James here.