g n i t n o r f n o On C s r e w o P e h t
ANiSA /// ISSUE 5
EXPLORING THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN ANARCHISM AND CHRISTIANITY
IN THIS ISSUE /// EDITORIAL: ON ANARCHY & CHRISTIANITY... OR RATHER ON CHRISTIAN ANARCHY CHRISTIANITY & ANARCHISM /// by. Mark Butler & Graham Philpott MAN ON A DONKEY /// by. John de Gruchy ANARCHIC CHRISTIANS BEFORE BESTIAL POWERS /// by. Allen Goddard ELLER’S ARK /// by. Carl Brook ANARCHY & THE CHRISTIAN RESPONSE TO A GLOBALIZED ECONOMY /// by. Wayne Eaves WHAT DO WE SAY WHEN WE SAY “GOD”? /// by. Cobus van Wyngaard WHEN FOLLOWING JESUS GETS YOU INTO TROUBLE /// by. Andrew Suderman PRAY THE DEVIL BACK TO HELL RESOURCES FOR THE REVOLUTION ANiSA LIBRARY, READERS RESPOND & A REDERS E-ZINE
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WHAT IS ANiSA? The Anabaptist Network in South Africa is a network of people, churches, and organizations that together explore and embrace a radical faith in Jesus Christ and lifestyle that is nourished by the example found within the Anabaptist movement. In wanting to be authentically rooted in Christ’s peace and justice for all people we seek to walk with, support, and nurture communities of peace, justice, and reconciliation.
WHY THE E-ZINE? The purpose of the ANiSA ezine is to agitate, provoke, challenge, and nurture people’s thinking and imaginations as we explore and wrestle with what it means to be faithful disciples of Jesus Christ in the South African context.
DISCLAIMER The ANiSA ezine seeks to provide a variety of opinions relating to faith, theology, politics, culture, peace and justice. Opinions expressed in this ezine do not necessarily represent the position of ANiSA.
LAYOUT, PHOTOGRAPHY & DESIGN /// Steven Schallert
photo /// John Robinson
ON ANARCHY & CHRISTIANITY OR RATHER ON CHRISTIAN ANARCHY Easter has just past. Once again we had the opportunity to remember the death and the ultimate sacrifice of Jesus. We also had the opportunity to remember God’s triumph over death – something we can now live in confidence about.
But Easter is a time not only to remember the death and sacrifice of Jesus, but this is a time to remember the events that led to Jesus’ death at the hands of those in authority; a death that was ultimately due to the life and lifestyle that confronted and challenged them. Once again we have the opportunity to remember the radical life that threatened those in positions of authority; a radical life to which Jesus invited others, his disciples and those who want to follow him, to participate in. But, when we begin to live in ways that confront and challenge “the powers” or authorities we begin walking the path that s o m e m ay l a b e l a s “ a n a r c h i c ” o r revolutionary. These tend to be labels used by those whose power and authority is being challenged and confronted.
The term “anarchy” has become equated as something negative. It has become a shorthand description for chaos and unruly b e h av i o r t h a t s e e k s t o d e s t a b i l i z e government and order. This has, in other words, been the negative, and more classical, description of “anarchism” – being against authority or arche. But, there is also a positive element to “anarchism” that is often overlooked, which Christians have, to varying degrees, been working to recapture. There is a recognition that, for Christians, there is another authority – another arche – that we submit to – the kingdom of God and the kingship of Jesus. And it is this alternative authority that ultimately guides towards a life whereby we seek to live rightly with one another. Living in a way that seeks to live rightly with others may, however, challenge other authorities or rulers and the way they would like to structure society and rule. This presents, in other words, a confrontation between the different authorities we pledge allegiance to – God’s authority and rule, or that of fallen powers. Living according to the kingship of Jesus will lead towards living a life that is concerned for the other rather than oneself. It will be a life marked by selflessness rather than greed and selfishness; a life that will seek to deny oneself rather than exploit others in order to gain more; a life which seeks that everyone has enough; a life that challenges those who want to take more than what they need; a life of vulnerability instead of a life that seeks to be more “secure” and a willingness to forcibly ensure such “security”; a life, in short, that seeks to live peaceably and justly with others – living rightly with one another – even if that leads to our own discomfort or even death knowing that such harmony is the intent, the will, and the way of God.
When systems and structures are put in place by other forms of authorities which prevent us from living as God intended, we are confronted, as Jesus was, as to whom we will pledge allegiance. What kind of rule? Thus the reason of this particular issue. In this issue we have invited people to wrestle with the question of authority and the implications this may have for us as Christians. The purpose, in other words, is to explore the relationship between Christianity and Anarchy, or rather Christian anarchy and the implications of confronting the powers with a different form of rule and authority.
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CHRISTIANITY & ANARCHISM
by Mark Butler & Graham Philpott
All too often Jesus and Christianity have been (ab)used to justify and defend the powers and principalities of the world. Though common, it is clearly blasphemous. Few historically 'great' figures are more clearly and explicitly against hierarchy, and against the power of some over others, than Jesus. In Jesus' case, this unmistakable stance is not just a future ideal towards which we are urged to progress – it's an axiomatic ethical principle to be enacted now, practically and in deliberate, defiant refusal of the 'ways of the World'. The antiauthoritarian ethos and practice of the early 'Jesus movement' was its distinguishing mark: not only in its political manifestos – perhaps most succinctly captured in the ethical values and program of the Sermon on the Mount – but also in the lived relations of radical egalitarianism of the disciples and early Christian communities. We argue that the same marks were central characteristics of the reclamation of faithful Christian praxis in the 'radical reformation' that produced many of the currents within the Anabaptist tradition. Given these characteristics, it should not be surprising that there is a long and significant tradition and literature1 that connects these truths with an exploration of the relation between Christianity and anarchism. (Equally unsurprising is the sad truth of the suppression of those traditions.) Although, in the mainstream, anarchism is vilified as essentially crazed and violent, it is of course in reality a perfectly serious philosophical and political project of human freedom and liberation. Among its defining features are a commitment to radical egalitarianism
between all people, a deep distrust of hierarchy and state power over people, and a political practice that reflects those values in the struggle for achieving them more widely throughout society. The latter is generally called a 'prefigurative politics' and collapses the disastrous separation of means from ends. It's clear that there are important parallels and resonances between the two systems of thought at the level of their respective central ideas and values. Jaques Ellul concludes that... “the sole political Christian position conforms to Revelation: the negation of power, the total, radical refusal to accept its existence, and the fundamental contesting of whatever form it takes. And I do not say this because of an orientation towards a kind of Spiritualism, or an ignorance of politics, an a-politicism. Certainly not! On the contrary. As a Christian one must participate in the world of politics and of action. But one must do so to reject it, to confront it with the conscientious and well-founded refusal that alone can put into question, or even prevent, the unchecked growth of power.Thus Christians cannot help but be only on the side of anarchists.”2 Our own contribution to the present discussion comes from a rather more practical base – the ongoing cycles of action and reflection that characterize the work of the Church Land Program (CLP), an organization that we are both connected with. We propose to share a couple of excerpts from CLP's own writing about that work, to indicate how we have come to respect and draw on those ways of thinking that appear common to faithful Christianity and principled anarchism (although we do not think of ourselves as 'anarchists') and, in particular, how our learning from the struggles of organized poor people in South
Africa, continuing through the “postapartheid” period, forces a critical reevaluation of state politics. The first time this question was raised explicitly in CLP's writings was a paper we released back in 2007 called: Learning to Walk – NGO Practice and the Possibility of Freedom. Here we wrote that: “Critical reflection and … [a]nalysis of what is happening in our context [is important and] made it necessary to re-think some of our fundamental assumptions about the relation between freedom, the state and political power. For many of us, our tendency had been to assume that the interests of justice and freedom were more or less compatible with the new democratic state. But the reality of postapartheid South Africa raised a more generalized question as to whether state power as such – and here we include all the apparatus that goes along with it (like representative democracy, political parties, etc.) – might not invariably be an oppressive and alienating force over people.This was a new question for us and the debates it opened up are far from closed or concluded. It has been very useful and interesting to see that this question has also emerged within movements in different parts of the world, and the struggle of the Zapatistas in Chiapas, Mexico, has been especially relevant and helpful to CLP. John Holloway is a writer who has been very influenced by, and interested in, the Zapatistas. In an interview during 2006, he said: Although no one talks much about the Revolution these days, everyone knows we need one. But what will we do with this revolution? Take state power again? ... Substituting one state power for another just repeats the same problems over and over again and eventually exhausts the revolution.This is the old way of thinking about revolution and it doesn't work
anymore.We have to find a new way.There is no alternative.” Certainly in the best-rehearsed narratives of the anti-apartheid struggle, and of the place of Christianity in that struggle, traditions of liberation theology and black theology dominate over other, less state-oriented, radical theological traditions of political activism - even though the influence and contribution of the latter arguably far outweighed their numerical representation in those struggles. In an interview with Dr. Alexandre Christoyannopoulos, an academic commentator and writer on Christian anarchism, he responded to the question “What are some of the main similarities and differences between Christian Anarchism and Liberation Theology? Which do you feel is better supported by scriptures in the New Testament?” as follows: The main difference is in the means of change. Liberation theology won’t shy away from employing the state apparatus to improve things. Christian anarchism warns against that. ...You won’t be surprised if I tell you that I feel Christian anarchism is the better supported perspective by New Testament scriptures.That said, the common ground (as with the secular variants) is considerable, and over-emphasising the differences encourages a sectarianism that may do more harm than good. Liberation theology has also produced many (more?) inspiring examples too, for that matter. But Christian anarchism’s denunciation of the state is too scathing to allow a compromise with it.To rephrase the sentence Dorothy Day borrowed from the Wobblies, the new society must be created within the shell of the old, not with it. That is, the new society must supplant the state and what we do to ourselves through it,
something which can’t be done by finding yet new reasons to perpetuate it. Otherwise, to borrow this time from Yoder, we’re just changing the palace guards.”3 Recently (March 2014), CLP shared some reading materials with friends commenting that: “The state - and corporate - media in South Africa won't let us forget that 2014 marks the twentieth anniversary of representative democracy. But the thinking of people's organizations, and the conditions against which they rebel and organize, remind us just what an utterly disappointing and hollow that project of state democracy actually is. For those who respect and hear the Truth of properly autonomous grassroots thought and action, it is patently obvious that the state can no longer be seriously imagined as a vehicle for emancipatory politics. Furthermore, making the terrain of state politics the primary concern or target of popular protest and power, tends inevitably to distort and finally defeat its original emancipatory impulse. ... “Around the world left wing movements have often taken state power and then run the state in ways that are similar in some ways to the regimes that they had defeated. In South Africa we know the truth of this bitter reality all too well. ... John Holloway's response to this problem is based on the intellectual work done in the Zapatista movement where, he says, revolutionaries had to learn to stop telling people what to do and to learn to listen. He explains that the Zapatistas concluded that the point was not to capture the power of the oppressors in the same structures set up by oppression, but rather to share power throughout society.This requires the oppressed to build their own power via their own selforganization. … It is the rejection both of revolutionary vanguardism and of state-oriented reformism, the rejection of the party as an
organizational form and of the pursuit of power as an aim.” In a short paper released in 2013 (What CLP Believes4), CLP collectively clarified our own understanding of some key concepts relevant to the current discussion as follows: - POLITICS There's a fundamental split between: + living politics and a dead politics; + emancipatory politics and state politics; + liberatory politics and party politics. Ranciere reserves the name ‘politics’ for only the emancipatory trajectory and calls the rest “the police”. For him, politics is the clash of the logic of egalitarianism with the logic of the police. For Badiou, emancipatory politics is always a rupture with what is – it is the void of the situation. S'bu Zikode (of Abahlali baseMjondolo, the South African shack dweller movement) defined politics as the movement out of the places where oppression has assigned us. Whereas the dead politics of state and the parties is always the instruction to go back to your place, emancipatory politics is a politics from below. It is clear that what we name as 'politics' is not always how others tend to use the term – it is often used exactly to describe the (non)politics of the state. In 2010 (Finding our voice in the world5) CLP clarified: “There is an oft-repeated English saying that 'politics is the art of the possible'6. But CLP increasingly reserves the name 'politics' for those properly emancipatory moments - or ruptures where the people establish their human subjectivity in the wider society, and throw off
the oppression of being objects of history and domination. Under these conditions, politics is precisely the refusal to accept that the world-asit-is determines what could be.The world-as-it-is is structured by an underlying architecture of institutions and ideas that seem to work together to uphold the state of things in the interests of those who benefit from it.” - CIVIL SOCIETY Civil society is part of the order of how things are in the world. In this way, it is part of the state, and operates on the terrain of the politics of the state. Civil society is important for state politics in allocating people to their place in the state system as 'beneficiaries', 'stakeholders' and 'interest groups'. Civil society sees itself (and is seen by many other elites) as important bearers of knowledge, of skills, of resources, of the power to access and represent “the community”, or “the poor”, or “the people”, and so on. Civil society tends to think for..., and to speak for... . It often assumes it has the solutions, processes, strategies, and theories – and that its role is to mediate these to 'beneficiaries'. We affirm leading radical South African thinker and academic, Michael Neocosmos' clarification that civil society is not really about organizational form – it is more a domain of state politics where citizenship, rights and rule of the law are assumed. Michael clarifies that “civil society” is better understood as a domain of state politics (esp. of liberal representative democracy) with characteristic ways of thinking and relating between people and the state, and not simply as a list of organized interest groups. A central insight is Neocosmos' contention that “the majority of people do not relate to the state within a domain of civil
society and rights at all, but within what I term ‘uncivil society’ where the core of politics is founded on patronage not on rights”. - STATE We noted already that civil society is part of the state, so the term 'state' means more than the government of the day – but certainly includes that. It is all the machinery that maintains and restores order; that allocates people to their places and keeps them there; that ensures stability of the status quo for the benefit of the powerful and rich elites; that maintains a 'balance' between interest groups so that the system itself carries on; and that carries the guns in the last analysis. In important ways the state is mostly about organizing the relationship of the people to the dominant order, so that no fundamental rupture (i.e., politics) takes place. Sometimes we in CLP have used the idea of the state to indicate simply 'the state of things as they are' – what the New Testament might call “the world”. In this way, the state is the opposite of (emancipatory) politics – it is that against which we rebel. - DEMOCRACY It is obvious that majority rule in a state system of representative democracy is nowhere near sufficient – even though this is a common meaning of the word “democracy”. For us democracy is more the principled form of political practice deployed by people themselves. Its essential principle is that everybody counts, really – and its practice is centered on the truth that everybody thinks. The state, and those (like in civil society) who think like the state, insists that
democracy means they should give leadership to the masses – in effect that the masses give away their political power in order to be represented. This is the basis of representative 'democracy'. (Again it is worth noting that this means we are back at the opposite of an emancipatory politics because, once you are “represented”, you can and must return to your place!) But a real democracy comes from a living politics when people are not represented but present themselves; when the real issues and struggles of the life of the people are not sorted out by experts, other than the people themselves; when making history and the exercise of power is not given away but remain in the minds and hands of the people. Clearly a real democracy is a 'bottom-up' politics. But that does not guarantee that anti-democratic tendencies are impossible at the grassroots. A radically-democratic and principled praxis must always be maintained through open assemblies and the possibility of rupture from below. We know that even the most militant rupture can degenerate into structures and practices of power over people and lose its real democratic heart. Even in social movements, when 'democracy' is thought of as putting people into structures to represent the masses, then even if the process of electing appears 'democratic' it is sliding into the representative kind of democracy and easily allows leaders to trample on people and on democracy proper. So, here too, it is not organizational form that is decisive, but political principle – the axiom that everyone matters. - AN APOCALYPTIC STYLE In our reflection on our praxis, we find resonance with an apocalyptic theology and politics as proposed by Yoder, affirming that “the crucified Jesus is a more adequate key to
understanding what God is about in the real world of empires and armies and markets than is the ruler in Rome”7. With an apocalyptic politics, history continues not because of what kings and presidents might do but because ravens keep alive a prophet starving in the desert, and because even as kings and presidents count their people and take their polls and plan the future, the word of God comes into the wilderness... Ravens and peasants have more to do with the movement of history than all the best laid plans of kings. To adopt an apocalyptic style is to… turn our attention away from the power of kings and toward the power of ravens and peasant prophets in the wilderness.8 As Ellul (1980) concludes: “when face to face with the evil which is in us ... there are only two options. Either one organizes a repressive system which puts everyone in place, which establishes patterns and norms of behavior, which punishes anyone who oversteps the boundary of the small amount of freedom doled out. (That is, the justification for the power of the State.) Or, one works to transform humanity - the Christian would say conversion – in such a way that renders us able to live with others and serve others as an expression of freedom.That is the expression of Christian love, of the love of God for us manifested in Jesus Christ.”
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MAN ON A DONKEY
by. John de Gruchy
Mark 11:1-11 "Hosanna! Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord!"
Perhaps without knowing it, every week as we celebrate the Eucharist we remember Palm Sunday, the day Jesus rode into Jerusalem on a donkey at the beginning of Holy Week. We join the crowd who welcomed Jesus into the city at the beginning of the week that ended in his crucifixion. We do so as, in the prayer of thanksgiving, we welcome Jesus into our midst as the one "who comes in the name of our Lord.� But why say "Hosanna"? We have become accustomed to shout out "Hallelujah!" at the end of the liturgy, but why say "Hosanna" every time as we give thanks in the Eucharist? We are not welcoming Jesus into Jerusalem back then, are we? Yet there it is, embedded in the prayer we say week by week - perhaps puzzled by why it is there, or simply accepting that it is and not bothering to find out why. So, what is going on here? The clue is in the contrast between a horse and a donkey. In olden times kings and
knights rode on horses when they went into battle, or entered cities they had come to liberate or conquer. Peasants, poor and humble folk, if they rode at all, did so on donkeys when they travelled from one village to another or went to town on market day. Horses are noble and proud creatures. They are owned, groomed, and ridden by the powerful, famous and rich. Each week around the world there are horse races that attract thousands of people. But nobody attends a donkey race except maybe some farm laborers in a dusty township in the Northern Cape. What president would arrive at the EU or AU or UN, or at our own Parliament, seated on a donkey cart? Not even an ordinary member of parliament would do that. No, the President arrives in a gleaming Mercedes or BMW. And alongside are the proud horses that accompany the procession as a sign of power. Don't venture to think that donkey carts or a VW Beetle might be more appropriate, for that would suggest that politicians are a bunch of asses or clowns. Perish the thought! It's a BMW or nothing! The peasants who welcomed Jesus riding on a donkey knew that only cruel conquerors rode into Jerusalem on powerful steeds. They also knew that Herod the king was a puppet of the Romans, who was impotent - even if he had many horses in his stable - to save them from their oppression. No, it was the man on the donkey who excited the people that first Palm Sunday. After all, had not the prophets foretold that the Messiah would come to save Israel in such a manner? No wonder they shouted out "Hosanna," which literally means "save us", deliver us from our oppression and set us free. They knew the words by heart because they prayed them daily during the Feast of the Tabernacles and seven times on the seventh day as they waved palm branches and sang Psalm 118:
"Hosanna. Save us we beseech you, O Lord!... Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord." (v. 25-6) When we say these words in the Eucharist, we are not only praying for the salvation of the world and our own salvation, not only for the liberation of the oppressed and the freedom of people and ourselves from bondage, we are acknowledging that our salvation will not come in a gleaming Cadillac with outriders flashing blue lights but through the humble and compassionate service of those whose life-style expresses dedication to the task. The salvation of the world and our country is not dependent on the promises made by politicians as they jet into town and leave again at high speed under escort. Our salvation comes through him who came to serve and give his life to set us free. That is why we cry out "Hosanna: Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!" Palm Sunday is a dramatic challenge to the abuse of political power when used to control and dominate people rather than save, heal and deliver them. Of course, political power is important in governing a country and sorting out the world's problems. But power is also problematic because it so easily becomes corrupt; the more powerful the more corrupt. The moment power is abused for selfish gain and not used for the public good it is no longer of God. Those who come in that way do not come in the name of the Lord. For God's power manifest in the man on the donkey is the power that saves, heals, and transforms. So, on Palm Sunday, God throws down the gauntlet to all those who are abusing their power and authority whether in government, town councils, or any institution - including the church.
Of course, it is not only politicians who abuse power. We also know how fickle people can be and how we all can be sucked into the system that benefits us at the expense of others. Many of those who shouted "Hosanna" on Palm Sunday shouted "Crucify him" and "release Barabbas" the next Friday. Even Jesus' own disciples who loved the limelight of Palm Sunday were decidedly uneasy as the week unfolded. Judas betrayed Jesus because he was disappointed how Jesus refused to take Jerusalem like a genuine liberator riding on a horse. Crowds prefer their heroes to ride BMWs at high speed and act like power figures rather than travel humbly on donkeys, because it seems to improve their own status. Look how powerful our leaders are compared to yours! Yet, in our better moments, we know that Jesus' way is the way of salvation for us and the world, the power of God at work in changing lives and bringing hope to the world. "Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest!" (John W. de Gruchy, a Pilgrim of ANiSA, is Emeritus Professor of Christian Studies, University of Cape Town and Extraordinary Professor at the University of Stellenbosch.)
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ANARCHIC CHRISTIANS BEFORE BESTIAL POWERS by. Allen Goddard
Writing in South Africa about Christian freedom as anarchy this Easter is no easy task. It feels like hypocrisy to broach the subject when I consider just how submitted to unjust powers and unethical social structures my life in community really is. After all, my family, friends and the Christian community to which I belong, drink coffee or tea every time we meet - commodities we rarely purchase from fair trade sources. In fact fairly sourced and traded tea or coffee are hard to come by, and when I do find them for sale I often can’t afford their justifiably higher prices. In our nuclear family we use two cars at a time when global carbon emissions have far exceeded recognised permitted limits to stave off climate chaos. We have lived all our lives in South Africa using electricity generated from poor grade coal in one of earth’s least regulated carbon economies! And again, affording renewable-energy alternatives in our home is still only a dream we work towards. Like many other South Africans, we eat meat! Our farmer butcher tells us organic beef is not commercially obtainable in South Africa. Therefore, what arrives at our family table each week comes unethically (not to mention the ethics of eating commercially farmed chickens in our country)! This doesn’t bear too much thinking about. My family occasionally berates me if I raise the matter, as I once did during my prayer before
our evening meal, lest we all begin to feel a little queasy. These are just a few ways in which our daily lives are accommodated to the “powers”. My wife and I dutifully pay our taxes to the S o u t h A f r i c a n g o ve r n m e n t . T h i s i s increasingly an act of compliance with an unjust and oppressive system. Only this week, days after the famous Nkandla Report regarding hundreds of millions of Rand in public funds spent by Jacob Zuma’s administration on “upgrading” Zuma’s private homestead, the South African parliament tabled new measures allowing MPs up to 24 free air travel flights per year, for ten years after they retire! The hubris of this legislation, not to mention Nkandla, and without looking around our country to every regional or local government where mismanagement of public funding continues unchecked, makes me feel that the least I should do is withhold my taxes. Hundreds of thousands of South Africans pledging not vote in the forthcoming elections seem to feel just like I do. Yet we continue to drink, eat and drive, and to comply with our taxes. We live our lives with too few questions about how we live. Why? Because it’s too uncomfortable to think about where our food comes from, or where our carbon emissions are going. And we pay our taxes. Why? Because we feel that somehow we should trust our democracy to “work.” We render unto Caesar what is Caesar’s with a degree of hope that South Africa’s Caesar may somehow turn benevolent and actually serve the common good. This hope and trust arises, partly, because there has been a good deal of idealism in us, invested during our so-called peaceful transition from Apartheid to “The New South Africa”, with our nearly mythical aura of being the “Rainbow Nation”.
Unquestioning and benignly trusting citizenship in one of modernity’s youngest democracies does not at all match the attitude of Jesus or his disciples towards their overlords and their Caesar. When they paid their taxes they knew they lived under rulers who were tyrannical, powerfully corrupt and gradually, insidiously self-deluded by the growing mystique that they themselves had created, of being “divine”. When Jesus stands before Pilate, or when he is lifted up, maimed on his cross, he holds not one hope for democratic reprieve; he expects no more from Rome than death. Jesus neither stands on citizen rights, such as they were, nor does he violently resist. He is silent before the power of corrupt officials and he prays for forgiveness for his persecutors’ momentarily lost humanity. Jesus lays down all power, so that on Good Friday we witness the mystery of God abandoned, God wholly yielded and powerless. Thus at Easter we glimpse the “violence” of Christian anarchy. The Messiah-Saviour of the world, silent as a lamb before the knife, having laid down all stratagems of resistance before the might of a corrupt State, dies, at the behest of laughing demonic powers. Then somehow, he takes up (or is taken up by) divinely given life again, breaking a Roman seal on a guarded tomb so that its stone bursts right away! Graves are opened all over town and zombies walk the streets and nothing about compliance to worldly powers will ever be the same! By the time John the “beloved” penned his revelation of Jesus, ruling authorities of the contemporary second century world were
popularly caricatured by poor and oppressed nations all over the Empire, as almost subhuman or super-human “beasts,” with clearly diabolical motives and a certain diabolical end. The imagery of John’s Revelation may appear strange to us, but to Christ followers in the second century it was as easy to interpret as much as we readily understand and enjoy Zapiro’s cartoons. Believers paid their taxes, yes – but they didn’t expect a jot of commitment by the authorities towards “the common good”. Instead, they experienced corruption, extortion, bribes and mal-administration, meted out by increasingly oppressive officials. They endured growing persecutions. More and more, believer communities lived a discipleship that had to express itself underground. The life of many Christian communities for much of the second century was an unlikely mix of joy and fellowship: lived, worked and worshipped, through suffering, in catacombs. For all these reasons I have only more questions about Christian anarchy this Easter: Which South African followers of Christ most resemble Jesus, our model of counter-cultural citizenship? How will God ’s Easter anarchy become the mark, the stigmata as it were, of Christian witness in South Africa, if Christian communities here will not become wholly indistinguishable from our powersated society? How can Christian people in South Africa develop an alternati ve economy to counter the current way of acquisition, over-consumption and
deepening inequalities? Living out answers to these questions in submission to Christ, in sacrificial fellowship with the poor and marginalised, like Jesus did for his Father, will demonstrate again Jesus’ loving anarchy, which literally got earthly powers up out of their seats in reaction. Are South African Christ followers up for this costly way of love that has been shown to the world again and again down through the centuries, in many Anabaptist stories, and in successive ‘re-diggings’ of the Church’s catacombs?
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ELLER’S ARK by. Carl Brook
Vernard Eller (1927-2007) was an American author, Christian pacifist and minister in the Church of the Brethren, teaching at the Brethren’s LaVerne College for 34 years. A popular speaker, his interests included Kierkegaard (the subject of his dissertation), radical discipleship and the Christian life. His books reveal a distinctive, quirky style. One reader comments, “Eller had a folksy way of speaking and writing that led some to underestimate the seriousness of his theological writing.” Christianity Today’s David Neff has shared a few personal memories HERE. What follows in these few pages is a brief interaction with the introductory chapter of his book, Christian anarchy: Jesus’ primacy over the powers (1999: Wipf & Stock). It is not by any means an introduction to Eller, but is simply offered as a pointer to one of his better-known titles. Eller’s inimitable style is immediately obvious with his parsing of the word ‘anarchy,’ the root – archy or (his word) ‘– arky,’ referring to that which is prime or which has priority. Thus, according to Paul in Colossians 1:18, Jesus is the prime arky. If that is so, “Christians dare never grant a human arky the primacy it claims for itself. Precisely because God is the Lord of History we dare never grant that it is in the outcome of the human arky contest that the determination of history lies.” In contrast to the kingdom (arky) of God, worldly arkys are impositional – they impose themselves upon a constituency. They are also heteronomous, in that they seek to impose their own ideas on those who may have a different perspective. For the secular anarchist, therefore, the solution is autonomy
– the self being a law unto itself. In a Christian worldview, however, the Self is a creature of sin. Any authority it exerts on a Christian entity is thus also heteronomous: imposing a set of ideas at odds with that entity. Neither heteronomy nor autonomy but theonomy, then, is the goal of Christian anarchy – that is, “the rule, the ordering, the arky of God.” Such a rule is not impositional for two reasons: Jesus’ style is the self-giving way of the cross, completely counter to the selfish way of the world. God’s arky, his will for us, is not foreign to our self but profoundly pertinent to who we really are. The contention of Christian Anarchy, then, is that the worldly arkys are of the “all” that “in Adam” dies and are no part of the “all” that “in Christ” is made alive (1Cor 15:22). Consequently, worldly arkys must die (and we must die to them) in order that the Arky of God (his kingdom) might be made alive in us (and us in it). The idea of revolution, Eller points out, is hardly an anarchist one. Strongly opposed to certain arkys they deem to be ‘bad,’ revolutionists subscribe to others they just as strongly hold to be ‘good.’ At a local level, this thinking is seen in many South African communities who describe the Zuma administration in negative terms and yet yearn for a government led by the Democratic Alliance. Ultimately, those of us who vote believe in the power of arkys to benefit society – a belief antithetical to genuine, anarchical mistrust of all human arkys.
- BIBLICAL ANARCHY In agreement with Jacques Ellul, Eller viewed anarchism as the socio-political stance of the Bible in general and the New Testament in particular. He goes on to trace this line of thought through the Radical Reformation and Anabaptist churches, including among more modern thinkers the names of Christoph Blumhardt, Kierkegaard, Barth and Bonhoeffer. Ellul (1912-1994), in particular, distanced himself from those who proposed a new, Christian social order – a group he identified as ‘the Christian Left.’ The contemporary movement of radical disciples begun with the Jesus People of the 1970s and perhaps manifest today in such splinter groups as the New Monastics may well fall into this category. Ellul’s main difference with these disciples is that his faith is not dedicated to revolution but to ‘anarchy;’ the two visions for society are incompatible. Picking up on Ellul’s survey of anarchism in the Bible, Eller interacts with it at various points – namely the reign of David (his kingly arky versus God’s moral one) and the posture of Jesus. Regarding the latter, Eller finds Christ’s silence before Pilate distinctly anarchical: “…just can it, Pilate. I don’t want to talk to you, because nothing you say makes one bit of difference anyhow. Let’s get on with this crucifixion; and I’ll see you day after tomorrow, in church at the Easter Sunrise Service, OK?” Jesus won’t give the governor an inch. Another example (Ellul’s, this time) is from Mark 12:13-17. The binary, leftist / rightist choice presented to Jesus by the Pharisees and Herodians is upstaged by an anarchist response: it’s a fake choice. The real choice at issue here is whether a person chooses God or not. Coming to Romans 13, rather than
rebutting anarchism, the chapter is understood by Ellul as reinforcing his argument: there is no authority except from God (cf. John 19:11). To risk one of Eller’s paraphrases again: Be clear, any of those human arkys are where they are only because God is allowing them to be there. They exist only at his sufferance. And if God is willing to put up with a stinker like the Roman Empire, you ought to be willing to put up with it, too. There is no indication God has called you to clear it out of the way or get it converted for him. You can’t fight an Empire without becoming like the Roman Empire; so you had better leave such matters in God’s hands where they belong. To withhold tax (13:6f.) is merely substituting another arky for the current dispensation: arky versus arky. “Letting Caesar take his coin – as Jesus would have it – is the ‘anarchy’ of going so completely with God’s arky that any and all human arkys (along with their tax coins) become as nothing… withholding the coin is the ‘revolution’ that stakes everything upon the contest of human arkys.” In this light, then, it’s noteworthy that Paul does not specify military service as something owed to government. Tax coins may be stamped with Caesar’s image but humans bear the Imagio Dei. “A true anarchist will never grant that any worldly arky (including the church) owns people” (my italics). - PRINCIPLES OF CHRISTIAN ANARCHY The remainder of chapter one is a list of basic principles – too long, unfortunately, to be reproduced here. It is hoped that the ‘one-liners’ which follow may inspire the
reader to investigate Eller’s book further. + For Christians, ‘anarchy’ is never an end and goal in itself. + Christian anarchists have no opinion as to whether secular society would be better off with anarchy than with all its present hierarchies. + Christian anarchists do not even argue that anarchy is a viable option for secular society. + The threat of the arkys is not so much their existence as it is our granting that existence reality and weight. + Christian anarchists do not hold that arkys, by nature, are ‘of the devil.’ + Christian anarchists would not buy [Bernard] Ramm’s clever characterisation that ‘all states are created equally wicked.’
anarchism, what he calls Arky faith: “that enthusiastic human self-confidence which is convinced that Christian piety can generate the holy causes, programs, and ideologies that will effect the social reformation of society.” Such faith characterises the Christian Right as much as it does the Christian Left, and Eller’s exploration of historical antecedents (including Anabaptist examples1) is as insightful as it is compelling. A third chapter tackles the arky of the Church, but cannot be explored here. Along with Jacques Ellul, Vernard Eller is one of the more popular exponents of Christian anarchy. Indeed, in his colloquial style, Eller’s work may be more accessible than Ellul’s. Whichever author finds his way into our hands, we will certainly be the wiser.
+ It is no part of Christian Anarchy to want to attack, subvert, unseat, or try to bring down any of the world’s arkys. + Christian Anarchy can no longer be called ‘passive.’ + Anarchism is no bar to social service. + Christian anarchists occasionally are willing to work through and even use worldly arkys when they see a chance to accomplish some immediate human good thereby. Ellul’s critique of ‘Christian revolutionism’ is perhaps best summed up as ‘a lack of realism.’ [This point runs into two pages of explanation.] The nonconformity of Christian Anarchy – the refusal to recognise or accept the authority of the arkys of this world – is done in the name of human ‘freedom.’ [Again, this point is elucidated at some length.] In his second chapter Eller goes on to describe the opposite of Christian
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ANARCHY AND THE CHRISTIAN RESPONSE TO A GLOBALISED ECONOMY
in a hope that something new and beautiful is resurrected from the ashes. Writers like Peter Rollins and others dare believers to doubt, to encounter absence and loss, to acknowledge the dark night of the soul and to live in that space. Whilst I am a firm believer in acknowledging these internal struggles, it is the external ‘playing out’ that has me a little perplexed. My anarchistic tendencies demand that things be torn d o w n , b u r n e d t o t h e g ro u n d a n d deconstructed to the point that we are forced to start again.
Globalization is an odd thing to the human mind, the idea that we are able to design goods in one part of the world and have them manufactured in another. Generally, this takes the shape of poorer countries with cheap labor manufacturing goods for mass consumption in major or emerging market economies. The biblical narrative held by many Western traditions is one that values accumulation and stored wealth. The resurrected Christ becomes little more than a magical ATM in the sky for those that are lucky enough to know the correct pin number (typically seen as a generous tithe or other economically based practice). In many ways faith takes the shape of capitalism: what you put in is what you get out. It is a reward based paradigm that offers untold riches to the faithful, and hardship and struggle for the sinful.
Age, however, has begun to lead me down another path. While I still have faith that my anarchistic worldview has value, the life, death and resurrection of Christ demand something else, something more. We cannot deconstruct unless we have at least an essence of reconstruction. The biblical narrative leads us out of exile. As theologian NT Wright points out, John the Baptist did not wake up one morning and think that immersing people in the River Jordan was a good idea! It was a prophetic act, a metaphorical crossing into the promised land in expectation of the coming King. I am convinced that in order for us to truly build a world where resurrection is paramount, rather than transient, we should deconstruct in a manner that invites everyone to the table and affords those who desire the opportunity to end the exilic patterns of religion.
It is this framework that much of the anarchistic writings I have encountered are taking aim – the deconstruction of a worldview that places ‘my needs’ and ‘me’ as the central premise to the gospel narrative. It was Spanish anarchist Buenaventura Durruti who famously said: “The only church that illuminates is a burning one” and for many postmodern Christian Anarchists this rings true: they seek to burn down tradition
Tied closely into this is the idea of economic freedom. Many anarchists offer the notion of a type of socialism that sees large businesses run on the basis that all jobs are paid the same, with a schedule of alternating roles affording everyone the opportunity to experience all the roles in the organization. Living in South Africa and experiencing the local economic landscape, we can see the results of an economic system that pays
by. Wayne Eaves
huge bonuses to executives and yet maintains the status quo with workers. The Marikana tragedy is a stark reminder of what big business can look like. Marikana is a blight on the South African economic landscape that should not be forgotten, but we have allowed other tragedies and salacious stories to override it. Taking the significance of Marikana into account, it is my view that the anarchist ideal is currently a pipe dream. The biblical text offers some insight, however. When read through the lens of liberation, we see in the teachings of Jesus the understanding that equality and parity in the Kingdom of God is not about financial or social standing. It would now appear to me that these texts have begun to be read through the lens of consumer capitalism and have removed economic responsibility from many of us who would call ourselves followers of Jesus. I have found that as I have begun to question myself and my friends and fellow pilgrims on the Way, that one alienates oneself from much of Christendom by asking questions of economics. What good is my purchasing a laptop, for example, when I am able to ascertain that the manufacturer is guilty of destructive labor practices? As a disciple surely my responsibility is to not support a company like this, and to question my friends in a loving way about how and why we purchase. Apophatic theology is a stream of theology that is most commonly referred to as negative theology, speaking of the things that God is not in order to discern the true nature of God. It is a complex and beautiful discipline, one that can lead to a deeper knowledge and experience of God, both as creator and as beyond understanding.
The economy is, for many of us, beyond understanding. How do a small number of bankers create a global economic meltdown that forces so many people out of work? How do we allow entire industries to be shutdown (e.g. textiles), writing it off to globalization, simply because it is cheaper to manufacture goods in China? I believe that we need to take a simplified version of apophatic theology and apply it to our economics. Asking ourselves the question of what our economy is not, lets us begin the process as follows: + Our economy is not empowering the poor. + Our economy is not encouraging community. + Our economy does not encourage peace. + Our economy does not encourage equal opportunity. + Our economy does not value creation. + Our economy is not sustainable. And you can add your own observation to this list. If we truly believe in resurrection, we must first believe that some ways can die and that a better way can be reborn. I do not believe in this economic system, though I do believe it has a future. I do not want my children to grow up continually looking for a way up the ladder. In the end, though we all worship something, I choose to worship the Way of the Cross, the way of the resurrected Christ. And I choose to say that we always have enough.
WHAT DO WE SAY WHEN WE SAY “GOD”?
by. Corbus van Wyngaard
What do we say when we say “God”? Politically, that is. We could obviously ask this question in many ways: as a philosophical, theological or linguistic question. But for this article at least, what are the political ramifications of such a word? Regardless of how you view God, or even whether you believe in God, the term “God” refers to that which is “more”. That which you name as “God” might have ultimate power, ultimate knowledge, it might be the source of everything that exists or be the very fabric of existence. It might be the future, the possibility calling us towards something new. But, regardless of how you view God, what do we say politically when we say “God”? Whether they believe God exists or not, those who hold power in society must experience some form of tension when people begin to question what the powerful are doing based on what God desires and what it means to follow God’s will. The point being that if the powers of society act according to one vision of how things should be and how society should act and interact, but this differs from what the people claim is God’s vision, then the very fact that we use the term “God” creates the
possibility that individuals or groups might rather choose to act on what they hold to be God’s vision than the vision of the powers that be. That which we call God is that which creates questions about whatever else is presented as ultimately powerful or wise because God is that which transcends the powerful or the wise. If this is true it should not surprise us that politicians (or capitalists, parents, or whoever else might be in positions of power) would attempt to co-opt God for their cause. An easy way of dealing with this ‘thing’ which people call “God” is to explain that whatever it is that you understand God to be is a being or force that is aligned with our political party or cause. If you can convince people that your vision and God’s vision are actually the same, then it should be clear that resistance to your vision and cause is really futile. We do not have to look far to see examples of this, politicians claiming God for their cause; or even politicians from opposing camps both claiming God for their cause. I guess another way of dealing with this term “God” is to get rid of it. It is possible to insist on the fact that God does not exist, that belief in God is crazy, and - if necessary - outlaw any references to God, and any attempt to claim that God is opposed to what is happening in society. Examples of this can also be found. While it does not assist you in opposing people’s actual actions which they build on their belief in God, it can stop them from drawing on the language of God to convince others to join them in opposing the powerful. A third way of dealing with this thing which people call God would be to consign the implications of this God to that which is private. God is acknowledged, even encouraged, but clearly defined as a being
that deals with your individual issues, which does not have implications for public life. God is the being you turn to when you are feeling sad or alone, but this understanding of God is a God whom is not involved when societies are deeply unequal or when those in power violently oppress those who differ with them. This may be the most common approach of dealing with this thing which people call “God”.
God without the assistance of those in power. This simple fact will continue to create communities that defy whichever power seems to dominate at a given time, since they call on God that which is called the overflowing fountain of all good. In this way, the term “God” and the being of God will always have significant political ramifications in the world!
All these attempts have been tried, tested, and have, to some degree, worked at various times and places. None of them have put an end to the threat of people saying, “I think God has a different vision for this society” or (the deeper point) that no one can make a final claim on this vision. But let me end with some theological affirmations. “God” may not be a defense for anarchism in the technical sense of the word. It might not, in other words, be the ultimate defense for a society that does not have a centralized government and is organized by voluntary organizations, allowing people to self-govern. If God becomes a simple defense of a particular anarchist vision, then the same questions of how we control those who draw on God for deviant interpretations will again arise. In the current organization of society, however, “God” does make whichever powers we consider to be of the most importance somewhat relative, reminding us continually that neither government, nor big business, nor political parties, nor the IMF or World Bank, or UN Security Council or the countries which dominate global politics are ultimate, final or permanent. To make things even more difficult for those in power, inherent to Christianity is the idea that people can gain unmediated access to
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WHEN FOLLOWING JESUS GETS YOU INTO TROUBLE by Andrew Suderman
The Believer’s cross is that of social noncomformity. – John Howard Yoder Life can become quite uncomfortable for Christians when we learn or realize that believing in Jesus – believing that he is the Christ – requires following and living the way he lived. Believing in this man Jesus requires something of us. It requires that we live in ways that reflect the character of God. It requires us to live trusting that God’s kingdom has indeed arrived, and that we can participate in and point to the ways of this kingdom through the way we live. This inand-of-itself is not what causes the discomfort. The discomfort arises when we realize that following in the ways of Jesus may lead us to the same end! When we begin to understand Jesus, his being and his message, as someone that affects our lives and the way we are to live, then we begin to understand the conflict that arises between the way we live when our allegiance lies in the kingdoms of this world and the way we live when we pledge allegiance to the kingdom of God. Far from being something “separate” from the world (something “spiritual” in nature, as if it can somehow be separated from the physical and social realities of the world), we begin to see how Jesus – in revealing and inaugurating the kingdom of God – causes us to re-
imagine a new possibility for human, social, and therefore political relationships. These new possibilities which Jesus demonstrates a n d t e a c h e s a b o u t h ave s i g n i fi c a n t implications, especially for those who have and want to maintain power. Throughout Matthew’s gospel and the story of Jesus it tells, we hear how Jesus is depicted as the one who shakes the foundations of society—religious, economic, and political. Palm Sunday has just passed and so we should know the story of Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem well. In the story we are given the impression of an aura of excitement and anticipation as Jesus enters the capital city – the centre of Israel’s power. Garments and branches adorned the road approaching Jerusalem as crowds cried out: “Hosanna, Hosanna!” Interestingly, however, immediately upon entering the city we are told that “the city was moved” (Matt. 21:10). Other versions say that “the whole city was thrown into an uproar” (Good News Bible) or that “the whole city was stirred…” (New International Version). The whole city, in other words, was stirred or thrown into an uproar due to Jesus’ arrival and the excitement it caused. This same term, however, is also used elsewhere in Matthew to describe a severe storm or earthquake. For example, when the wise men inform King Herod that another king, a king that they have come to worship and pay homage to, was born, we are told that Herod “was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him” (Matt. 2:3). The implication is that Jesus’ entry into the world and into Jerusalem causes the foundations of the city to shake. Matthew’s use of this term is telling. Immediately after Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem he goes into the temple, the religious and
economic hub of Jerusalem, and “drove out all those who bought and sold in the temple, a n d o ve r t u r n e d t h e t a b l e s o f t h e moneychangers and the seats of those who sold doves” (Matt. 21:12). It was usual, and needed, for people to change their Greek or Roman money into currency that could be used in the temple in order to buy animals that could be used as a sacrifice to God. This was and had been an essential part of life in the temple (Gardner, 313). But for Jesus, as he saw the rich and powerful exploiting the poor, it demonstrated a forgetfulness regarding the proper function of the temple. In picking up themes of inclusion of the house of prayer (Is. 56:7) for all who “join themselves to the Lord, to serve Him, and to love the name of the Lord, to be His servants…” (Is. 56:6), Jesus reminds the people of this primary intention and purpose. Upon his triumphant entry into Jerusalem he immediately begins to challenge and rock both the religious and economic foundations, their systems and their practices in the temple. Matthew again uses this image when Jesus dies on the cross and then again when he is resurrected. When Jesus is crucified and dies, the temple veil, that which separated the Holiest of the Holies, the location where only the most high priests could enter and be in communion with God, tore from top to bottom; “… and the earth quaked…” (Matt. 27:51). This time the foundations of the old social order shake as a new social order comes into being – a social order whereby ever yone has unrestricted access to God – through the cross. The last usage of this cataclysmic imagery whereby the foundations are shaken occurs when, after Jesus’ death, the two Marys go to see Jesus’ tomb. Once again we find that a
great earthquake takes place (Matt. 28:2) when an angel descends and the boulder in front of the tomb is moved. And, alas, Jesus is no longer in this tomb. “He is not here; for He is risen…” (Matt. 28:6). Matthew, through this cataclysmic imagery, demonstrates that the consequence of death, the consequence that Jesus was tempted to avoid from the very beginning, is no longer able to maintain its grip and power. The foundations of the power of death are shaken through death towards life. Ironically, life now prevails through death! Matthew’s use of such cataclysmic images as earthquakes or storms is provocative, demonstrating how Jesus shakes the very foundations of society by calling into question the roots of the old social order, as he brings about a community that seeks to witness to a new social order. This new social order calls to account the old economic and political practices that exploit and oppress. It tears open an unrestricted access to the God of life. It operates under the intimidation of the consequences of death, knowing that death no longer holds its power and no longer has the final say. It’s no wonder that the author of Matthew describes Jesus as shaking the very foundations of society! In following Jesus we are invited to demonstrate a new world regime in the midst of living in the old one. There are new priorities and examples that determine how we relate to one another, a new politics which differs from and challenges the old politics. Whereas the old seeks to rule over others, embracing a form of power that forces, dominates, conquers and seeks to control, the power Jesus witnesses to – which his disciples are also asked to imitate – is one that challenges injustice, violence, domination and self-serving control through
self-sacrificial love rooted in servanthood and concern for the other. Whereas the old operates from a top-down notion of power, the new community, the new social order, centered around Jesus and his example, embraces and witnesses to a bottom-up understanding of power. Although we are constantly tempted to continue living according to the old social order – a social order and politics of death – we recognize that living according to the new social order, and the alternative politics and practices it will embody, can be dangerous as it challenges the way in which we relate to one another. Whereas the old social order seeks ways to control others, this new one may cause the faithful follower of Jesus to get into trouble with the old order as it embodies actions that subvert existing systems through the formation of a community that seeks to creatively and peaceably demonstrate (witness) a new way of being, a new way in which we can live rightly with one another – in short, a new politics. And yet, just like Jesus who suffered unto death on a cross, a cross that was a political, legally-to-be-expected result of a moral clash with the powers ruling in society in his day (Yoder, Politics of Jesus, 129), we too may face similar consequences as we participate in this new social order today. And yet, we can do so in confidence knowing that death has lost its grip.
: s i y a d e h t f o e g n e l , a t h r c a e t h s e t e h t f o n The grea o i t u l o v e r a t u o b a g n i h t i w how to br t r a t s o t s a h h c i h w n o i a revolut . . . s u f o each one oD rothy Day -
PRAY THE DEVIL BACK TO HELL
A LITANY OF RESISTANCE / IN THE SHADOW OF EMPIRE by. Mark Van Steenwyk
O Holy Spirit, who at the beginning of creation moved over the face of the waters,
The Spirit of the Lord is among us.
Create us anew with your lifegiving power.
We have been sent to proclaim recovery of sight for the blind.
O Holy Spirit, who inspired the prophets of old to speak boldly to a stiff-necked generation
The Spirit of the Lord is before us.
Empower us to speak prophetically in our day.
We have been sent to set the oppressed free. The Spirit of the Lord is behind us.
O Holy Spirit, who came as a dove at the Baptism of Jesus,
For we have been sent to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.
Strengthen us as the Baptized in our life in the world.
Spirit of God, empower us.
O Holy Spirit, who led Jesus into the wilderness and sustained him during his 40 days of temptation,
As we struggle against powers of oppression. Spirit of God, strengthen us.
Help us to resist the will to power as we follow Christ’s humble path.
A s w e re s i s t t h e p o w e r s o f domination.
O Holy Spirit, who on the day of Pentecost put fire into the lives of the early disciples,
Spirit of God, dwell among us.
Set us aflame to reveal the Risen Christ in our world. The Spirit of the Lord is upon us. We have been anointed to proclaim good news to the poor. The Spirit of the Lord is within us. We have been sent to proclaim freedom for the imprisoned.
As we seek wholeness in our lives and in our communities. Spirit of God, guide us. As we subvert systems of death. Spirit of God, send us. To proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.
Breathe into us, Spirit of God Breathe into our mouths that we might proclaim the Good News Breathe into our eyes that we might see your reign in our midst Breathe onto our hands so we can build good things and tear down things that destroy Breathe onto our feet that we might go wherever you send us Breathe into our hearts so that all of our seeing and speaking and coming and going will be done in love. Amen.
original source - http://www.jesusradicals.com/a-litany-of-resistance-in-the-shadow-of-empire/
SELECTIONS FROM ‘SING THE JOURNEY’
SELECTIONS FROM ‘HYMNAL: A WORSHIP BOOK’
#153 Blessed be the ones who dance in the corridors of death, who sing in the hallways of terror, who laugh in the prisons of fear, who shout across the silencing walls, who love beyond the borders of hatred, who live to welcome home freedom, who die never turning their heads, who return as the rising of hope.
#732 Liberating God, your Son taught us to pray for your kingdom to come on earth as it is in heaven. Let your kingdom come; let justice roll like a river and righteousness like a never-ending stream. Let your will be done; let those who mourn be comforted and those in bondage be set free. Strengthen our hope in you, O God, for we long for your everlasting reign. AMEN
#154 Victorious God, who breaks the powers that strangle and bind us, liberate your people so we may join hands to dismantle what divides and destroys us. In the strong name of Jesus. AMEN #155 Suffering God, who bears the wounds of the world with the strength of love, stand with us, that we may willingly carry Christ’s compassion into the pain of the world. In the name of the Wounded One. AMEN
#760 God our security, who alone can defend us against the principalities and powers that rule this present age; may we trust in no weapons except the whole armor of faith, that in dying we may live, and, having nothing, we may own the world, through Jesus Christ. AMEN #677 O living Christ, come to us in the glory of your risen power; come to us in the humility of your wondrous love. Come and reign among us! Let new life course through our veins, new love bind us together, and new vision spur us on to follow you forever. Even so, come Lord Jesus. AMEN
#683 Praise the One who hears the cry of the poor, who lifts up the weak and gives them strength.
and plant them where they can safely grow into blossoms of hope. AMEN
Praise the One who feeds the hungry and satisfies the longing of those in need.
#803 O God, Sovereign of the universe, without you nothing is true, nothing is just. In your Word you reveal the way of love. By your Spirit you make it possible.
Praise the One who holds with tenderness the orphan and widow and gives the stranger a land and a home. #696 God of love and justice, we long for peace within and peace without. We long for harmony in our families, for serenity in the midst of struggle, and for commitment to each other’s growth. We long for the day when our homes will be a dwelling place for your love. Yet we confess that we are often anxious; we do not trust each other, and we harbor violence. We are not willing to take the risks and make the sacrifices that love requires. Look upon us with kindness and grace. Rule in our homes and in all the world; show us how to walk in your paths, through the mercy of our Savior. AMEN #756 O God, for too long the world has called us to war, and our dead lie sprawled across the bleeding centuries. But you break the bow and shatter the spear, calling us to sow the seeds of peace in the midst of despair. In tenderness, may we take the tiniest sprouts
From greed and selfishness, from a society in which the rich get richer and the poor get poorer, Compassionate God, deliver us. From racial prejudice and religious intolerance, from a society which makes its weakest and most recent members into scapegoats, Compassionate God, deliver us. From indifference to the needs of other countries, from the delusion that you love any other nation less than you love us, Compassionate God, deliver us. From self-indulgence and indifference, from a society in which fidelity and responsibility have little place, Compassionate God, deliver us. Author of life, give us hearts set on the coming of your reign; give us wise, just, and humble leaders; give all who live in this land a will to live in peace, through Jesus Christ, the One who is above all powers and dominions. AMEN
RESOURCES FOR THE REVOLUTION + Jesus Radicals - http://www.jesusradicals.com/ Geez: holy mischief in an age of fast faith - http://www.geezmagazine.org/ The Anarchist Library - http://theanarchistlibrary.org/ Christian Anarchy: Living under the kingship of Jesus - http://www.christiananarchy.org/ Christian Anarchism - http://christianarchism.com/ Anarchy and Christianity by Jacques Ellul (book) That Holy Anarchist (book and website – electronic copy of the book is available for free on the website) - http://www.thatholyanarchist.com/
+ ADDITIONAL ONLINE RESOURCES JACQUES ELLUL International JE Society (resources) - http://ellul.org/?page_id=146 Jesus Radicals - http://www.jesusradicals.com/theology/jacques-ellul/ JE on the Web - http://world.std.com/~jchat/ellul/web.htm
OTHER BIOGRAPHIES Leo Tolstoy - http://archive.org/search.php?query=subject%3A%22Tolstoyan%20movement%22&sort=-downloads Vernard Eller - http://www.hccentral.com/eller1/
VIDEOS ‘Betrayal of technology,’ Ellul - http://vimeo.com/14490665 2012 Nov, John Jensen with Phil Shepherd - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GA7LV-T3SKI#t=258 2013 Aug, Dan McCreary with Larken Rose - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YTAhC3abq0E
PODCASTS 2013 Jan, Homebrewed Christianity Culture Cast - http://homebrewedchristianity.com/2013/01/04/ jacques-ellul-christian-anarchy-and-joel-mckerrow/
CRITICISM http://francoistremblay.wordpress.com/2011/04/11/why-i-reject-christian-anarchism/ http://www.geezmagazine.org/magazine/article/a-dash-of-cold-water-for-christian-anarchism/
i sit on a man's back, choking him, and making him carry me, and yet assure myself and others that i am very sorry for him and wish to ease his lot by any means possible, except getting off his back. The changed form and substance of law is rather like what a jailer might do who shifted a prisoner's chains... or removed them and substituted bolts and bars... the greater the state, the more wrong and cruel is its patriotism, and the greater is the sum of suffering upon which its power is founded. Therefore, if we really wish to be what we profess to be, we must not only cease our present desire for the growth of the state, but we must desire its decrease, its weakening, and help this forward with all our might. - Leo Tolstoy
(From: Writings on Civil-disobedience and Nonviolence, 1886)
PUSH IT FURTHER ///
AVAILABLE TITLES FROM THE ANiSA BOOK SHOP POST-CHRISTENDOM: CHURCH AND MISSION IN A STRANGE NEW WORLD by: Stuart Murray The end of Christendom, where the Christian story was known and the church was central, invites Christians in western culture to embrace marginality and discover fresh ways of being church and engaging in mission. Whilst the transition from modernity to postmodernity has received a huge amount of attention, the shift from Christendom to post-Christendom has not yet been fully explored. This book is an introduction, a journey into the past, an interpretation of the present and an invitation to ask what following Jesus might mean in the strange new world of post-Christendom. COST: R140
MORE-WITH-LESS (UPDATED EDITION) by: Doris Janzen Longacre For more than 35 years, More-with-Less Cookbook has helped thousands of families establish a climate of joy and concern for others at mealtime, while improving nutrition and saving money. This cookbook contains recipes and suggestions by Mennonites on how to eat better and consume less of the world’s limited food resources. COST: R120
THE JOURNEY TOWARD RECONCILIATION by: John Paul Lederach We live in a diverse, but interdependent world. Even with modern technology, communications, and travel, we still need to build relationships leading to reconciliation. John Paul Lederach shares insights gained from years of work in international mediation and deep spiritual reflection on the task of reconciliation. From personal experiences and the Bible story, he finds God seeking reconciliation throughout history. Here is help for conflicted families, communities, and nations. COST: R90
THE UPSIDE - DOWN KINGDOM by: Donald B. Kraybill Translated into six languages, and with over 100,000 copies sold, The UpsideDown Kingdom continues to change people's lives. Donald B. Kraybill shows how the kingdom of God announced by Jesus appeared upside-down in firstcentury Palestine. Jesus wins by serving and triumphs by losing. Today, God's way still looks upside-down as it breaks into diverse cultures around the world. COST: R110
DISCIPLESHIP AS POLITICAL RESPONSIBILITY by: John Howard Yoder In this work Yoder succeeds in reopening the theological debate on Christians and political responsibility with the larger church to which persecution had put an end 400 years earlier. Biblical scholar Timothy J. Geddert translated two of these lectures, originally given in Germany, as a resource to understand Yoder's invitation to begin an exploratory journey that leads to Jesus Christ's peace church. COST: R50
LIVING MORE WITH LESS by: Doris Janzen Longacre, ed by:Valerie Weaver-Zercher Living More with Less: 30th Anniversary Edition collects the wisdom and experience of those who live with less than a consumer culture says we need. With stories, reflections, and advice from people around the world who are making changes to their daily habits in response to climate change and global poverty, Living More with Less 30th Anniversary Edition is a vibrant collection of testimonies, old and new, of those who are discovering the joy of living with enough. COST: R90
LOVING ENEMIES: A MANUAL FOR ORDINARY PEOPLE by: Randy and Joyce Klassen Like parents and grandparents everywhere, Randy and Joyce Klassen are deeply concerned about the state of the world in which their children and grandchildren will be living. Will violence and wars escalate? Or will the world’s peoples, including those in a United States so often involved in war, try a different way? Will even ordinary people commit ourselves to selfless love? Will we strengthen and expand the reality of justice and peace in our world? This book is a manual for those of us ready to try. COST: R80
JESUS MATTERS: GOOD NEWS FOR THE 21ST CENTURY by: James R. Kraybill and David W. Shenk Jesus Christ is popular with many North Americans, but do they honor the Jesus of Scripture? Each author in this collection teams with one or more young adults to consider the various ways we encounter and experience Jesus. Topics include Jesus and creation, Jesus and the cross, Jesus and salvation, Jesus and mission, and Jesus and the future. Authors include Stanley Green, Michele Hershberger, Mark Thiessen Nation, Willard Swartley, Jack Suderman and April Yamasaki. Foreword by Shane Claiborne. COST: R100
THE NAKED ANABAPTIST by: Stuart Murray Anabaptist Christians have been around for almost 500 years. Writing from Great Britain, Stuart Murray peels back the layers to reveal the core components of Anabaptism—and what they mean for faith in his context and ours. It’s a way of following Jesus that challenges, disturbs, and inspires us, summoning us to wholehearted discipleship and worship. Read this book, and catch a vision for living a life of radical faith! COST: R100
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