The
Challenge
The
worship of God is the source of renewal and the preached Word unmasks
the enslaving powers.
- Nigel Goring Wright.1
- Nigel Goring Wright.1
Christian
Anarchism presents a challenge to the church. It is often openly
critical of mainstream churches as anything from misled2
to deliberately deceptive.3
As Christian Anarchist ideas enter mainstream Christian thought
through popular literature, what will the church's response be? How
might traditional churches benefit from engagement with the Christian
Anarchist tradition? At the very least, contact with Christian
Anarchist ideas will cause readers to consider the effect that Jesus'
teachings has on their personal politics, perhaps allowing them to
see Jesus as a political figure for the first time.
Christian
Anarchism is not the only Christian politics, nor the only social
ethics, nor the only activism, nor the only radicalism. What
challenge comes from Christian Anarchism, that is not raised by other
political approaches? Christian Anarchist writers have rarely engaged
with wider Christian political thought. There is not a Christian
Anarchist critique of William Temple's Christianity
and Social Order4
for example, or a rebuttal of Luther's
Zwei
Reich
approach. Political theology after Augustine is largely ignored.
The
unique challenge of Christian Anarchism is, once more, due to its
new-found accessibility. Many more people alive can read and
understand The
Irresistible Revolution than
City
of God
or Gustavo Gutiérrez's
A
Theology of Liberation5,
or Barth's
political theology. Perhaps more significantly, more people will be
able to operationalise the anecdotal political theology found in The
Irresistible Revolution
and Jesus
for President.
The
United States of America (and Ulster)
Christian
Anarchism has a unique challenge to bring to the United States of
America and Northern Ireland where political and religious identities
are so intertwined. Both view themselves as 'Christian countries'.
Both have a significant political lobby of Christian conservatives.
In both we see Christian politicians legislating for 'Christian'
morality.6
After George W. Bush's renewal of the language of a Christian crusade
against evil, Christian
Anarchists are trying to remind the church that they are called to
bless the world “not 'rid the world of evil'”7.
Gregory
Boyd writes that the history of the USA is“a
history of a people who too often identified the kingdom of God with
a 'Christian' version of the kingdom of the world.”8
The
concept of living in a 'Christian country' allows Christians to
follow a morality which is based on the cultural status-quo, rather
than undergoing the 'change of allegiance' experience of baptism.9
This
immunisation allows Christians to go into military service without
ever having stopped to consider the significance of Jesus' commands
to love enemies and not to resist evil doers. This is particularly
true in circumstances where military service is associated with
honour and protection, and where being a good Christian is equated
with being a good citizen. Christian Anarchist writing faces these
Christians with a Jesus who teaches non-violence, and a history of
Christian resistance.
Another
unique challenge of Christian Anarchism is that it is the only truly
'borderless' political theology. The Christian Anarchists follow
Tertullian's statement: “Nothing is further from our soul than the
thoughts of mixing in State affairs, or in any private designs; for
we look upon ourselves as citizens of the world.”10
By forswearing all national allegiances, Christian Anarchists remove
a significant barrier between themselves and the neighbour they are
called to love. In Luke 14:26, Jesus states “If
anyone comes to me and does not hate father and mother, wife and
children, brothers and sisters—yes, even their own life—such a
person cannot be my disciple.”11
Here, Jesus challenges even the most natural and God-given
allegiances. The many levels of loyalty – to family, friends,
locality, nation – can become layers which separate us from 'the
other'. In a culture of 'God bless America' or 'For God and Ulster',
Christian Anarchism questions assumed national and tribal loyalties
and concludes that the Samaritans are our neighbours.
Christian
Anarchism challenges the leadership of churches in the USA and
Northern Ireland to make decisions about where the church stands in
relation to political power. There is encouragement for preachers to
illuminate the political element of Jesus' teachings, to disciple
people in such a way that their politics is not separate from their
spirituality. The view that reverence
for the state is idolatrous strongly confronts the place in the
church of national anthems, oaths of allegiance, the presence of
flags, and services of remembrance with nationalistic overtones.
Grand
Rapids, Michigan: Zondervan, 2008. Pg. 195
3Leo
Tolstoy. The
Kingdom of God is Within You.
Translated by Constance Garnet. Kansas: Digireads, 2005. Pg. 188
5Gustavo
Gutiérrez. A
Theology of Liberation.
(Translated by Sister Caridad Inda and John Eagleson). London: SCM
Press, 2001.
6For
example, Northern Ireland's Sabbatarian lobby, abortion laws and
creationist pressure groups.
Q&A: Abortion in Northern Ireland
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/northern_ireland/1386450.stm “Edwin (Poots) is a young earth creationist and an opponent of the theory of evolution.”
http://www.edwinpoots.co.uk/biography.html
(accessed15/09/12)
Q&A: Abortion in Northern Ireland
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/northern_ireland/1386450.stm “Edwin (Poots) is a young earth creationist and an opponent of the theory of evolution.”
http://www.edwinpoots.co.uk/biography.html
(accessed15/09/12)
7Shane
Claiborne and Chris Haw. Jesus
for President: Politics for Ordinary Radicals. Grand
Rapids, Michigan: Zondervan, 2008. Pg 31
9Jonathan
Bartley. Faith
and Politics after Christendom: The Church as a Movement for
Anarchy.
Milton Keynes: Paternoster Press, 2006. Pg 19
(accessed
04/09/12)
11(NIV)
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