Seeking God's domination-free realm -Jun 10, 2006

For some people the ideas and experience of Christianity and anarchy could not be more diametrically opposed. Christianity, they would argue, as the state instituted religion, upholds the structures of governance and brings God’s order into an otherwise chaotic world; anarchy on the other hand is an attempt to destroy all that holds society together.

However, for those of us who met in Leeds at the beginning of June 2006, for the UK’s first Christianity and Anarchism conference, the ‘establishment’ view of the world could not be further from the biblical vision of God’s kingdom (kin-dom, or realm) of shalom (just-peace).

The conference ‘Christianity and Anarchy: God save the queen’, hosted by All Hallows church in Hyde Park, was initiated through the Jesus Radicals website and attracted people with a wide range of backgrounds – from teachers and students to members of the Catholic Worker movement; from Christian Peacemaker Teams to Anglican clergy.

For all those gathered however, the common attraction to the ideas of anarchism flowed from attempting a radical following of Jesus (discipleship) and from exploring God’s intentions for the future of creation within the Christian scriptural tradition.

As the group discussions at the conference noted, the literal meaning of anarchy, ‘without ruler’, points to human rulers as the source of all social impotence and oppression. For many brought-up with a hierarchical worldview that encourages the pursuit of power and position, anarchy has come to mean disorganisation and social breakdown.

However as Keith Hebden explained during his ‘Christianity and Anarchism primer’ session, an anarchic society is one that organises itself without authority. Anarchist writer Colin Ward suggests that an anarchist society ‘…is always in existence; like a seed beneath the snow.’

We anarchically organise ourselves on a daily basis, taking initiative and exercising our creativity without being forced or ordered. One of the ways unions protest is to ‘work to rule’, meaning to work only to the letter of one’s contract. This ‘living by the law’ brings the entire establishment to a grinding halt.

My own personal views of anarchists, before I began to see the freedom of the concepts lived out in the biblical texts, was one of lawless violence and naïve idealism. Similarly my observations of Christians, before I experienced God’s love for myself, was one of dogmatism and mindless allegiance.

Both views were informed by a history and mythology perpetuated by a media that supports the status quo and therefore communicates little of the radical nature of either experience. My own continuing journey to a radical understanding of both Christianity and anarchism comes from trying to understand and apply the teachings and example of Jesus into how I live my life.

Christian anarchism takes a Christ-centred view of the gospel, focusing on the sacrificial life and teachings of Jesus that led to his execution at the hands of the Powers and the overcoming of death through his resurrection.

Viewing Jesus’ life as a constant, sacrificial, non-violent struggle against the religious-political powers opens up a whole new avenue to biblical interpretation and practical applications of faith that much church teaching would chose to ignore.

Dominant Western theology has often focused on Jesus’ death outside of the context of those who executed him. The key question that leads to the anarchic viewpoint is ‘What was Jesus teaching and living-out that was such a threat to those in positions of power and privilege?’

Throughout the gospel narratives, Jesus is shown to come into conflict with the religious and political leaders of the day, whose policies and practice maintained their own positions of power while subjugating others into poverty and bondage to the law.

Putting the humanity of individuals and the relationships of the community before obedience to the letter of the law and the state created powerful enemies for Jesus, just as it does today for those who put human life and community concerns before the pursuit of property, wealth and nationalism.

Walter Wink’s book Jesus and Nonviolence and Ched Myers’ Binding the Strong Man: A Political Reading of Mark’s Story of Jesus are two interpretations of the gospels that aided explorations of these themes at the Leeds conference. Both Walter and Ched are community-oriented theologians.

Also explored were the letters of Paul, who has so often been misrepresented and misinterpreted as supporting hierarchical and patriarchal systems, and even condoning slavery.

Ray Gaston’s seminar on ‘Radical Paul’, drawing on Neil Elliott’s book Liberating Paul and Richard Horsley’s Paul and Empire shook the misogynistic, authoritarian view of Paul to the ground, highlighting the empire context in which Paul’s letters were written and the events of the time.

Annie Heppenstall’s session on ‘Anarchy in the Old Testament’ examined the spectrum of monarchic and anti-monarchic writings in the collected Hebrew scriptures, noting the exploitation and oppression caused by the temple and kingly cult, and God’s counter system of jubilee and raising up of judges.

Exploring the theology of Christian anarchy is important. But for those of us at the Christianity and Anarchy conference, it is how that understanding informs the way we live our lives and interact with the world that feeds and inspires our studies.

A number of those gathered in Leeds choose to live their lives as ‘freegans’, attempting to live outside a monetary system that produces extreme levels of waste while the majority of the world’s population live in desperate poverty.

‘Freegans’ make use of the unnecessary edible and useable waste that fills the skips of our supermarkets destined for already overloaded landfill sites. Vast amounts of food, clothing, household-wares and other consumer items are daily thrown away as our society finds it financially advantageous to overproduce, discard and replace with new products of short lifespan.

While this may not be a long-term sustainable option, many ‘freegans’ live this lifestyle as a protest to point out just how wasteful our profit driven, materialist society is.

Also represented at the conference were members of the Catholic Worker movement, which was started during the great depression in 1930’s America by Dorothy Day and Peter Maurin. With their stress on voluntary poverty and non-violence, Catholic Worker communities have a long tradition of tackling situations of social justice, supporting human rights, and backing union and cooperative movements.

Christian Peacemaker Teams (CPT), who also had a number of members and supporters at the conference, ran a seminar focusing on their peacemaking work that was recently brought to international attention by the kidnap of four of its members in Iraq, (with the subsequent killing of Tom Fox and release of the other three).

Members of CPT determine that if their faith calls them to be serious about peacemaking, and if they are committed to follow the way of Jesus, then they need to be willing to put themselves into situations of conflict to bring peace with the tools of non-violence instead of with the weapons of war.

One of the many exciting outcomes of the weekend was the decision to resurrect the Christian anarchism journal ‘A Pinch of Salt’, which ran in the 1980s. It contained theological reflections, articles on lifestyle issues, anarchist cartoons and information from various Christian anarchist networks.

A highlight of the gathering for me was the ‘leaderless Eucharist’ on the Friday night. The pre-prepared liturgy moved the leading role around the room, as the actions of sharing the bread and wine were also shared out. This simple yet moving remembrance really brought home to me the symbolism of this meal and that we are all one in Christ.

To delve deeper into the vision of Christian anarchism will involve a great deal more reading and reflection, but the few days in Leeds were a great opportunity to meet an inspiring network of people, all passionately seeking and living out the ‘domination-free kingdom of God’ (Walter Wink).

More information on the conference can be found on the Jesus Radicals website. A good introduction to the subject is Jacques Ellul’s Anarchy and Christianity or Vernard Eller’s Christian Anarchy: Jesus’ primacy over the Powers.

Jonathan Dorsett is currently involved in establishing the Peace School initiative.