Coming to you from JesusRadicals in August in Memphis.
Anarchism, as a political philosophy holds some promise for Christians because the two share a commitment to critiquing the power structures and working towards a more level playing field.
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Politics in the Zeros
"A republic, if you can keep it." Defeat MAGA
Politics in the Zeros
"A republic, if you can keep it." Defeat MAGA
Lots of groups share certain ideas, that doesn’t make them compatible, however to me Christian-anarchist is probably the biggest contradiction you can find. America seems to be the only place that it has any significant following. You either accept a higher authority or you don’t. Is a priest and a god a better authority than a president or a dictator? You can always get rid of the president and the dictator but how do you get rid of your God?
Having worked with and for an outfit of long time Christian-Radicals, I can really say that left wing liberation-y Christianity has a much older pedigree than the religious right’s version. Is all.
The Christianity John refers to is not the Christianity of the Book. Check out (Mennonite theologian) John Howard Yoder’s book, The Politics of Jesus. He makes a good case for Jesus as the first nonviolent activist.
Many theologians believe that Romans 13, “be subject to authority,” does not mean to obey authority blindly, but to willingly accept punishment when following God’s law (as we understand it) conflicts with the laws of earthly authority. The thousands of Christian martyrs of the first and second centuries were not executed for their religion, but for breaking the law. The most common offenses: for women, refusing to marry as required by Roman law, for men refusing military service. Early Christianity was pacifist.