Christian Anarchism: A Political Commentary on the Gospel: Abridged Edition

463 Pages·2011·2.78 MB·English

by  Alexandre Christoyannopoulos

Contents
Acknowledgements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . iv
Introduction — Christian “Anarchism”? . . . . .1
Locating Christian anarchism 2
In political theology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
In political thought . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
Outlining Christian anarchism 12
Aims, limits, and originality . . . . . . . . . . . .12
Technical issues . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .18
The structure of this book . . . . . . . . . . . . . .21
Christian anarchist “thinkers” 22
Leo Tolstoy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .23
Jacques Ellul . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .26
Vernard Eller . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .27
Michael C . Elliott . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .28
Dave Andrews . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .29
Key writers in the Catholic Worker movement . . . .29
Writers behind other Christian anarchist publications 34
William Lloyd Garrison . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .37
Hugh O . Pentecost . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .38
Nicolas Berdyaev . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .38
William T . Cavanaugh . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .39
Jonathan Bartley . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .40
Christian anarcho-capitalists . . . . . . . . . . . .40
George Tarleton . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .42
Supportive thinkers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .43
Part I — The Christian Anarchist Critique of the
State 47
Chapter 1 — The Sermon on the Mount: A
Manifesto for Christian Anarchism . . . . 48
1 1 — Resist not evil 51
1 .1 .1 — Jesus’ three illustrations . . . . . . . . . . .52
1 .1 .2 — A purposeful reaction . . . . . . . . . . .54
1 .1 .3 — Beyond lex talionis . . . . . . . . . . . .57
1 .1 .4 — The cycle of violence . . . . . . . . . . . .59
1 .1 .5 — Overcoming of the cycle of violence . . . . .66
1 .1 .6 — Anarchist implications . . . . . . . . . . .71
1 2 — Judge not 78
1 3 — Love your enemies 80
1 4 — Swear not at all 86
1 5 — The Golden Rule 90
1 6 — Reflections on other passages in the Sermon 92
1 .6 .1 — Be not angry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .92
1 .6 .2 — Commit no adultery . . . . . . . . . . . .97
1 .6 .3 — Seek no praise . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .98
1 .6 .4 — The Beatitudes . . . . . . . . . . . . . .98
1 .6 .5 — Worry not about security . . . . . . . . . .99
1 .6 .6 — Be the salt and the light . . . . . . . . . 100
1 7 — Fulfilling the Old Law 101
1 8 — A manifesto for Christian anarchism 107
Chapter 2 — The Anarchism Implied in Jesus’
Other Teachings and Example . . . . . . 111
2 1 — The Old Testament 112
2 .1 .1 — 1 Samuel 8 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113
2 .1 .2 — Other Old Testament passages . . . . . . 119
2 2 — Expectations of a political messiah 122
2 3 — Jesus’ third temptation in the wilderness 124
2 4 — Exorcisms and miracle healings 128
2 5 — Forgive seventy-seven times 130
2 6 — Not judging one another 133
2 7 — Being servants 136
2 8 — The temple cleansing 139
2 9 — Jesus’ arrest 145
2 10 — Jesus’ trial 150
2 11 — Jesus’ crucifixion 156
2 .11 .1 — Paul’s “powers” . . . . . . . . . . . . . 156
2 .11 .2 — The defeat of the powers . . . . . . . . 159
2 .11 .3 — The crucified “messiah” . . . . . . . . . 162
2 .11 .4 — The crux of Jesus’ political teaching . . . 163
2 .11 .5 — Taking up the cross . . . . . . . . . . . 165
2 12 — Jesus’ resurrection 167
2 13 — Revelation 170
2 14 — Allegedly violent passages 174
2 15 — Jesus’ anarchist teaching and example 178
Chapter 3 — The State’s Wickedness and the
Church’s Infidelity . . . . . . . . . . . . 180
3 1 — The history of Christendom 181
3 .1 .1 — Constantine’s temptation of the early church 182
3 .1 .2 — Christendom and beyond . . . . . . . . 188
3 2 — The modern state and economy 190
3 .2 .1 — The “state” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 191
3 .2 .2 — State violence . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 195
3 .2 .3 — State deception . . . . . . . . . . . . . 197
3 .2 .4 — Economic exploitation . . . . . . . . . . 204
3 .2 .5 — The state as idolatry . . . . . . . . . . . 210
3 3 — Church doctrine in support of the state 215
3 .3 .1 — Reinterpretations of Jesus’ commandments in
the Sermon on the Mount . . . . . . . . . . . 215
3 .3 .2 — Reinterpretations of non-resistance . . . . 219
3 .3 .3 — Support for political authority . . . . . . 227
3 4 — Deceptive dogmas 230
3 .4 .1 — Sanctimonious self-righteousness . . . . . 230
3 .4 .2 — Obscure rituals and beliefs . . . . . . . . 234
3 .4 .3 — Institutional religion . . . . . . . . . . . 242
3 5 — Awakening to true Christianity 244
Part II — The Christian Anarchist Response 247
Chapter 4 — Responding to the State . . . 248
4 1 — Paul’s letter to Roman Christians, chapter 13 249
4 .1 .1 — Paul’s weaknesses . . . . . . . . . . . . 251
4 .1 .2 — The Christian anarchist exegesis: subversive
subjection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 253
4 .1 .3 — Similar passages in the New Testament . . 264
4 2 — Jesus’ advice on taxes 266
4 .2 .1 — Caesar’s things and God’s things . . . . . 267
4 .2 .2 — The temple tax and fish episode . . . . . 271
4 3 — Pondering the role of civil disobedience 273
4 .3 .1 — Against civil disobedience . . . . . . . . 273
4 .3 .2 — For (non-violent) civil disobedience . . . 275
4 .3 .3 — Obedience to God . . . . . . . . . . . . 278
4 4 — Disregarding the organs of the state 280
4 .4 .1 — Holding office and voting . . . . . . . . 280
4 .4 .2 — Paying taxes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 281
4 .4 .3 — Conscription and war . . . . . . . . . . 282
4 .4 .4 — Other state services . . . . . . . . . . . 282
4 5 — On revolutionary methods 284
4 .5 .1 — No compromise with violence . . . . . . 284
4 .5 .2 — Revolution by example . . . . . . . . . . 289
Chapter 5 — Collective Witness as the True
Church . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 295
5 1 — “A new society within the shell of the old” 296
5 .1 .1 — Repenting and joining the church . . . . 297
5 .1 .2 — An economy of care and sacrifice . . . . . 300
5 .1 .3 — Subversive organisation . . . . . . . . . 306
5 2 — A difficult mission 311
5 .2 .1 — Dealing with evil in the community . . . 311
5 .2 .2 — Heroic sacrifices by church members . . . 319
5 3 — Trust in God 323
5 .3 .1 — A beacon of faith . . . . . . . . . . . . 324
5 .3 .2 — The mysterious growth of a mustard seed . 328
Chapter 6 — Examples of Christian Anarchist
Witness . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 333
6 1 — Pre-modern examples 335
6 .1 .1 — Early Christians . . . . . . . . . . . . . 335
6 .1 .2 — The Middle Ages and the Reformation . . 338
6 2 — Modern examples 343
6 .2 .1 — Garrison and his followers . . . . . . . . 343
6 .2 .2 — Ballou and the Hopedale community . . . 344
6 .2 .3 — Tolstoy’s personal example . . . . . . . . 344
6 .2 .4 — Tolstoyism and Tolstoyan colonies . . . . . 346
6 .2 .5 — Gandhi: a leader by example . . . . . . . 352
6 .2 .6 — The Catholic Worker movement . . . . . 354
6 .2 .7 — A Pinch of Salt and The Digger and Christian
Anarchist . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 356
6 .2 .8 — Online communities . . . . . . . . . . . 358
6 .2 .9 — Andrews’ community work . . . . . . . . 359
6 3 — Incomplete examples 360
Conclusion — The Prophetic Role of Christian
Anarchism . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 363
“Christian anarchists” and “Christian anarchism” 364
The kingdom of God in history 367
“Hastening” God’s kingdom . . . . . . . . . . . . 368
History’s mysterious unfolding . . . . . . . . . . . 371
The temptation of normal political action . . . . . 375
Relentless prophecy at the margins 382
Love, justice, and social ontology . . . . . . . . . 382
Christian anarchists as prophets . . . . . . . . . . 388
Distinguishing church and state . . . . . . . . . . 394
Christian anarchism’s original contribution 397
Epilogue . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 405
Bibliography . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 408
Also available . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 449
Christian Anarchism
A Political Commentary on the Gospel
[Abridged edition]
Alexandre Christoyannopoulos
Copyright © Alexandre Christoyannopoulos, 2011
The moral rights of the author have been asserted
No part of this publication may be reproduced in any
form without permission, except for the quotation of
brief passages in criticism and discussion
Originally published in the UK by
Imprint Academic, PO Box 200, Exeter EX5 5YX, UK
Originally published in the USA by Imprint Academic,
Philosophy Documentation Center
PO Box 7147, Charlottesville, VA 22906–7147, USA
2013 digital version by Andrews UK Limited
www andrewsuk com
Christianity in its true sense puts an end to the State It was so
understood from its very beginning, and for that Christ was
crucified
— Leo Tolstoy
Where there is no love, put love and you will find love
— St John of the Cross
Acknowledgements
This book is the product of six years of doctoral research undertaken
at the University of Kent, in Canterbury, England Since the defence
of that thesis in September 2008, the taking on of various academic
duties and responsibilities have prevented me from making major
revisions to the text, and therefore from integrating into it the related
material which I have come across or read since Apart from adding
a few references to such material and other minor modifications, the
book is not significantly different from the original thesis
The aim of the thesis was to produce a clear and accessible synthesis
of all the Christian anarchist publications I managed to come across
and study during my research, as well as a comprehensive set of
references to these The aim of the original, hardback version of this
book was to present both that synthesis and its references to a wider
audience This abridged, paperback version presents almost exactly
the same text, but without the original version’s detailed comments
and references in the footnotes—the main aim being to thereby
make the book more affordable The footnotes of the current version
therefore only contain the most important comments and reference
details (such as for verbatim quotations) Those who wish to study
the Christian anarchist literature and its context in more depth will
find the full comments and references in the hardback version As
to the main text, the only changes to it are the current paragraph,
the rectification of a few typos, and the addition of two bracketed
comments where the text refers to extensive footnotes only present
in the original By implication, just as with the hardback version,
given that the Introduction’s function is to set the context, locate the
book in the wider literature, and introduce the Christian anarchist
thinkers relied on for the rest of the book, readers less interested in
such preliminaries can skip these and jump straight to Chapter 1
I would not have been able to complete my PhD without the
financial support of my parents Their love, care and patience,
along with that of my (then) partner Tânia Gonçalves, provided the