Essays in Anarchism and Religion: Volume II
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Essays in Anarchism and Religion — Vol. II — Alexandre Christoyannopoulos & Matthew S. Adams (eds.) Essays in Anarchism and Religion: Volume II Edited by Alexandre Christoyannopoulos & Matthew S. Adams Published by Stockholm University Press Stockholm University SE-106 91 Stockholm, Sweden www.stockholmuniversitypress.se Text © The Author(s) 2018 License CC-BY Supporting Agency (funding): Loughborough University, UK First published 2018 Cover Illustration: Jacob Wrestles with the Angel, by Gustave Doré (1832–1883) Cover License: Public domain Cover designed by Karl Edqvist, SUP Stockholm Studies in Comparative Religion (Online) ISSN: 2002–4606 ISBN (Paperback): 978–91–7635–075–1 ISBN (PDF): 978–91–7635–072–0 ISBN (EPUB): 978–91–7635–073–7 ISBN (Mobi): 978–91–7635–074–4 DOI: https://doi.org/10.16993/bas This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. To view a copy of this license, visit creativecommons.org/ licenses/by/4.0/ or send a letter to Creative Commons, 444 Castro Street, Suite 900, Mountain View, California, 94041, USA. This license allows for copying any part of the work for personal and commercial use, providing author attribution is clearly stated. Suggested citation: Alexandre Christoyannopoulos & Matthew S. Adams. 2018. Essays in Anarchism and Religion: Volume II. Stockholm: Stockholm University Press. DOI: https://doi.org/10.16993/bas. License: CC-BY To read the free, open access version of this book online, visit https://doi.org/10.16993/bas or scan this QR code with your mobile device. Stockholm Studies in Comparative Religion Stockholm Studies in Comparative Religion (SSCR) is a peer- reviewed series initiated by Åke Hultkrantz in 1961. While its earlier emphasis lay in ethnographic-comparative approaches to religion, the series now covers a broader spectrum of the history of religions, including the philological study of discrete traditions, large-scale comparisons between different traditions as well as theoretical and methodological concerns in the study of cross-cultural religious categories such as ritual and myth. SSCR strives to sustain and disseminate high-quality and innovative research in the form of monographs and edited volumes, preferably in English, but in exceptional cases also in French, German, and Scandinavian languages. SSCR was previously included in the series Acta Universitatis Stockholmiensis (ISSN 0562–1070). A full list of pub- lications can be found here: http://www.erg.su.se/publikationer/ skriftserier/stockholm-studies-in-comparative-religion-1.38944. Editorial Board All members of the Editorial board have positions at the Department of Ethnology, History of Religions and Gender Studies at Stockholm University. Chief editor: Peter Jackson, Professor Emmanouela Grypeou, Senior Lecturer Egil Asprem, Senior Lecturer Marja-Liisa Keinänen, Associate Professor Susanne Olsson, Professor Ferdinando Sardella, Senior Lecturer Olof Sundqvist, Professor Titles in the series 36. Jackson, P. (ed.) 2016. Horizons of Shamanism. A Triangular Approach to the History and Anthropology of Ecstatcic Techniques. Stockholm: Stockholm University Press. DOI: https://doi.org/10.16993/bag 37. Rydving, H. & Olsson, S. 2016. Krig och fred i vendel- och vikingatida traditioner. Stockholm: Stockholm University Press. DOI: https://doi.org/10.16993/bah 38. Christoyannopoulos, A. & Adams M. S. (eds.) 2017. Essays in Anarchism & Religion: Volume I. Stockholm: Stockholm University Press. DOI: https://doi.org/10.16993/bak 39. Christoyannopoulos, A. & Adams M. S. (eds.) 2018. Essays in Anarchism & Religion: Volume II. Stockholm: Stockholm University Press. DOI: https://doi.org/10.16993/bas Peer Review Policies Stockholm University Press ensures that all book publications are peer‐reviewed in two stages. Each book proposal submitted to the Press will be sent to a dedicated Editorial Board of experts in the subject area as well as two independent experts. The full manuscript will be peer reviewed by chapter or as a whole by two independent experts. A full description of Stockholm University Press’ peer‐review policies can be found on the website: http://www.stockholm universitypress.se/site/peer-review-policies/. Recognition for reviewers The Editorial Board of Stockholm Studies in Comparative Religion applies single‐blind review during proposal and manu- script assessment. We would like to thank all reviewers involved in this process. Special thanks to the two anonymous reviewers for meticulously peer reviewing the manuscript of this book. Contents Anarchism and Religion: Exploring Definitions 1 Alexandre Christoyannopoulos & Matthew S. Adams Yiddish Radicalism, Jewish Religion: Controversies in the Fraye Arbeter Shtime, 1937–1945 20 Lilian Türk & Jesse Cohn To Each According to their Needs: Anarchist Praxis as a Resource for Byzantine Theological Ethics 58 Emma Brown Dewhurst Representations of Catholicism in Contemporary Spanish Anarchist-Themed Film (1995–2011) 94 Pedro García-Guirao Subordination and Freedom: Tracing Anarchist Themes in First Peter 132 Justin Bronson Barringer Restoring Anarcho-Christian Activism: From Nietzsche’s Affirmation to Benjamin’s Violence 173 Christos Iliopoulos Blessed Are the Peacemakers: The Contribution of Christian Nonviolence to Anarchism 196 Sam Underwood Prisons of Law and Brothels of Religion: William Blake’s Christian Anarchism 232 Duane Williams Occult Features of Anarchism 278 Erica Lagalisse Index 333 Anarchism and Religion: Exploring Definitions Alexandre Christoyannopoulos & Matthew S. Adams Loughborough University, UK One of the contested features in the scholarship on both anar- chism and religion has been the question of definition. How one defines key terms does, after all, determine what one analyses (and what not), and generally reveals one’s assumptions and preferenc- es (implicit or explicit) about what is being discussed. Also, the same term can mean different things in different languages, times and places, even if deliberately employing a pre-existing term does usually signal intended alignment. To make matters more difficult, in some cases, definitional differences are not just merely minor and contextual, but deliberate and fought over, sometimes with a clear intention to exclude particular variants that are felt to precisely not legitimately fit the label. Indeed, both ‘anarchism’ and ‘religion’ are candidates for Gallie’s definition of ‘essentially contested concepts’: “concepts the proper use of which inevitably involves endless disputes about their proper uses on the part of their users”.1 Definitions therefore require decisions, betray one’s particular sympathies and aversions, and reflect one’s context. For anarchists in particular, as much as ‘protean fluid- ity’ is a hallmark of the tradition and often a source of pride, some boundaries can be defended with much passion.2 For in- stance, most anarchists are particularly insistent on excluding 1 W. B. Gallie, “Essentially Contested Concepts,” in The Importance of Language, ed. M. Black (Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1962), 123. 2 George Woodcock, Anarchism: A History of Libertarian Ideas and Movements (London: Penguin, 1986), p. 414. How to cite this book chapter: Christoyannopoulos, A. and Adams, M. S. 2018. Anarchism and Religion: Exploring Definitions. In: Christoyannopoulos, A. and Adams, M. S. (eds.) Essays in Anarchism and Religion: Volume II. Pp. 1–19. Stockholm: Stockholm University Press. DOI: https://doi.org/10.16993/bas.a. License: CC-BY. 2 Essays in Anarchism and Religion: Volume II ‘anarcho-capitalism’ from ‘anarchism’.3 Others reject any fla- vour of religion.4 Some claim that only ‘class struggle’ anarchists should be labelled ‘anarchists’.5 Some devote much time to reflect- ing on the place of anarchism in political thought, whereas others insist on the prioritisation of praxis over theory.6 Some explain anarchism by focusing on the writings of the ‘classical anarchists’ of the nineteenth century, others advocate ‘blasting’ that ‘canon’ and adopting a more open and critical anarchist historiography.7 That anarchism occupies an ambiguous position in the family of political ideologies – seemingly fusing a trenchant demand for 3 The Anarchist FAQ Editorial Collective, “An Anarchist Faq,” https:// theanarchistlibrary.org/library/the-anarchist-faq-editorial-collective- an-anarchist-faq#toc7. 4 Harold Barclay, “Anarchist Confrontations with Religion,” in New Perspectives on Anarchism, ed. Nathan Jun and Shane Wahl (Lanham, MD: Lexington, 2010); Alexandre Christoyannopoulos, “Christian Anarchism: A Revolutionary Reading of the Bible,” ibid.; Alexandre Christoyannopoulos and Lara Apps, “Anarchism and Religion,” in Brill’s Companion to Anarchism and Philosophy, ed. Nathan Jun (Leiden: Brill, 2018); Sébastien Faure, “Does God Exist? Twelve Proofs of the Non- Existence of God,” The Anarchist Library, http://theanarchistlibrary. org/library/sebastien-faure-does-god-exist; Johann Most, “The God Pestilence,” Anarchy Archives, http://dwardmac.pitzer.edu/Anarchist_ Archives/bright/most/godpest.html; Nicolas Walter, “Anarchism and Religion,” The Raven: anarchist quarterly 257, no. 1 (1994). 5 Nathan Jun, “Rethinking the Anarchist Canon: History, Philosophy, and Interpretation,” Anarchist Developments in Cultural Studies 1 (2013); Robert Graham, “Black Flame: A Commentary,” ibid.; Michael Schmidt and Lucien van der Walt, Black Flame: The Revolutionary Class Politics of Anarchism and Syndicalism (Oakland: AK, 2009); Lucien van der Walt, “(Re)Constructing