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A Christian Anarchist Politic 1 A Christian Anarchist Politic No mistake or crime is more horrible to God than those committed to power. Why? Because what is official is impersonal, and beingng impeim impersonal is the greatest insult that can be paid a person. —Søren Kierkegaard The twentieth century was a olatilevolatilelatile century.century. WWe witnessed countless wars, revolutions, and politicalcall ideologiesideologie rise and fall in a manner akin to fashion trends on any given high schoolscho or college campus. That the twentieth century was thee bloodiest centurycentcen in human history should not be lost on us. We are,re,e, supposedly, in an age of freedom, progress, and a retreating barbarismarism as “civilization”“civilizat“civilizati spans the globe. Though the past century was privy to extraordiextraextraordinary changes that resulted in advances in technology, aviation, and medicine,m the fact that we are only a button’s push away fromomm nucleanuclenuclear destruction renders our advances somewhat moot. SAMPLE Also indicative of the previous century was the introduction of de- mocracy to large sectors of the world. The early part of the past century was host to many other political theories such as communism, socialism, and anarchism—all of which exercised some very real influence in the United States. Many are probably unaware, for example, that we have the anarchists and socialists to thank for the reduction of ten to sixteen hour work days to eight hour work days. Throughout the century, however, these political ideologies were heavily marginalized. While it is true that there are other cultures still operating under monarchies, theocracies, and communist orders, for the most part it is generally assumed, at least by many of us in the West, that the salvation of the world is dependent 1 © 2009 The Lutterworth Press 2 LIVING ON HOPE WHILE LIVING IN BABYLON upon these countries/cultures adopting, with the aid of the United States, democracy as the only form of politics. The utilization of salvific language should offend our Christian sensibilities, because in the context being used it is idolatrous. Yet, the fact that the United States is often referred to by her own politicians as the “city on the hill” (a moniker supposedly reserved for, and claimed by, Judaism and the church) suggests that there is a soteriological motif attached to the story of this nation-state. To even hint at such language, which is far less than what recent politicians have done, is to attempt to replace the narrative of the church with the narrative of the state. No nation-state is the city on the hill, and any that purport to be are placing themselves outside of the prophetic task of the church that would hold all cities accountable to God’s justice. There aree no no na nations capable of rising above the call to repentance, not evenen the royal nationn known as the church. It is not my task in this bookok to deconstrucdeconstruct such a nar- rative, but merely to remind Christiansnss that our hope is rooted not in the illusory security offered by thehee state,state, andand thatthat salvation depends upon the Christian’s participationion in the reign of the heavenly king- dom.1 Such participation is nott merely ana obligationob imposed on the Christian for her sake, butt for the sake of ththe world. For if Christians are not Christians, how will the world knoknowkn of the political reign of God’s kingdom? This immediatelydiately begsbegs man many questions: What does it mean to be a Christian? Iss Christianity merelym cognitive assent to specific propo- sitions? That is,s,is, isis ChristiaChristianity simply about belief qua belief? “Merely believe and you shallhall be saved!” shouts many a minister. In contrast, my grandmother was oftenSAMPLE quick to remind me, perhaps a little too often, that “even Satan believes.” She would not allow me to think that the treat- ment of Christianity as a mental checklist of “yes’s and no’s” was much of an achievement. I think she was right. Christianity is more than a catalogue of right things to believe, because belief is rendered intelligible not by the things we believe but by the things we do. We live what we profess. We live what we believe. Our convictions are manifested in the way we live. This is not a faith versus works scenario; it is the under- standing that unless we obey the teachings of Christ all of our claims to 1. For a strong critique of the state’s imposed soteriological narrative, see Cavanaugh’s Theopolitical Imagination. © 2009 The Lutterworth Press A Christian Anarchist Politic 3 know him are rendered untruthful (1 John 2:3). Faith, as Jesus makes clear in the Johannine text, is a matter of obedience. Christianity is not so much about what we believe, as it is a path we have chosen to follow. It is an embodied journey with a group of fellow believers/practitioners that strives to provide glimpses of God’s peaceable kingdom for the sake of the world. Whether or not we attempt to embody our beliefs is not up for grabs, rather what is at stake is the manner in which we go about this communal journey—as this will determine the content and vision of the kingdom that we represent. Our very posture, as a people set apart, will give content to that which we are called to embody. That Christians are to be representatives of God demands not a withdrawal from the world, but a thoroughgoing engagement with it even as we are separate from it. Christians are to engage the same world that wass engagengengaged by, and eventu- ally killed, Jesus. It is in the how of which we engagengage such a world that the balance of our precarious witness hangs. to be or not to be (of thehe world) They [disciples] are not of the world,orld,ld, eveneven asas II amam nnot of the world. —Jesus of Nazareth Though we maynot not be be of of this this wo world (post-baptism), we are, obviously, in it. There isno no retreat, retreat, esescape escape, or withdrawal; we are in the world to its very core. Perhapserhaps a preempreemptive strike at possible critiques is in order: this book doesess not in anaany way, shape, or form advocate for some sort of retreat from responsibleponsSAMPLE activity in the public realm. Rather, I wish to pay careful attention to what genuinely constitutes “responsible activ- ity” as well as to not assume too early that we know what the “public realm” signifies. Part of my task will be to suggest that the ecclesial city on journey through the temporal orders of this world must bear wit- ness to the politics of God’s kingdom. This means that all of our activity is already inherently political, since Christian witness cannot but bear witness to the kind of God we worship. Concomitantly, it also means that all forms of political governance on this earth—the empires, the monarchies, the nation-states—are parodies of the heavenly kingdom; therefore, what constitutes the public and the political (and our respon- sibilities to these spaces) are those activities that reflect the substance of © 2009 The Lutterworth Press 4 LIVING ON HOPE WHILE LIVING IN BABYLON God’s kingdom, not earthly ones.2 Christians are in no way obligated to think or act as if our only political options are those dictated to us by the state. In the United States this means we are freed from the tyranny of having to choose between the so-called left, right, or vastly similar and devastatingly uninteresting, independent. Whether or not one is a Democrat or a Republican is not the issue; what matters is that one is a witness to Christ and the kingdom that is already, though not yet in its fullness, here. This kingdom narrates all other political ideologies as the parasitical creatures they are, since the only kind of goods they can point to are both limited and fundamentally tainted by sin. The Christian tradition has always claimed that temporal goods, even if they are at best only analogous to the goods of the eternal city, are still good. Neither they, nor the things they seek, areara to be confused with the highest good, worship of the Triunee God. HowevHowever, inasmuch as they approximate certain standards off the good—peace and justice, food and shelter—then the temporal cityity functions as a simulacrum of the heavenly city. Again, this neithererr replaces the eteeternal city nor does it demand any allegiance that woulduldld conflicconflictt withwith ouro heavenly allegiance. This simply attests to the realizationlizationation that that thet the c cities of earth can perform approximate services in relationelation to the good.go It is for this reason that when the Israelites foundund themselves in exile the prophet Jeremiah in- structed them to builduildd houses, plantplan gardens, and marry—all within the confines of theirr diasporic diasporic existen existence. In doing so, the exiled Jews “seek the welfare of thee city” that is notn even their own (29:7). This “nation-less” people contributebute to both the good of the temporal city for the sake of believer and non-believer-believbeliev alike. What is important here is that this is not a mere observation ofSAMPLE how to best “get by.” The seeking of the peace of the city as exiles is a purposeful command from God that tells us something about who God is. The seeking of the welfare of the city as the chosen yet exiled people of God is vocational—it is a matter of missiology.
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