Anarchism and Christianity

by Narkissos 5 Replies latest watchtower beliefs

  • Narkissos
    Narkissos

    Nietzsche wrote Anarchists and Christians were of the same kind, because of their rejection of reality (as he saw it). He hated both and was at the same time fascinated by both.

    French author André Malraux wrote that Jesus was the only successful anarchist.

    French essayist Jacques Ellul, who was a Protestant and is still very influential in the "alternative movement", wrote an essay entitled "Anarchy and Christianity", where he tried to show the convergence and difference between the two ideologies.

    What do you think?

  • Satanus
    Satanus

    True christianty, as compared w paulian christianty and those strains of christianity that drag along the ot, would be anarchistic. Ellul shows this in his books, and he lived it to an extent. 'Course this scares the bejeesus out of american christians.

    SS

  • greatteacher
    greatteacher

    Undoubtedly the Russian Leo Tolstoy is the most famous writer associated with religious anarchism and has had the greatest impact in spreading the spiritual and pacifistic ideas associated with that tendency. Influencing such notable people as Gandhi and the Catholic Worker Group around Dorothy Day, Tolstoy presented a radical interpretation of Christianity which stressed individual responsibility and freedom above the mindless authoritarianism and hierarchy which marks so much of mainstream Christianity. Tolstoy's works, like those of that other radical libertarian Christian William Blake, have inspired many Christians towards a libertarian vision of Jesus' message which has been hidden by the mainstream churches. Thus Christian Anarchism maintains, along with Tolstoy, that "Christianity in its true sense puts an end to government" (see, for example, Tolstoy's The Kingdom of God is within you and Peter Marshall's William Blake: Visionary Anarchist).

    Also, The Anti-Christ, a book where Nietzsche explains how Jesus was the natural offspring of Jewish society. He states that Jesus ended all forms of art, culture, literature, history, government, etc. to express a form of individual idealism with an absolute rejection of reality.

    By the way, many anarchists do not like the term anarchism because it implies a theoretical "ism" to be studied and discussed, rather than a radical form of political activism and action. So, the terms Anarchy and Anarchist are used.

  • Satanus
    Satanus

    A negative connotation that is attatched to anarchism, is that anarchists want chaos. That may be true, but not necessarily. Anarch simply means without an overarching power. People could still lead orderly lives, if they wanted to, but they would need to accept responsibility for controling their own actions, if chaos was to be resisted.

    SS

  • Narkissos
    Narkissos

    Thanks for your posts. I just read the last two now (thought the thread was dead before).

    I wouldn't have thought of William Blake as a "Christian" anarchist. I felt his mysticism was more "pagan"-oriented. I have to read more of him and about him.

    About the origins of the "libertarian Jesus" in the NT, I feels it owes much to Hellenistic Christianity and its controversies about the law and the temple, which were put into Jesus' mouth in the Synoptic Gospels. The historical Jesus probably challenged the temple authorities from a very different point of view (very likely akin to the Essenes, that is: ritualistic and nationalistic). Paul's "justification by faith, not works of the law" could also be interpreted in a libertarian way, but his constant repression of "desire" stands in the way of such an interpretation.

    Summing up, a fruitful misunderstanding?

  • nirvana2013
    nirvana2013

    Excerpt from an interview on the BBC's Will & Testament:

    How should the person of faith relate to the institutions of the state -- a state that sometimes engages in physical force, violence and war? Should Christians accept that the state, even a warring state, enjoys divine approval, or demonstrate that their citizenship is elsewhere by resisting those actions of the state that are inconsistent with the peaceable kingdom of God?

    These are big questions that go to the heart of the discipline of political theology, and a new book considers a radical approach to that believer-state relationship. In Christian Anarchism: A Political Commentary on the Gospel, Alexandre Christoyannopoulos argues that Christian anarchism is both a unique political theology and a unique political theory.

    For the full BBC interview titled "Was Jesus an anarchist?" go to:

    http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/ni/2011/05/was_jesus_an_anarchist.html

Share this

Google+
Pinterest
Reddit