Category: Subverting Empire

post-evangelical

On By RadicalDiscipleshipIn Subverting Empire, Theological AnimationLeave a comment

By Tommy Airey, re-posted from his Substack newsletter.

Charles Cha and I joke that we were evangelical Christians before it was cool.

In the early 90’s, we attended a bible study for high school students sponsored by Campus Crusade for Christ. It was basically a training camp for evangelizing students, teachers, administrators and coaches at our public-school campus in Orange County, California.

During our junior year, Charles and I invited friends to join us in Mr. Leander’s classroom during lunch so we could get them saved. We utilized a tract called “The Four Spiritual Laws,” which was created by Campus Crusade founder Bill Bright back in the 60’s. 

Charles had the whole thing memorized.

He used the whiteboard to scrawl out bible verses from the Book of Romans.

He drew images to show how our sin will send us straight to hell – and also how God’s grace builds a bridge to heaven for those who make a decision for Christ, whose death on the cross makes us clean.

None of our friends bought that bridge.

Continue reading “post-evangelical” →

A Wilder Way

On By RadicalDiscipleshipIn Subverting Empire, Watershed DiscipleshipLeave a comment

A Wilder Way: Midwifing the World to Come in an Age of Extinction is a five-day gathering at Dreaming Stone Arts and Ecology Center, August 19 – 23. Together, we will weave skill-shares, song circles, storytelling, faith narratives, and community ritual – all in service to intimacy with the land and community resilience.  There will be plenty of space for rest, reflection, informal connection, and time with (and in!) the river. Meals will weave abundant connections, integrating foraged ingredients with locally grown, storied food. Together we will experiment in creating a new/old bioregional culture attuning to the land, our bodies, the collective, and sacred presence.

Sign up early to get early bird discounts. Work-trade opportunities, partial scholarships, and payment plans are available to make each event accessible. This event will nourish your spirit, grow your skills, and widen your community.  Learn more at – https://dreamingstone.org/wilder-way/

Splendor Within Humility

On By RadicalDiscipleshipIn Subverting Empire, Theological AnimationLeave a comment

A word from our comrades at Rabbis for Ceasefire. They are posting these everyday during the 49 days of Omer, which extends from the second night of Passover to the day before Shavuot.

When involved in solidarity movements, it is important that those of us who show up as allies defer to the leadership of those most directly impacted by state violence. So, for example, in Palestinian solidarity work, it is incumbent upon those of us who are not Palestinian and not directly impacted by the actions of Israel and the U.S. to ensure that the voices of Palestinians are centered, whether in our meetings, at events, with the press, etc.

This requires humility. The humility to know that your words are not more powerful or more important than those of Palestinians. The humility to recognize that deferring to the wisdom of those directly impacted is a true act of solidarity. I see splendor within humility as a beautiful mosaic of opening the white spaces between the black letters for the voices of the most directly impacted and marginalized to speak and share their truth and stories—stories that are far too often silenced in a society that awards narcissism and charisma over truth and justice.

In the Belly of my Brother

On By RadicalDiscipleshipIn Subverting Empire, Watershed Discipleship1 Comment

An excerpt from Robin Wall Kimmerer’s essay “The Serviceberry: An Economy of Abundance” (2022).

As the berries plunk into my bucket, I’m thinking about what I’ll do with them all. I’ll drop some off for friends and neighbors, and I’ll certainly fill the freezer for Juneberry muffins in February. This “problem” of managing decisions about abundance reminds me of a report that linguist Daniel Everett wrote as he was learning from a hunter-gatherer community in the Brazilian rainforest. A hunter had brought home a sizable kill, far too much to be eaten by his family. The researcher asked how he would store the excess. Smoking and drying technologies were well known; storing was possible. The hunter was puzzled by the question—store the meat? Why would he do that? Instead, he sent out an invitation to a feast, and soon the neighboring families were gathered around his fire, until every last morsel was consumed. This seemed like maladaptive behavior to the anthropologist, who asked again: given the uncertainty of meat in the forest, why didn’t he store the meat for himself, which is what the economic system of his home culture would predict.

“Store my meat? I store my meat in the belly of my brother,” replied the hunter.

Call a Thing What it is

On By RadicalDiscipleshipIn Subverting EmpireLeave a comment

From Dr. T. Wilson Dickinson, Professor of Theology and Director of the Doctor of Ministry and Continuing Education Programs at Lexington Theological Seminary.

The historical analogy for AI is not the printing press but the ship. While the ship was a technology that could have been used in many ways, the structural and strategic forces behind it made it the slave ship, the cargo ship, the naval ship. The tech barons and venture capitalists behind AI and the structures of racial capitalism that shape it are not seeking to improve our shared lives, but to grab more power and wealth.

To make these ships, forests were cut down and communities, ecosystems, and ways of life were destroyed. Likewise, AI is already having devastating environmental consequences with emissions, water, and communities. Those ships were used to transport enslaved and indentured peoples to plantations and mines, and they transported those extracted “resources” to factories. The commons were enclosed and privatized, so that the means of production could be held by a few, and the many would be so desperate and dependent that they were easily exploited. The growth of AI is being driven by the ambition that a few will own not just the means of production, but the producers themselves will be machines that can be owned. The vision is not to share this largess with all peoples but to consolidate power.

The age of the ship tried to call itself the Enlightenment. Its advocates were folks like John Locke who spun webs about freedom being rooted in private property and spent his life as a bureaucrat writing up constitutions that instituted slavery. Likewise, AI optimist are dressing it up as a kind of intellectual freedom, but its function will be to produce and control more docile populations.

Continue reading “Call a Thing What it is” →

From Golden Calf to Sacred Dwelling: Reimagining Jewish Identity Beyond the Nation-State

On By RadicalDiscipleshipIn Subverting Empire, Theological AnimationLeave a comment

By Ariel Gold

When Pope Leo XIV rebuked Pete Hegseth on Good Friday for using biblical language to justify war, it stopped me cold. What was a red line for the American pope — and sparked a “tidal wave” of complaints from active duty U.S. service members — has become so normalized in American Judaism that our siddurim (prayer books) include prayers that the State of Israel and the Israeli Defense Forces, with God’s help, be “crowned with victory” in all military endeavors.

I thought back to the Torah portion of the prior few weeks and the lessons it offers.

In Parsha Ki Tisa, the Israelites build a golden calf while Moses is on Mount Sinai receiving the Torah. Newly freed from bondage in Egypt, anxious and unmoored, they melt down their gold and create an idol to worship.

As the saying goes, those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it. Despite thousands of years of Torah study, we have done it again — given in to fear and replaced our faith in God with the worship of another idol — this time, a nation-state.

When European Jews in the 19th century were allowed out of ghettos and into broader society, it raised a genuinely thorny question: was Judaism, as a religion, even necessary anymore? Like the Jews of biblical times, our emancipation created a void. What rushed in was nationalism. Zionism offered a secular answer — shift faith in God into faith in political and military power. But God was removed from the language while biblical promise continued to drive political action. Messianic longing was not replaced; it was nationalized.

Continue reading “From Golden Calf to Sacred Dwelling: Reimagining Jewish Identity Beyond the Nation-State” →

Not Our End Times

On By RadicalDiscipleshipIn Subverting Empire, Theological Animation2 Comments

Christians for a Free Palestine is hosting another community call this Wednesday, April 15 at 8pmET. Register here.

For more than two years, the U.S. government has enabled and normalized genocide against Palestinians in Gaza with impunity, and yesterday morning, President Donald Trump made overtly genocidal threats “that a whole civilization” could die in order to achieve his military goals in Iran. 

The U.S. and Israeli governments have already committed enormous harm in Iran, including war crimes. Even as a fragile ceasefire in Iran begins, Israel is continuing to bomb Lebanon, dropping bombs in 100 locations in just 10 minutes today. Over the past month, U.S. and Israeli actions in the region have displaced millions of people from their homes.

For years, the Christian Zionist lobby paved the way for this moment. According to them, any violence, war, and destruction can be justified and even celebrated if it is seen to help usher in the end times. That’s why Christian Zionists are cheering on the ethnic cleansing set to take place in Lebanon as a step toward “Greater Israel,” and hailing the war in Iran as the Battle of Armageddon. As Christians, we oppose genocide and ethnic cleansing against any people, and believe in a future for our world grounded in true and just peace— not false peace held up by domination, violence, and empire. 

Our April 15 Community Call, “Not Our End Times” will focus on how Christian Zionism has fueled the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran and how we respond. Join us to hear from:

  • Joy Metzler, a military defector and conscientious objector
  • Izzy Mustafa, campaigns coordinator with Adalah Justice Project
  • Tommy Airey, a leader with CFP-Detroit, and member of CFP’s Theo-Politics Team.

We hope to see you on April 15 at 8pm ET / 5pm PT to build community, make sense of this moment together, and continue creative, nonviolent resistance to Christian Zionism, including preparing for this summer’s action to counter Christians United for Israel (CUFI), the largest Zionist organization in the country. 

Let us work together toward the “world that ought to be.”