Recovering the Authentic Jesus of the Gospels

On By RadicalDiscipleshipIn Subverting Empire, Theological AnimationLeave a comment

Another compelling offering from The Alternative Seminary.

A SEVEN-WEEK ONLINE COURSE
7:00 – 9:00 pm EST
Tuesday evenings, April 2 – May 14, 2024

In the United States today, we are witnessing the ascendancy of Christian Nationalism – a dangerous heresy in which “American Jesus” is a gun-toting, law-and-order, pro-military, pro-capitalist, and largely racist Messiah of the Domination System.

We urgently need to recover the authentic Jesus of the Gospels. Together we will explore the radical and revolutionary mission and vision of Jesus in the midst of the Empire and false idols of his time. What does Jesus mean in proclaiming “the reign of God”? How does his life embody that new spiritual and social reality? What kind of discipleship community does he call people to? We will reflect on how the Gospel addresses issues of politics, economics, power, healing, community, and suffering. We will struggle with how this Jesus challenges us to be a Beloved Community in these insane and dangerous times.

This course, which begins in Easter Week in the light of the Resurrection, will be led by Will O’Brien, coordinator of the Alternative Seminary.

Continue reading “Recovering the Authentic Jesus of the Gospels” →

Lifting Up Our Gaze to Gaza

On By RadicalDiscipleshipIn Subverting Empire, Theological Animation1 Comment

Young woman in keffiyeh among may others holds sign and appears to chant. Lots of red and green.

By Tommy Airey

Over the next three weeks, the Christian season of Lent will overlap with the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, which started yesterday at sundown. Yesterday. When a billion Christians read the Gospel text where the radical rabbi Jesus tells the wealthy and powerful Nicodemus that Jesus himself must be lifted up on a cross – just like Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness.

Jesus was giving a little sermon on the story in the Hebrew bible about the post-exodus Israelites getting bit by poisonous snakes. God tells Moses to make a bronze snake, put it on a pole and raise it up whenever someone gets bit – so they can look up at the snake and be healed. Jesus says that he is now playing the role of the bronze snake.

In the Gospel story, Jesus will inevitably be lifted up on a cross. Because he paved a path that threatened those who clung to their privilege, power and wealth. Radical Christian spirituality roots salvation in gazing at Jesus up on that imperial cross.

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Whose Liturgy Is It Anyway?

On By RadicalDiscipleshipIn Feminist/Womanist/Queer Liberation and Theology, Theological AnimationLeave a comment

Another compelling offering from Alternative Seminary.

Whose Liturgy Is It Anyway? Reclaiming Christian Liturgy as the People’s Work

A Three-Part Series Led by Rev. Naomi Washington-Leapheart (above)

Saturdays, March 9, 16, 23. 10:00 am- 12:00 noon EST. $100

Familiar and traditional liturgy in Christian worship can be a source of comfort. But liturgies left unexamined can do harm. In this series, we’ll explore various liturgical forms and ask – whose liturgy is this and what “work” is this liturgy doing? 

Continue reading “Whose Liturgy Is It Anyway?” →

What Would I Do If I Was Alive During Slavery?

On By RadicalDiscipleshipIn Cloud of Witnesses, Subverting EmpireLeave a comment

By Caitlin Johnstone, an Australian independent journalist. Re-posted from her Feb 26 newsletter

I watched the uncensored video of US airman Aaron Bushnell self-immolating in front of the Israeli embassy in Washington while screaming “Free Palestine”. I hesitated to watch it because I knew once I put it into my mind it’s there for the rest of my life, but I figured I owe him that much. 

I feel like I’ve been picked up and shaken, which I suppose was pretty much what Bushnell was going for. Something to shake the world awake to the reality of what’s happening. Something to snap us out of the brainwashed and distracted stupor of western dystopia and turn our gaze to Gaza.

The sounds stay with you more than the sights. The sound of his gentle, youthful, Michael Cera-like voice as he walked toward the embassy. The sound of the round metal container he stored the accelerant in getting louder as it rolls toward the camera. The sound of Bushnell saying “Free Palestine”, then screaming it, then switching to wordless screams when the pain became too overwhelming, then forcing out one more “Free Palestine” before losing his words for good. The sound of the cop screaming at him to get on the ground over and over again. The sound of a first responder telling police to stop pointing guns at Bushnell’s burning body and go get fire extinguishers.

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The Pitfalls of Liberalism

On By RadicalDiscipleshipIn Race, Subverting Empire5 Comments

Excerpts from Kwame Ture’s “The Pitfalls of Liberalism” (1969). It’s more relevant than ever.

“The final confrontation, when it does come about, will of course include the liberal on the side of the oppressor.”

Whenever one writes about a problem in the United States, especially concerning the racial atmosphere, the problem written about is usually black people, that they are either extremist, irresponsible, or ideologically naive.

What we want to do here is to talk about white society, and the liberal segment of white society, because we want to prove the pitfalls of liberalism, that is, the pitfalls of liberals in their political thinking…

Many people want to know why, out of the entire white segment of society, we want to criticize the liberals. We have to criticize them because they represent the liaison between both groups, between the oppressed and the oppressor. The liberal tries to become an arbitrator, but he is incapable of solving the problems. He promises the oppressor that he can keep the oppressed under control; that he will stop them from becoming illegal (in this case illegal means violent). At the same time, he promises the oppressed that he will be able to alleviate their suffering — in due time. Historically, of course, we know this is impossible, and our era will not escape history.

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Jesus’ “Second Call” to Discipleship

On By RadicalDiscipleshipIn Theological Animation2 Comments

JesusPeter2By Ched Myers, For the Second Sunday in Lent (Mk 8:31-38), re-posted from Lent 2015

Note: An ongoing series of Ched’s brief comments on the Markan gospel readings from the Revised Common Lectionary.
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The midpoint of Mark’s narrative poses two questions, aimed both at the disciples in, and the readers of, the story:

“Do you not yet understand?” (Mk 8:21).

“Who do you say that I am?” (8:29a).

The latter provokes what I call the “confessional crisis” (8:30-33), which this Sunday’s reading inexplicably jumps into the middle of (we get the whole text on the 16th Sunday after Pentecost, Sept 13th). This is followed by Jesus’ second call to discipleship (8:34ff), deepening the journey begun in 1:16-20. Continue reading “Jesus’ “Second Call” to Discipleship” →

Learning from Laughter and the Trees: Sometimes I Feel like it’s the End of the World

On By RadicalDiscipleshipIn Subverting Empire, Theological Animation2 Comments

By Lydia Wylie-Kellermann

Sometimes the most miraculous moments of parenting happen in those late night hours when you wish your kids were asleep, but you are snuggled up beside them and they begin to speak.

A few months ago, as the leaves were just beginning to fall, I was lying with Isaac rubbing his back. The lights were off, but the moonlight was streaming through his window. Isaac is now ten years old. I don’t know if you remember fifth grade social studies, but this is the year when the curriculum teaches about “the founding of America.” And Isaac has been struggling. He is learning it in a very different context from our beloved Detroit to our new home in the mountains of eastern Pennsylvania.

We had been quiet for quite some time and I wondered if he had fallen asleep, when suddenly he said, “I miss Detroit.”

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