Born May 14, 1907, Died April 14, 1964 Continue reading ““Mother of a Movement”, Rachel Carson”
Tag: Bartimaeus Cooperative Ministries
Rizpah
This piece was developed during the first Bartimaeus Institute Online Cohort (2015-2016), aka “The Feminary.” These pieces will eventually be published in a Women’s Breviary collection. For more information regarding the Feminary go here
By Adella Barrett
The king took the two sons of Rizpah…whom she bore to Saul…and the five sons of Merab… and gave them into the hands of the Gibeonites, and they impaled them on the mountain before the Lord. The seven of them perished together. They were put to death in the first days of harvest, at the beginning of barley harvest. Then Rizpah the daughter of Aiah took sackcloth, and spread it on a rock for herself, from the beginning of harvest until rain fell on them from the heavens; she did not allow the birds of the air to come on the bodies by day, or the wild animals by night.
2 Samuel 21: 8-10
It was during the time of the dry winds,
the barley white for harvest, the apricot and almond trees in bloom.
It was when the land began to ripen,
when the hands of the people were ready for gathering,
that Rizpah lost her sons. Continue reading “Rizpah”
Sabbath Economics
Bartimaeus Cooperative Ministries has proclaimed a Jubilee on their Sabbath Economics curriculum, packaging their regular Sabbath Economics book bundle with the Mammon to Manna DVD at a super Sabbath price of just $7.77 for all three (plus shipping, and tax where applicable). Click here to order. This is a quote from The Biblical Vision of Sabbath Economics by Ched Myers (2001):
Privately controlled wealth is the backbone of capitalism, and it is predicated upon the exploitation of natural resources and human labor. Profit maximization renders socio-economic stratification, objectification and alienation inevitable. According to the gospel, however, those who are privileged within this system cannot enter the Kingdom. This is not good news for First World Christians–because we are the “inheritors” of the rich man’s legacy. So the unequivocal gospel invitation to repentance is addressed to us. To deconstruct our “inheritance” and redistribute the wealth as reparation to the poor–that is what it means for us to follow Jesus.
Introducing: The Feminary
By Grace Aheron
This winter, five young women and myself are embarking upon an online adventure of alternative theological education. We’ve been dubbed “the feminary” and will be participating in a study cohort following the Bartimaeus Institute’s five-month online series. The seeds of the feminary were planted by a few voices crying out in the wilderness— crying for a radical feminist space where we could study scripture, history, and bible at a low price point and in community with like-minded people— and Ched and Elaine’s faithful response.
Continue reading “Introducing: The Feminary”
Workshopping Historical “Response-Ability” among Settlers
By Elaine Enns, Bartimaeus Cooperative Ministries. This piece was originally printed in Geez Magazine’s Decolonization Issue.
History, despite its wrenching pain,
cannot be unlived,
but if faced with courage,
need not be lived again.”
— Maya Angelou, “On the Pulse of the Morning,” 1993
Facing painful history is indeed wrenching. In North America, we Settler descendants often avoid hard conversations about past and present relationships with Indigenous people. In my ethnic community, Mennonites in Saskatchewan, I have been exploring our resistances to “response-ability” in doctoral research, through interviews, focus groups and workshops. This piece summarizes two —selective memory and distortions in our communal narrative—which obscure the whole story and the truth that alone can lead to reconciliation. Continue reading “Workshopping Historical “Response-Ability” among Settlers”
End of the Year Appeal
Two months ago, Bartimaeus Cooperative Ministries and Word & World officially launched RadicalDiscipleship.Net, a daily-updated blog designed to chronicle and animate expressions of “Movement” Christianity in North America. The two organizations have had a deep and long history, partnering in the challenge of bridging the gulf between the seminary, the sanctuary, the street and the soil.
Headquartered in the Ventura River watershed of Southern California, BCM animates and builds capacity for communities of discipleship and justice through the work of theological animation and restorative justice, drawing on the giftedness and expertise of Ched Myers & Elaine Enns, respectively. Over the past decade, BCM has been experimenting with week-long institutes (twice per year) and webinars (once-a-month), in addition to mentoring, lectures, sermons & keynotes given around the world.
Through schools, retreats, and mentoring, Word and World draws faith-based activists from various movements into a community of discipleship focused on social & cultural analysis and biblical reflection for social transformation. The goal of W&W is to encourage and strengthen disciples to become “radically biblical and biblically radical” in their work for peace and justice. Since 2001, W&W has hosted a number of schools drawing on the depth of the Civil Rights movement (photo above), liberation theology, the peace movement and faith-based feminist, womanist, mujerista, and LGBT movements.
BCM and W&W are excited for two upcoming events in 2015 that will provide participants unique opportunities to wrestle with scripture, social analysis, movement history and discipleship practices “between the seminary, the sanctuary, the streets and the soil”: Bartimaeus Cooperative Ministries’ Festival of Radical Discipleship in the Ojai Valley of California (February 16-20) and Word & World’s Land & Water School in Detroit (July 15-19).
Of course, virtually every community committed to radical discipleship finds itself, this time of year, staring wide-eyed at their dwindling budgets, asking: where will our financial resources come from this year? Indeed, to be conscience-strident is to be cash-strapped. In order to curate a truly community-and-gospel-rooted learning experience, we ask that you consider making a year-end contribution to either (or both) of these organizations. Thank you for participating in the Movement, in this blog project and for spreading the word.
In Loving Solidarity,
Lydia Wylie-Kellermann & Tommy Airey
Co-Editors, RadicalDiscipleship.Net
Click on to donate:
Finding Kinship in the Ventura River Watershed
Sarah Holst (right, with hubby Nathan) just finished a split internship with Bartimaeus Cooperative Ministries and the Abundant Table Farm Project. The newlyweds will be heading to Rochester, NY in January to intern with the Spiritus Christi community. Here, Sarah reflects about her process in creating the Equinox Liturgy for Farm Church in early October.
————————-
A week ago, I was washing the dishes after a shared breakfast at Ched and Elaine’s and rolling around how the Equinox Liturgy I was writing was going to take shape. In the process of this, I was also thinking about the chapter that Nathan and I had just read in Ched’s book Who Will Roll Away the Stone on Reclamation (Chapter 11). This chapter lays out the skin and bones of what has now fleshed out into Watershed Discipleship, and asks the question: How do we come to love our land (through the lenses of Christian theology) in a way that moves us to work for environmental and social justice? Continue reading “Finding Kinship in the Ventura River Watershed”
Radical Discipleship 