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An evil book? C. J. Sansom on the book of Revelation
evelation was the first C. J. Sansom book I have read, primarily because the plot is built largely around the seven bowls (or vials, as they are called in the King James Version) of judgement found in...
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We liberate a man
I have found Walter Wink’s brief little book on non-violence a thought-provoking read. He makes it quite clear that non-violence does not imply passive acceptance of an inhumane situation. Here’s an...
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What I oppose and what I reject
… what I oppose and what I reject: discrimination and oppression, homophobia and patriarchy, injustice and violence, force and empire. Thus John Dominic Crossan, God and Empire: Jesus Against Rome,...
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A deeply contested demand
One of the fascinating aspects of Fifty Shades of Feminism, edited by Lisa Appignanesi, Rachel Holmes and Susie Orbach, are the reflections on what has been achieved over the last few decades. Liz...
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No longer
There is no longer Jew or Greek, there is no longer slave or free, there is no longer male and female; for all of you are one in Christ Jesus. Thus Galatians 3:28. As Ulrich Duchrow notes, in his...
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Perfect love overcomes fear
n his concluding observations to Stanley Hauerwas and Jean Vanier’s Living Gently in a Violent World: The Prophetic Witness of Weakness, John Swinton notes that ‘Vanier continues to draw our attention...
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Stories
Stories. Mostly, as it happens, women’s stories. One writes: ‘When I was forty-one I lost the ability to read. … I was trying to get myself and my two children free of a husband I had been with for...
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An alternative people, among whom inequality and violence disappear
Without an alternative people, among whom inequality and violence disappear, Jesus would not be able to be the Christ, the Messiah. The existence of this people is the convincing proof that Christian...
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I have no enemies
Some thoughts on love, fear and violence from Living without Enemies: Being Present in the Midst of Violence, a book that I am enjoying more and more: Living beyond fear … means hearing God say, ‘Love,...
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Taking up the cross
‘Taking up the cross’ in costly discipleship means a willingness to struggle against evil, for the sake of fullness of life, for the ‘bringing back of beauty’. It does not mean the passive acceptance...
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The marks of oppression
As the oppressors dehumanize others and violate their rights, they themselves also become dehumanized. … Once a situation of violence and oppression has been established, it engenders an entire way of...
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Love recklessly
Some quotes on love and forgiveness from Francis Spufford’s recent book Unapologetic: If someone asks for your help, give them more than they’ve asked for. If someone hits out at you, let them. Don’t...
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If I kill my enemy
Peaceableness toward enemies is an idea that will, of course, continue to be denounced as impractical. It has been too little tried by individuals, much less by nations. It will not readily or easily...
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To see through every regime
To be a follower of Jesus … means … to see through every regime that promises peace through violence, peace through domination, peace through genocide, peace through exclusion and intimidation....
View ArticleDas dunkle, fensterlose Verlies seiner selbst
Jeder Gewalttätige ist eingeschlossen in das dunkle, fensterlose Verlies seiner selbst. Friedrich Dürrenmatt, ‘Nächtliches Gespräch mit einem verachteten Menschen’
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