Adam Smith, in Wealth of Nations, offers the following well-known myth: In a tribe of hunters or shepherds a particular person makes bows and arrows, for example, with more readiness and dexterity than any other. He frequently exchanges them for cattle or for venison with his companions; and he finds at last that he can [...]
The Founding Myth of Adam Smith
Posted 16 May 2012 by Roland BoerTagged As: Adam Smith, myth | Categories: The Futures of Capitalism | Leave a Comment
The Politics of Acts 1:15-17; 21-26
Posted 15 May 2012 by Timothy F. SimpsonTagged As: | Categories: General Discussion, Lectionary, The Politics of Scripture | Leave a Comment
The point of this text, as well as with many other texts in Acts, such as the selection of deacons and the acceptance of gentiles is that the community is given the capacity of discernment to chart its course and that there isn’t any way to guarantee the success of it’s life together other than these given means.
Blurred or Entangled: On the nature of our commitments
Posted 9 May 2012 by John ReaderTagged As: Badiou, Latour, Michael Sandel, Political Theology | Categories: General Discussion | Leave a Comment
It may seem futile to begin to argue about the language we use, but I happen to believe that it does make a practical difference to how we describe the world and then how we try to shape it. I note that Chris Shannaghan’s recent blog once again picks up the language of hybridity and [...]
The Politics of Acts 10:44-48
Posted 8 May 2012 by Aaron HowardTagged As: Acts 10:44-48, Alasdair MacIntyre, megachurches, Political Theology | Categories: Lectionary, The Politics of Scripture | Leave a Comment
In our text today Peter embraces the Gentiles as fellow Christians after he observes them being filled with the Holy Spirit. Earlier Peter had received a vision in which he was commanded to eat things that he considered unclean. Perplexed by the vision, Peter realized its meaning after he was led by the Lord to the house of Cornelius, a Gentile who believed in God. Peter never would have gone inside Cornelius’ home since Jews did not visit with Gentiles, nor enter into their homes. Because of his vision, however, he realized that God was doing a new thing, and he received the Gentiles into the household of faith as brethren….
Faithful Citizenship, by Greg Garrett
Posted 7 May 2012 by Guest PostTagged As: Augustine, Citizenship, civility, Political Theology | Categories: Books, In the author's own words | Leave a Comment
Why is it that people who call themselves Christian may find it next to impossible to talk to other people who call themselves Christian? Why is it that people who love this country and are grateful for the many freedoms we enjoy may find little common ground with other Americans who likewise love their country [...]
Sterile Voting and the Politics of Acts 8:26-40
Posted 5 May 2012 by Guest PostTagged As: Acts 8:26-40, Apostle Philip, community, Emma Goldman, Ethiopia, Eunuch, God’s Spirit, Isaiah, President Obama, Proletariat Hermeneutic | Categories: Lectionary, The Politics of Scripture | Leave a Comment
Emma Goldman once said “If voting changed anything, they’d make it illegal.” Goldman was speaking of the bourgeoisie democracy that upholds the status quo of US society. Her words have rung true for many of us progressives who voted for President Obama. We have and grown increasingly frustrated as his administration has leaned toward the status quo rather than the oppressed and poor. This week’s lectionary reading tells of a man who was part of the status quo in his society, high in power and authority in Ethiopia, yet God’s Spirit had something else in mind for him, an apostle named Philip….
Disinvited
Posted 3 May 2012 by Timothy F. SimpsonTagged As: | Categories: Israel/Palestine | 4 Comments
A couple of weeks ago, I was invited by an American Jewish organization to go later this month on a trip to Israel/Palestine to discuss the situation between the two groups. Two weeks later, my erstwhile hosts retracted that offer.
Beyond Romantic Multiculturalism
Posted 2 May 2012 by Christopher ShannahanTagged As: Dialogue, Difference, Hybridity, Identity, multiculturalism | Categories: General Discussion | 1 Comment
The affirmation of multiculturalism has almost been a marker of progressive orthodoxy amongst those on the theological ‘left’ for generations. It has characterised Church reports (e.g. ‘Faithful and Equal’, ‘Seeds of Hope’, ‘Passing Winter’ and ‘Faithful Cities’) theological education, community engagement, sermons and key texts on the urban political theology landscape, not least in the [...]
2 Thessalonians: The Difference Between the Religious Left and the Religious Right
Posted 2 May 2012 by Roland BoerTagged As: 2 Thessaonians 3:10, Lenin, religious Left, religious Right, Tony Abbott | Categories: Letters from the Road, Marxism | Leave a Comment
What is the difference between the religious Left and the religious Right? The key – believe it or not – may well lie in the interpretation of a biblical verse, 2 Thessalonians 3: 10: He who does not work, neither shall he eat. Let us compare the interpretations of Tony Abbott (a conservative, religious politician [...]
The Politics of Love; the Economy of Affection
Posted 26 April 2012 by David EnsignTagged As: Easter 4, Politics of love, Wendell Berry | Categories: Lectionary, The Politics of Scripture | Leave a Comment
The life of the good shepherd, the assurance of the psalmist, the acts of the apostles and the ethical injunction of 1st John all point toward an alternative source of power and, therefore, to an alternative economic and politic possibility: the possibility that “we do not have to live as if we are alone.”
