A Living Alternative

In the previous post, we were introduced to the premise of the book with a telling of Dave Andrews' sad history with YWAM, as well as the first chapter- a concise history of Christianity at it's worst. In this post we will look at the next two sections of the book- Christianity On Trial: Guilty As Charged? and Christianity Is Dead: Long Live Christi-Anarchy!

Chapter 2 - Christianity On Trial: Guilty As Charged?

Recognizing the dark history of Christianity as religion, Andrews' points out the sad reality that most Christians won't deny these realities, but rather discount them, either by over emphasizing the positives or making excuses for the failures. In fairness, we cannot deny the good, nor acknowledge the very different world in which many of these atrocities took place. However, the fact remains that we must resist these impulses and honestly face our history in its full spectrum.

Acknowledging that not everyone involved in these aspects of history (and present) are not evil, the book explores (but doesn't excuse) the various influences that fed into these events. It goes on to present four different spiritual perspectives that have shaped Christian worldview. The first, the Traditional Perspective, sees reality in two spheres- the heavenly and the earthly. Characterized by the "Darkness" novels by Frank Peretti, this view sees these very separate sphere interact, God against the Devil. In the second, the Spiritualistic Perspective, the heavenly realm relates to the soul, while the earthly to the body. However, the earthly is unreal, even wrong, while the only truly real, truly right sphere is the heavenly. The Materialistic Perspective is the opposite, where the heavenly is not only wrong, but at the core of the problems we discussed earlier.

The final perspective is the Integral Perspective which "...sees reality in terms of two coterminous aspects of the universe: an outer or earthly one, and an inner or heavenly one, so that every event has both an outer visible 'material' aspect and an inner 'spiritual' aspect". Theologians like Walter Wink and Charles Elliott represent much of this view in their works. It is to this perspective that Andrew's believes we must move.

It is through this last lense that Andrews sees, seeing that Christianity AS religion is the problem. It is not inherent to the person and teachings of Christ and God, but rather the result of the institutionalization, hierarchy and other corrupted influences. He goes on to tell the brief stories of Morris West (a personal favourite of mine), Dudley Hyde and Peter Cameron to demonstrate how these systems and powers abused and subjegated truly faithful believers. He closes the chapter with a quote from Cameron that sums his point up clearly:

"Christian freedom means freedom from Christianity!"

While Andrews effective argues for a thorough examination of our worldviews and the consequential beliefs and practices, I wish he had spent more time demonstrating more "mundane" manifestions of these problems in church life. By focusing too much on the larger, more extreme examples, it may serve well as an apologetic to those skeptical of Christianity, but won't go as far convincing those within who are looking for immediate places to change. (In fairness, his book "Not Religion, But Love", which I plan on ordering this week, looks as though it is a more practical follow up volume). His general critique is worth listening to, even if you are not convinced to the degree of his views, as I am not (i.e. I do not believe "religion" needs to be abandon to the same degree as Andrews).

Chapter 3 - Christianity Is Dead: Long Live Christi-Anarchy!

It is in this chapter that Andrews present the alternative to religion in what calls Christi-anarchy. Acknowledging the word "anarchy" comes loaded with extreme baggage, he argues that Christian history is filled with great anarchists, such as St. Francis of Assisi, Menno Simons, Dorothy Day, Jack Ellul and many more. Andrews says:

"For all these people Jesus Christ was the supreme example of authentic anarchy- the creative non-violent anarchist par excellence, working not from the top down, but from the bottom up, with the poorest of the poor, to empower people and enable them to realise their potential, as women and men made in the image of God. This is the essence of Christi-Anarchy."

He then introduces two primary paradigms through which Christians have used to understand peoples relationship to Christ. The first paradigm, which Andrews argue is the most prevelant one, is The Closed Set (see Figure 1). The Closed Set is the belief that there are those who are in and those who are out, clearly defined by their beliefs and behaviours (or lack thereof). Those who are in have "believed in their hearts" and "confessed with their mouths" that Jesus was Lord, "repenting of their sin". This view, he says, has become so popular because of the ease with which it settles the question of who is right, who is in, who is saved, but exacting too high a price.


The other paradigm is The Centred Set (see Figure 2), which is defined by the centre, which can never be enclosed. In other words, our relationship with Christ is defined not by external boundaries of belief or behaviour, but rather by our relationship to the centre, who is Christ. We move towards Christ and thus become more "Christ-ian" (ala Christ-like), encouraging others in this direction, regardless of whether they are "Christ-ians". While he presents alternative variations (such as The Centred Set In The Closed Set and The Closed Set In The Centred Set), he points out their weaknesses, coming back again to Centred-Set Christi-Anarchy. He compares Christianity and Christi-Anarchy, acknowledging their shared points, but pointing to their weaknesses, namely that the prior is too concerned with defending its boundaries and beliefs (and thus powers and structure), failing to be the Christ-like communities we are called to be.


These points are all too common in the emerging church conversation, a worthy addition to challenge narrow views of soteriology and evangelism. I do believe he is at risk of over-emphasizing important traditions of faith (which have genuinely been neglected) to the exclusion or dismissal of others. His list of anarchist Christians, for example, contain amazing models of faith in areas we all too commonly neglect, but they represent such a minute portion of the broader traditions through Christian history. That said, this chapter paints a challenging, but appealing image of what it would be mean to love God and our neighbour.

In my final post, I will look at Chapter Four (The Way Of Christ: The Way Of Compassion) and the Epilogue (The Waitors Union)


Christi-Anarchy Book Review Dave Andrews YWAM Rios Montt History Christianity