A Living Alternative

In this final part of the review, I will explore the final chapter (The Way Of Christ: The Way Of Compassion) and the Epilogue (The Waitors Union). I will also share some final thoughts on the book.

Chapter 4 - The Way Of Christ: The Way Of Compassion

In this chapter, Andrews challenges us to abandon a religion of self-service and comfort to a living faith willing to face suffering in our pursuit of loving, compassionate Christ-likeness. Jesus is the ultimate archetype of compassion, a radical example of non-violent love. While Jesus is the central example, he cites several others who point to Christ in their own way- the Maladikarra of aboriginal Australia, the Bodhisattva of Buddhism and others. None replace or equal Jesus, but are important in Centred Set perspective in that they point towards Christ-likeness.

Jesus recognized that, while the rule and abuse of the empire made His people suffer, unless they were free from their own systems and illusions, political freedom would ultimately not liberate them. By focusing on how to live in grass-roots communities of faith, not only did Jesus transform Israel, but the world. It was in true community that the individual had value, and only in valuing every individual are genuine relationships possible.

However, in turning Jesus into an idol who we would like to be like, but deny it being possible, rather than a model to emulate, we lose sight of what it means to be “Christ-ians”. We can be Christ-like in ability, but must be in sensibility. It is not just the words of Christ, but most importantly the living example of Jesus that we must follow. He IS Truth. We must resist the temptation to perform and change the whole world, but rather to be faithful in the little things within our communities.

Using poetry and stories, Andrews demonstrates the necessity for a life of compassion, not self-conscious, not popularized, not violent. It must selflessly be directed at compassionate love and just advocacy to the marginalized and suffer in the world. He cuts through the romantic notions many have when they consider community and service to the poor, share personal stories of frustration. Yet, he shows the powerful value of such a life, not by the measure of the world, but in respect to Christ and His calling on us, even unto suffering.

This is the books longest and strongest section. Through proven personal example and creatively-presented, quality theology, Andrews call us to a living faith of compassionate embrace, not of narrow exclusion. The chapter closes with this encouragement:

“Christ knows we disagree about many things, if not most things, but he wants us to agree at least on one thing: the need for us to join together to develop communities in our localities that reflect his compassion by being more devoted, more inclusive, and more non-violent.”

Epilogue - The Waiters Union

Again speaking through his own tested experience, Andrews calls us to relate to every one through the person of Christ, indirectly as it would. Directly, we act carelessly, selfishly. It is truly difficult for many to understand that we are called to Christ-like acceptance, in fear that it be construed as agreement. However, it is far too important to risk misunderstanding than to deny love and compassion. The book closes with this definition:

“Christi-Anarchy /kristiaeneki/n. Christlike life; lifestyle characterised by the radical non-violent sacraficial compassion of Jesus the Christ; way of life distinguished by commitment to love and to justice; working from the bottom up to empower people, particularly the marginalised and disadvantaged, so as to enable them to realise their potential, as men and women, made in the image of God, through self-directed, other-orientated intentional community groups and organisations; from ‘Christi‘-‘for Christ’, and ‘anarche‘-‘against the powers’, as in ‘the principalities and powers’.

Final Thoughts

Let me get my critiques out of the way first. This book could have deeply benefited from being a bit longer, allowing some of the history to be further developed and given greater qualification. As it stands, it is over simplified to a fault. Besides his treatment of YWAM lacking qualification (perhaps even integrity), he offers caricatures as examples, thus undermining his credibility. I fear that he overstates the his points with little acknowledgment for the good (even necessity) within exsisting Christianity. It often left me frustrated.

That being said, I think this book is an important reminder of the heart of Christianity- at the heart of Jesus Christ. Compassion, justice and peace have too easily been compromised and outright rejected throughout our faith’s history. Dave Andrews has an authority based on a life of selfless service to others. He has proven himself in such a way that his message deserves a hearing. I am glad I read the book and would recommend it to many (though perhaps not all).

Christi-Anarchy Book Review Dave Andrews YWAM History Christianity

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

During the holidays, while staying in Brisbane’s West End with Kim’s Aunt & Uncle, I wandered down the street to a great local book, Avid Reader Bookshop. As I browsed, I came across a copy of Dave Andrew’s book “Christi-Anarchy: Discovering A Radical Spirituality Of Compassion” (the Tafina Press edition) which I had been wanting to read for some time. Buying the book, I stepped out and sat on the front step and began to read. This was in the preface:

“Believe it or not, ‘Christi-Anarchy’ has been displayed as best seller in… Avid Books, a local West End book store, whose manager reported that it was so popular that people were stealing it off the shelves!”

Of course, I immediately slipped the receipt in the top pages of the book for all to see. What were the odds? (As it turned out, I was staying less than a block from where Dave Andrew’s home, which I walked by daily).

Before I get into the review, here is the write up on the back of the book:

Jesus Christ preached a gospel of love and peace with justice. But the history of the Christian religion is littered with every kind of evil.

What went wrong? How have we become a generation that is seeking God but rejecting organised religion? How can we rediscover the authentic message of Jesus?

This challenging book explores the reasons behind the atrocities committed in the name of Christ. It offers the vision of Jesus as a source of radical renewal of individuals and societies.

Author of ‘Can You Hear The Heartbeat?’ and ‘Building A Better World’, Dave Andrews show how we can be inspired by the model of Jesus’ compassion, and his hunger for justice, to work with marginal groups for real transformation in our world.

Prologue:

This book is particularly difficult to review for me as, while an excellent book, the prologue retells Dave’s unfortunate history of being kicked out of YWAM many years ago. During a time where YWAM was particularly drawn to sheparding movement, Dave was confronted by top YWAM leadership who saw their leadership and his submission in a dangerously hierachal, divinely appointed perspective. Dave acknowledges his own failures in the process, but the truth is that YWAM genuinely failed and wounded him (and others). This lays the foundation for the rest of the book- a grave injustice done in the name of Christ.

Chapter 1 - A History of Christianity: A History of Cruelty

Andrew’s begins by introducing us to a brief history of Christianity, with focus on the failures of our faith. It is broken into four historical eras:

-Councils, Creeds & Coercian: ca. AD 100-500
-Emperors, Popes & Power: ca. AD 500-1000
-Crusades, Inquisitions & Control: ca. AD 1000-1500
-Worldwide Evangelism, Witch Hunts & Genocide: ca. 1500-2000

From these captions, it is easy to discern the legitimate faults Andrew’s cites in his concise overview of Christian history. He makes valid critiques of the abuse of power and position, shifting the intent of Christ into something far more institutional, political and self-serving. It is an indictment of the way in which our faith has been embodied for centuries and for which we still pay a steep price.

Because the history is so brief with such a clear intention is hopes to realize, the chapter is also guilty of over simplication, unhelpful generalizations and unqualified judgments. For example, like many such histories, Constantine become culprit number one- the whipping boy for Christian failure. While he contributed to many negative aspects of Christian development, it is too easy to pin so much on him, all the while ignore any good he might have done (however little it may have been).

In the fourth and largest portion of the chapter, Andrew’s focuses on the last few centuries in greater detail. Again, most of his criticisms are fair. However, the same problem occurs here in respect to fair qualification. For example, in relating YWAM’s connection to Rios Montt, it would be difficult for readers not to assume that YWAM supported the man in his ruthless, state-sanctioned killing of thousands. In truth, while YWAM did support Montt’s rise to power after he became a “born again” Christian. However, this was long before any of his murderous actions had taken place- after which YWAM had nothing to do with him. Without question it is an embarressing point in YWAM’s history. However, the chapter fails to represent this aspect at all, again almost seeming to suggest quite the opposite.

I will acknowledge that, as a member of YWAM, these defences may sound like lame excuses. However, as much as love the community of YWAM worldwide, I am not blind to our failures, past and present. Most of Andrew’s critiques are fair. I correct them less out of an attempt to defend YWAM, but rather to argue that Andrew’s important points would have greater credibility without these points.

Be that as it may, the core content of the chapter is an important reminder of the history which accompanies Christianity. Andrew’s rightly reminds us that we can no more deny the significance of these events throughout history than we can their real and direct impact on our expressions of faith today. (Interestingly, Brian McLaren’s references this book as a good example of a constructively critical look at Church history in “A Generous Orthodoxy”, chpt. 1, pg. 53, footnote 22).

In my next post, I will look at Chapters Two (Christianity On Trial: Guilty As Charged?) and Three (Christianity Is Dead: Long Live Christi-Anarchy!)

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