The Little Friar

Most of us are probably familiar with Hannah Arendt's notion of "the banality of evil".  The phrase was Arendt's attempt to discern the origins of the Holocaust from the personality of Adolf Eichmann, insights Arendt's summarized in her book Eichmann in Jerusalem:  A Report on the Banality of Evil . The argument that Arendt makes in that book is that evil isn't dark and deep but is, rather, thin and superficial.  Evil is ordinary people thoughtlessly making a million small choices.  No doubt this account cannot explain all that needs to be explained about evil, but it does explain much, even much about the Holocaust.  The Holocaust couldn't have happened if the German populace hadn't over time gradually consented through seemingly insignificant daily choices .  Laughing nervously, but without objection, to the anti-Semitic joke.  Not shopping at the Jewish store.  Accepting the promotion when the more qualified Jewish person was passed over....

Over the past weeks , I've attempted to make a case for my position on spiritual warfare -- particularly for recovering a theology of "the principalities and powers" and therefore articulating a theology of revolt.  So, let me summarize that argument and make a few observations. First, a summary: God is love.  This means that God is weak in the world, not exerting top down power over the world (there's no such thing as omnipotence , and it's a good thing, too).  Thus, love exists among a plurality of antagonistic powers, forces of violence and dehumanization, forces we'd call "satanic" in that they are manifestations of anti-love (and, thus, in the Christian imagination anti-Christ). Creating outposts of love in the world -- making the Kingdom of God come to earth as it is in heaven -- thus involves constant, daily struggle, a spiritual battle and war that is both moral and political, social and individual. And critical to keep in mind ...

I readily admit, I'm a strange duck.  On the one hand, I'm an Episcopalian.  I stand in the long line of tradition that seems, at least to most folks, to be a liberal one.  On the other hand, I have a very high view of the Bible, as the location of divine agency -- something you don't see in liberal Episcopalians (or even other mainline Protestants).  Let me be clear:  I'm not a fundamentalist.  I don't endorse reading the Bible literally all the time -- as if a solely literal reading were even possible.  I characterize my own reading as pneumatological -- with the Bible's Spirit is breathing life into our deaths -- but I know lots of folks will argue it's really a Christological reading (I've been hugely influenced by Karl Barth and Dietrich Bonhoeffer ).  So I encourage folks to read the Bible, a lot even, and listen and wait for God. Listening, I think, is the primary act of love.  In any relationship, when we're given a person's wo...

I've written previously here about a couple of those books by William Stringfellow that have had an impact on my thinking.  I want to continue with that series by focusing today on his Dissenter in a Great Society:  A Christian View of the American Crisis , from 1966. In the Forward, Stringfellow sets out the goal of the book: This book has no other ambition than to be a chronicle of criticism, complaint, and dissent, informed, I trust, by the faith and ministry exemplified in Christ, in which all things whatsoever are brought into question in this life. This "chronicle of criticism, complaint, and dissent" has four chapters.  Chapter 1 deals with poverty.  Chapter 2 deals with the American political crisis characterized by a "breakdown in rational public dialogue" between the political ideologies captured, as they are, by the Republican and Democratic parties.  Chapter 3 deals with race relations.   The final chapter is meant to articulate a...

Yesterday, I touched on one of William Stringfellow's books that's had a tremendous impact on my thinking.  Today I want to move on to another -- Free in Obedience . Free in Obedience is a book written for the church.  Much in the tradition of Barth and Bonhoeffer, this little book is an attempt to call the church to faithful witness in the world.  In making this call Stringfellow's task is both descriptive and prophetic.   Descriptive in helping the church clearly discern death and resurrection in the world.  Prophetic in calling the church to become a sign of life in the midst of death's works. In the first chapter -- "The Scandal of the Churches" -- Stringfellow starts by calling the church to participate in the everyday experiences of the world, to participate in what he calls "the real issues of faith": [T]he people and the things which an ordinary Christian comes into contact from day to day are the primary and most profound ...

I was first introduced to William Stringfellow in college.  Alongside Barth, Bonhoeffer, and George MacDonald, Stringfellow has been one of the most influential theologians upon my own thinking.  I want to take a few days and explore some of his most important works.  And I want to begin with his first book, A Private and Public Faith , from 1962. The quote from the dust jacket: The author hits hard at the manipulation of religion for personal, corporate and national self-interests; and sets forth the possibility and content of a relevant and honest witness to Christ in both private and public affairs.  The back cover of the dust jacket has a quote from Karl Barth describing Stringfellow as "the conscientious and thoughtful New York attorney who caught my attention more than any other person".  As most fans of Stringfellow know, during Barth's visit to America, Stringfellow and he interacted (with others) in a public discussion.  Barth was so impres...