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1/29/2015 Comments Jesus bar Abbas: a RevolutionaryBy: Kirby Franklin ![]() The similarities are striking. Many, if not all, Christians know of Barabbas as the murderer released on the Passover, (as per tradition), in replace of the Governor Pontius Pilate's first choice, Jesus. However, what many do not as readily know, is the strange, almost intentional, similarities between Jesus and Barabbas. Not much is known of Barabbas, however, in Mark 15:7 it tells us exactly who he was; [he] was in prison with the insurrectionists who had committed murder in the uprising. Barabbas was not just a common criminal, or violent murderer as we are often told, and as so many people have been led to accept. Barabbas was actually a revolutionary. A zealot, who stood up for his people against an oppressive government of racially biased, and wealth consumed, God-haters. One of Jesus' own disciples, Simon, was a zealot before he became a follower of the Christ, and it's quite possible he knew Barabbas. Even more possible, Barabbas may have known of Jesus, due to his reputation. But what we do know, is that Barabbas was a political prisoner of the Empire, caught during a riot, or an uprising, and sentenced to death for his "crimes." The similarities, to me, are far more than coincidence. Especially when you learn that many early manuscripts of Matthew, called Barabbas, Jesus bar Abbas. Quite literally "Jesus, son of the Father." No, I think there is a lot to be grasped here.
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1/9/2015 Comments On Ferguson and PropertyBy: Amaryah Armstrong Note: post originally appeared on the Women In Theology blog. ![]() I’m tired of people sharing pictures of folks in Ferguson who are stopping looting. While I understand the impulse, attempting to show that there are a multiplicity of responses to the verdict and that not everyone feels the same about property destruction, it also seems to repeat the criminalizing of folks who do loot and suggest a certain respectable propriety as what the “good” protestors are doing. This continues a similar delegitimizing of property destruction and looting that the mainstream media panders in. But property destruction and looting are not senseless. They’re not dumb. They’re a response. An uncomfortable response for a society who thinks private property is an extension of our bodies. But given that those who are descendents of people who were property, those dispossessed who through policing are made out to be property for the state, it would seem in the looting and property destruction is a critique of private property as the invention that produces public property, which is black flesh. And this production of public property as blackness is the production of its profitability as its expendability. Darren Wilson received 500k in support of his defense of this division of property, paid leave, a marriage celebration, and a public interview to top it off. By: Drew G.I. Hart Note: Originally posted on Drew's blog Taking Jesus Seriously, hosted by the Christian Century. ![]() For nothing will be impossible with God. (Luke 1:37, NET) ‘All things become NEW!’ That is what scripture says, right? And yet, in the midst of our current society, nothing could seem further from ever being actualized for those living in the cracks and margins of this world. In our country, the lives of Black and Native American people continue to carry no value. Women are routinely subjected to an inferior status to men. The poor are exploited and trampled upon by the rich. The majority of American societal structures are unashamedly bent towards injustice and violence. Most organizations and corporations veil the degree to which they are turned inward, seeking self-preservation, and self-promotion. Wealthy American citizens are often discontent with their current lifestyles, normed by the media induced desires for an American Dream. Broadly speaking, the American culture is ideologically socialized into idolatrous patriotism, dehumanizing white supremacy, and blasphemous materialism. Partisan politics reveal, to those that are not sleep walking, that both sides of the aisle are just as implicated in conserving, or optimistically only tweaking, a broken system. This Old Order seems to have staying power. It is hooked up with dark and evil forces of this world, a much more tragic reality than any mere human conflict. Forget “New”, it seems at times like the Old Order is here to stay. By: Ewuare X. Osayande This originally appeared on Ewuare's website. ![]() As many shop for Christmas presents in the malls of America, still many others have taken to the streets all over this nation in protest to the rash of police killings of African Americans under the banner of #BlackLivesMatter. This jarring juxtaposition of realities is best captured by the photograph from Ferguson of St. Louis police officers in riot gear standing below a “Seasons Greetings” banner bedecked with Christmas lights. The seasonal themes of “peace and good will” and “glad tidings to all men” have been rendered meaningless in the face of such fascistic state-sponsored intimidation as Christians prepare to celebrate the birth of their Savior, Jesus the Christ. But contrary to the sermons that are being preached during this Advent season, the first Christmas was not as “calm and bright” as the Christmas carol suggests. As today, that first Christmas pageant was indeed a pageant of protest. In fact, this present juxtaposition of realities was the same stark contrast faced by the people to whom Christ was born. The Hebrew people lived under fear of death at the hands of a militarized state. The level of repression being visited upon Black America at this very hour in the United States is strikingly similar in spirit and expression to what the people of Galilee felt and knew when Jesus was born. 12/17/2014 Comments Locating Myself in a New Place![]() This article first appeared on Geez Magazine A new location I recently moved to San Francisco, which was not a quick or easy decision (and deserves a blog post unto itself). I now live in the Mission District of San Francisco, in a community house with four other people. Our home is owned by a Mexican couple who raised their family in this house before moving south of the city. The Mission is one of the neighbourhood’s most rapidly displacing long-term residents due to an influx of people who look like me: young, white, professional. Following the transition, one of my top priorities was to get to know the history of this place. Based on my experiences with People’s History of Elkhart, in Indiana, where I used to live, I knew it was crucial to locate my story within the broader story of a place. How did I come to be in this place? Who was here before me? Who’s still here? Who was forced to leave? Who’s coming now? Why? 12/6/2014 Comments A Reflection on Animal LiberationNote: The following is a piece I wrote for the 2015 edition of wretch, a day planner and resource guide. It was long enough since my last project that it took a few tries to get started, but it felt good to finally put thoughts to paper again. God has told you, O mortal, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God? — Micah 6:8 (NRSV and NIV) By: Ryan Jarrell ![]() I am the good shepherd: the good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep. 12 But he that is an hireling, and not the shepherd, whose own the sheep are not, seeth the wolf coming, and leaveth the sheep, and fleeth: and the wolf catcheth them, and scattereth the sheep. 13 The hireling fleeth, because he is an hireling, and careth not for the sheep. 14 I am the good shepherd, and know my sheep, and am known of mine. -John 10:11-14 I ain’t talkin bout no money, I ain’t talking bout no cars, I ain’t talking bout no diamonds cause that shit is a façade -A$AP Rocky, Wassup As a newly convinced Quaker, this often under quoted parable was presented to me as the biblical basis of the pastorless organization of our worship community. And this point cannot be understated. If we are to bring the sweet solitude of the anti-cultural Kingdom of Heaven to the rooting places of Empire, our places of worship need to exemplify these values first and foremost. However, as my worship deepens and I continue to face that Spirit of the scripture in the desert of the heart, I find my Religious Societies simplistic explication of this particular parable lacks a certain depth. Upon increasing meditation, I find this sliver, more than a base allegation against the merits of monetary compensation, indeed unfolds into a critical facet of the Ghostly Shepherd’s ministry. ![]() Editors note: this article originally appeared on Nekeisha’s blog: Everyday Oppression, Everyday Resistance. “My client did not wait to become that victim,” he said. “My client did not wait to either get assaulted by a weapon or have someone potentially pull a trigger,” he said. “Now, does it sound irrational? Of course it sounds irrational. But have you ever been in that situation?” Strolla asked. — Quoted from “Michael Dunn convicted of attempted murder; jury can’t decide on murder” by Tom Watkins and Greg Botelho, CNN Justice So let me get this straight: Michael Dunn was not a victim of assault. He was not a victim of a shooting. He acted irrationally — aka insanely, stupidly and crazily — by shooting into a vehicle filled with Black teenagers and killing Jordan Davis, all because he didn’t like the volume of the music in their car. And yet, somehow, his lawyer manages to construe this incident as one in which Dunn was so afraid that he had no other option but to defend himself with deadly force? Really? 2/27/2014 Comments The Caring Earth in RevelationBy: Timothy Wotring ![]() So when the dragon saw that he had been thrown down to the earth, he pursued the woman who had given birth to the male child. But the woman was given the two wings of the great eagle, so that she could fly from the serpent into the wilderness, to her place where she is nourished for a time, and times, and half a time. Then from his mouth the serpent poured water like a river after the woman, to sweep her away with the flood. But the earth came to the help of the woman; it opened its mouth and swallowed the river that the dragon had poured from his mouth. (Revelation 12:13-16 NRSV) Apocalyptic images permeate our culture and society. On front pages of newspapers depictions of war torn areas, political and social leaders changing societies, and other developments with our technocratic world take up the ink of these pages. If you were raised in a fundamentalist dispensationalist church, I assume the landscape of your theological imagination consisted of the book of Revelation and the end times. According to these churches, Revelation is a map of things to come, which includes violence, the destruction of the Earth, hopeful rest for believers, and hellfire for those whom God has not chosen. Amongst these images, one could miss a beautiful description of Earth as a subject and a character. Before we proceed, let me lay a textual framework. 2/20/2014 Comments Misplaced Seminary Part 2![]() In 2001, Joyce Hollyday; a theologian, minister and author; joined with other folks to begin Word and World, “an experiment in alternative theological education – bridging the gulf between the seminary, the sanctuary and the street”. Word and World; inspired by freedom schools, popular education, William Stringfellow’s alternative seminary on Block Island, and Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s alternative seminary Finkenwalde; began as series of seven “schools” or weeklong retreats that met in cities across the US. The schools focused on four major movements: the black liberation and civil rights movement, liberation theology and borderland justice, the disarmament and nonviolent resistance movement, and feminist, womanist, and LGBT liberation theologies. After organizing these “movable feasts”, Word and World facilitated a year-long mentoring program for folks under 30 that included three group retreats, a reading curriculum that covered much of the material covered in the schools, writing assignments and service. |
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