A Radical Christian Manifesto

So do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring worries of its own. Todays trouble is enough for today. Matthew 6:34 There is a long tradition in Christianity of valuing and caring for the widows, orphans, oppressed and impoverished among us and doing the best one can do for them while looking to the horizon for the return of Jesus and a new heaven and new earth. The words of Jesus and the canonical books of the Bible often inspire a better life and a more loving disposition towards our fellow human. Christianity can give one a glimpse of transcendence and opens ones eyes to the pain and suffering in the world. However, Christianity and the message of the gospel is not the only ideology working in the life of the Christian. The ideologies of capitalism, state, and kyriarchy conflict with the work of Christ that Christians are called to. These additional ideologies entrench themselves in the collective consciousness of a society and make clear action and clear thinking hard. The mission of this journal is to re-orient the Christian gaze, moving from a yearning for a metaphysical salvation, towards a fixation on truly helping the oppressed. The radical praxis of Christians is to exorcise the demonic ideologies that coopt and silence the message of Christ. The power of these ideologies in our society is great; the radical Christian praxis strikes at the axis on which the dominant culture spins. Christianity gives one an orienting story to inhabit and take refuge in; as well as an resevoir of love, grace, and peace to dismantle hegemonic ideologies that cause so much strife.

Karl Marx, a philosopher of great intellect and great controversy, stated in his prodigious Theses on Feuerbach that The philosophers have only interpreted the world, in various ways; the point is to change it.1 Marx was certainly onto something here, the point is certainly to change the world, but it is the contention of this journal that interpretation and change are not in such opposition to one another. Interpretation is often all we have to deconstruct prevailing worldviews, and prevailing worldviews can go far towards determining political action and change.2 The revolutionary practice taken up in this journal is the radical interpretation and deconstruction of the Christian worldview in conjunction with contemporary Christian politics. Using a diversity of voices and Christian experiences this journal will interpret, subvert, deconstruct, and work against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world.

Karl Marx, Theses on Feuerbach,

http://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1845/theses/theses.htm
2

Richard Gilman-Opalsky, Spectacular Capitalism, pg. 80.