Last night I attended a discussion, at a funky cool bookstore called MonkeyWrench Books, with U of Texas professor Robert Jensen-author of All My Bones Shake: Seeking a Progressive Path to the Prophetic Voice. The event was advertised as follows:
After a lifetime of identifying as an atheist, Robert Jensen joined a Christian church. Many of Jensen's radical activist colleagues wondered if he had lost his mind. The jury is still out on that, but in his new book, All My Bones Shake: Seeking a Progressive Path to the Prophetic Voice, Jensen makes a case for a theology that can be consistent with radical politics. Leaving behind supernatural claims, Jensen uses the text and traditions of Christianity to argue for a theology and politics that takes seriously the radical action needed to deal with the multiple crises we face today.
My Austin based friend is a Christian with a strong social conscience, so off we went ....
Robert spoke to a very full room (standing room only) of mostly youngish folk, and spent a fair amount of time defending his decision to return to the religious teachings he had moved away from in his younger years. During the Q & A one woman suggested it's not fair to assume the room is full of atheists, and shared her own philosophy of "live and let live." But during his talk (which was recorded by, and will presumably be rebroadcast on KOOP radio Austin), Robert assumed the majority had only a cursory understanding of the scriptures, and spoke in terms we could all understand.
I'm not much interested in formal religion, I think it's too old and outdated and patriarchal, there are a ton of more modern readings we can draw upon for inspiration, so I listened with half an ear and quietly flipped through the 'zines on the rack next to me. I found an article denouncing the Vancouver 2010 Olympics in Volume 20, Issue 5 of the Student Insurgent (which I can't find online and for some reason I'd written down a different website). I also found an ad for a Permaculture Credit Union, and other interesting and progressive stuff and ideas. And I heard some interesting things come out of Robert Jensen's mouth.
What impressed me the most was his suggestion that we can use the ancient teachings to learn important life lessons .... like humility. Hubris, Robert suggests, is out of control. The bible actually teaches that capitalism is not the path .... since it encourages all the worst human characteristics, like greed and hubris. If we look at the Garden of Eden story, we find it's not about a god who wants to keep us stupid by insisting we don't eat from the tree of good and evil, but it's about realizing that humans cannot control everything in the universe and we just need to accept that. I wondered what Robert considers a viable alternative to capitalism. Socialism, theoretically, is about the sharing and caring Robert suggested we read about in Acts and implement in our lives, but it's still a hierarchical structure that has, historically, been usurped and abused by power and control freaks.
I wanted to comment, to share my whacky philosophy that women are so much more reasonable in the control-the-universe sense, because there's so much about our lives that we cannot control. Not the stuff imposed on us by patriarchy, but the stuff we're born with. At a certain point in our lives we start to bleed. Every month. Whether we like it or not. And at another point in our lives we stop bleeding. We metamorphosize. Whether we like it or not. We women realize, innately, that we are not in control.
Now that's not to say that all women are wonderful, kind, gentle creatures .... we can all think of women who are not that. I believe that if women were had been more involved, historically, in designing societies, governments, laws, the world would look a bit different, it'd be a lot friendlier place for all - men and women alike. But we live in a patriarchy - a world built by and for men. Wealthy men. The bible has been used for two thousand years to endorse that foundational structure. It's an ancient book that's been edited, and interpreted, and a lot of peoples' stories were left out of it. So when people talk about christianity, even in a progressive sense, I wonder how it's even possible.
I, who was never indoctrinated into any church, still get an image or a feeling of a dominant male when they talk about their god. I wanted to ask Robert what his idea of god is, what does god look like. Who, really, was Jesus? Why are we expected to believe his mother was a virgin? Isn't it more likely she was a young unmarried pregnant woman, and this was a story made up to protect her family? Who was Joseph? Who were Jesus' grandparents, his great grandparents? But there were lots of young folks with lots of good questions, so I guess I'll have to read his book to maybe find out specifically how he reconciles his idea of activism within a traditionally patriarchal religious tradition.
Another thing Robert left us with was the idea that the Golden Rule - Do Unto Others As You Would Have Them Do Unto You - is universal, found in all the big religions. That's good news - except when we consider that there are a lot of people in the world who hate themselves and want to hurt themselves. I think that explains people like George Bush and Karl Rove and Dick Cheney etc. They are sadists, living their version of the golden rule. They, and those like them, should never have power over anyone else. It's the power-over part of christianity that unnerves me. The patriarchal, hierarchical world-view. I just think there's got to be a better way .... but I accept that ultimately, aside from living as gently as I possibly can on our lovely earth, I have very little control about what the future might bring.
