Marginalia

Christoyannopoulos concludes his book with the admission that Christian anarchism is in fact not anarchism at all, but theonomy or rule by God. He only chooses to retain the label for strategic purposes. Christianity is rooted in the conviction that God rules history, and that the will of God is revealed in Jesus Christ. Christian obedience to God in Christ is similar to anarchism, first because it denies the authority of the state, and second because it seeks non-authoritarian modes of political decision-making. But for Christians unlike anarchists, such a politics is based in God’s law—and in the end, God’s law will triumph. This basis means faithfulness to God is valued over short-term effectiveness, and hence the commitment to nonviolence is not viewed as an avoidance of moral responsibility. Christoyannopoulos suggests that this faith in God’s future unites Christian anarchists, whatever their disagreements about how that future comes about. Faith engenders hope, and in a time when the realisation of the Christian anarchist vision seems far away, such hope can sustain the vision on the margins of society as a critical force.

7 Ethnic Names with Figurative Meanings by Mark Nichol Names of ethnic groups have inspired nonliteral associations, many of them derogatory designations for the “other.” Here are seven such terms based on such names.

The hostilities between Israel and Hamas this week are just another sad exchange of munitions of no benefit for anyone, least of all the impoverished residents of Gaza. Rockets go one way, Hellfire missiles go the other. Targeted killing, random strikes, claim and counter claim of who is a terrorist and who is acting in self defence. Of far more novelty though is the Twitter war that broke out between the Israel Defense Forces and their opponents. Taking their fight to the micro-blogging world, the Israeli military and the al-Qassam Brigades resembled nothing more than two drunk blokes at a football barbecue “sword fighting” with their streams of urine.

On November 15th the Orthodox Church begins a period of preparation leading up to the Nativity of Christ on December 25th. The period of abstinence, called the Nativity Fast or St. Philip’s Fast, is a period similar to the western Advent but rather than 4 weeks it is 40 days.

Try harder to reach out to Iran. Common sense says that along with Israel, Saudi Arabia and Egypt it ought to be a major player in the region. The Iranian people still (God knows why) are a reservoir of positive regard for the American people, despite fifty years of sniping between our governments. Half the population of that country is under the age of twenty-five and is plugged in to the rest of the world, even if their leaders are not. Ratchet down the rhetoric, do some robust visioning about a win-win-win future and start talking turkey. Make the acquisition of nuclear weapons a choice that Iranians can feel comfortable rejecting, because they can get a better deal. Recent signals from Iran indicate that the time may be right and the stars aligning. Try harder on the abortion question. Virtually all Americans do not want to see any more abortions than necessary — they simply disagree on what is necessary. Can’t we take immediate steps, at the very least, to do what the vast majority can agree upon? Provide contraception to those who wish to use it. Provide pre-natal and post-natal care for any mother who can’t afford it. Help the private sector to modernize our adoption system, so that greed and human trafficking have no place in the equation. When there are willing and capable prospective parents and there are needy and neglected infants, why can’t they be connected, in this age of on-line everything?