WIKI
ANARCHISM AND CHRISTIANITY
According to orthodox opinion, Christianity is synonymous with order, authority and state power. Even the most casual glance at the history of the Church reveals a reliable and systematic pattern of political subservience; Imperialist in Rome, Monarchist in Renaissance Europe, Stalinist in Russia, and “Democratic” in America. Clearly, Christianity not only supports authorities, but presupposes that authorities exist. For Calvin, even the most brutal tyrant is better than the absence of civil authority, and Luther’s own endorsement of the bloody suppression of the peasant rebellion is well known. It would appear any reconciliation between Christianity and an-arche: the absence of authority and command, is out of the question. Expounding his own brand of Christian anarchy Leo Tolstoy complained of “a tacit but steadfast conspiracy of silence about all such efforts.” (Tolstoy,1984,p8) Nevertheless, from the very foundation of Christianity there has been an undercurrent of opposition to both secular and Church authority, much more than just incidental protests against given power abuse, but essentially anarchistic in character. So it is my purpose here to demonstrate the radical incompatibility between the ethics of state power and the ethics of the gospel. This is not an attempt to construct a sociology of Christianity, but simply an effort to isolate and analyse its socio-political dimensions and show that anarchism is the only “anti-political political position” in harmony with Christian thought. This will require scrutiny of both biblical doctrine, as well as some of the various anarchistic Christian movements throughout history. First of all, a brief definition of anarchism is necessary.
WAS JESUS AN ANARCHIST?
CHRISTIAN ANARCHY: A POLITICAL COMMENTARY ON THE GOSPELS
CHRISTIAN ANARCHY: THE FORGOTTEN POLITICS OF JESUS' RULE OF LOVE (pdf)
THE ROMANS 13 CONTROVERSY
