Clarion: Journal of Spirituality and Justice

Review of Beckett and Ellsberg's "Dearest Sister Wendy" - by Ron Dart

Review of Sister Wendy Beckett and Robert Ellsberg, Dearest Sister Wendy: A Surprising Story of Faith and Friendship (Orbis Books, 2022). Review by Ron Dart.

I have, sitting on my desk before me, Sister Wendy Beckett’s classic visual and textual beauty and must-read of a tome, Sister Wendy’s 1000 Masterpieces (1999). Sister Wendy certainly established herself as one of the most significant art historians (both on BBC and in publishing) in the latter half of the 20^th century and into the early years of the 21^st century. Robert Ellsberg and Orbis Books have established a unique and needful place in the publishing world in the genre of prophetic theology. It is rare that a much-respected nun and art historian and writer engaged in the rigorous field of public theology would dialogue in a meaningful and intimate correspondence, but such is the evocative and compelling mother lode of Dearest Sister Wendy. 

Sister Wendy Beckett was in the late autumn season of her all too earthy journey when the intensive and extensive correspondence began with Robert Ellsberg, the most compact phase from 2016-2018, Sister Wendy crossed the river on December 26, 2018. There is a tender and sensitive combination of letters between Robert Ellsberg and Sister Wendy that, insightfully so, is divided into three historic sections: “The Art of Seeing,” “The Art of Loving” and “The Art of Letting Go”.

The general momentum of the letters has a certain direction, Sister Wendy encourages (she being a contemplative) Robert to slow down and ease up on all his frantic busyness, Robert kindly encourages Sister Wendy to be more honest, transparent, and confessional about herself and her life journey.

"BY WATER: The Felix Manz Story" - A Graphic Novel - Review by Bradley Jersak

"In a city astir with dangerous new ideas, the son of a Catholic priest becomes a leader of a nonviolent revolution." –back cover

Five hundred years ago, Europe was set ablaze by the violence and wars of the Catholic-Protestant schism, where priests and reformers alike aligned with the magisterial powers to attain political and religious dominance over the continent. Reformers such as Luther, Calvin, and Zwingli hived away from the authority of the spiritual corruption of the Pope and his armies, only to employ their own forms of violence and coercion to take control.  

While theological debates over grace vs. works offered a doctrinal smokescreen for church-state powerplays, one had to wonder where, if anywhere, the peaceable kingdom of Christ, described in the Sermon on the Mount, was to be found.  

Enter the "Radicals" (aka the Anabaptists), a third way that proclaimed the prophetic vision of peace, sharing, and freedom. They took the "Jesus Way" of nonviolent revolution of real discipleship as a life-and-death matter, and that great Anabaptist history, The Martyr's Mirror, describe the many thousands who perished by water, fire, or sword at the cruel hands of both Catholic and Reformed "Christian" inquisitors. The blood of these martyrs, who perished without retaliation, became the seed of great networks of communal enclaves and mass movements, many of which survive today (e.g., Mennonites, Amish, Hutterites, and as though born out of time, the Bruderhof). Trying to snuff them out proved as useless as taking a hammer to mercury.

But how did it all begin? By Water: The Felix Manz Story is the gripping adventure of the first generation of Anabaptists and their first martyr, Felix Manz. This is the true story of a conflict between a young man and his own spiritual father, Ulrich Zwingli, wrestling with new ideas that finally cross into bold acts of faith and defiance... beginning with a baptismal pledge to follow Jesus, even unto death. Ultimately, Manz's mentor will ironically have him drowned, and church history will never be the same. As Christ said, in this order, "Blessed are the peacemakers, they will be called children of God," which then leads Manz and his company to be among those "Blessed ... who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of God... for so they treated the prophets who came before you."

I have found the current era of politicized religion, from Russia to America, so disheartening that one wonders where The New Radicals will arise with a revolution that doesn't involve the right to bear arms or the religious lust for state-sanctioned power. We desparately need to hear these inspiring stories of peaceable courage, histories that move us and call us to a real heart-change like what we see in Manz.

Plough Publishing, one of the great gifts of the Bruderhof Communities, has produced this stunning story in the form of a graphic art non-fiction, By Water, created by Jason Landsel, Sankha Banerjee, and Richard Mommsen. The script, the art, the colors, and layout represent Plough's typical over-the-top quality in 141 gorgeous pages. The price seems unreasonably low for its exquisite quality, but I'm not surprised given the Bruderhof's track record of high-end generosity. I like leaving my copy where guests will stumble on it and become hooked in short order, engrossed in the storyline, the visuals, and the conversation to follow. Even the most cynical will surely consider Manz's interpretation of Christian faith and its demands compelling.

P.S. This is first of three volumes. Next to come, By Fire.

With gratitude,

Bradley Jersak 

   

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Road to Theocratic Authoritarianism - Lazar Puhalo

We are in a transitional stage in which much of the popular certainty of the postwar era is slowly fading. In such an era, and when politics is no longer an elitist enterprise but a more populist one, the politician who can rouse the passions of the crowd will gain a larger following than the politician who appeals to reason. Once a person becomes a member of the crowd which is being mesmerized by a populist politician, that person ceases to think completely for himself and absorbs the passion of the mesmerized crowd. Cognitive dissonance easily becomes epidemic.

Mussolini

This was certainly true of Mussolini, the father of fascism. It was an example that every dictator, no matter how immoral and irrational he may be, has followed with some success. In such a transitional era, reason is easily abandoned to the passion of the moment.

In many ways, Mussolini was an idiot, but one who understood crowd mentality and how to manipulate a crowd through its fear and passions and the abandonment of reason and even deeply cherished ideals. This can also happen in the politics of religion, and religion is easily contorted into a fear-based moralistic political ideology. This has happened in our midst in the most recent time.
Once such a populist dictator gains power, it is almost impossible to remove him without assassination. A populist dictator is narcissistic and sociopathic. He can be concerned only with his own power and can thrive on crowd-power as long as he can keep a substantial portion of the populace mesmerized by fear and immune to reason and reality. He will instinctively manipulate the sense of abandonment that traumatises a significant segment of the population in social/cultural transition periods.

Psalm 91, the Holy Land & Broken Bones - Peri Zahnd

I’ve been in the Holy Land the last two weeks, in Israel and in Palestine, co-leading a women’s pilgrimage with my friend Mercy Aiken. On Monday we walked the Via Dolorosa in Jerusalem, retracing the steps of Jesus as he approached his crucifixion, culminating in the Church of the Holy Sepulcher. Just that morning I thanked God that no one had fallen as we had traversed uneven steps and paths everywhere. So it was a surprise when I did, missing a step right in front of the tomb of Jesus, landing with a thud on the hard stones, first with my knees and then with my hand. It is amazing how many thoughts can fly through your head as something like that happens, seeming to take forever.

I heard a collective gasp from those around me, cringing with embarrassment even as I fell through the air in slow motion. Immediately two men, one on either side of me, tried to pull me up. I was grateful for their help, but it hurt so badly I really needed to sit there a minute, and pleaded with them to give me time.  I then took a breath and with their help was lifted to my feet. I heard voices asking me what I needed and I said I just needed to sit for another minute. A space was made for me on a nearby bench, and I was led there by my helpers as I fought a feeling of fainting, my vision fading to black in and out. 

Next to me was a nun sitting as straight as could be, clothed from head to toe in black, with only a pretty profile exposed. There was something very regal about her. She very quietly began to speak kind words, offering to go find ice as I supported my left hand with the other, exhorting me that I needed to see a doctor. Her voice and words were calming, and I sensed the peace of God emanating from her. 

I had a strong hunch that my wrist was broken. A huge bump had appeared on the outside, and a weird little one on the inside.  My knees still hurt plenty but the pain in my wrist quickly began to emerge as the most serious issue. The man on my left also uttered a few quiet kind words in the semi-dark church. Those words felt like prayers.

Mark Braverman: A Jewish Perspective on Jesus and the John 14 WAY

Mark Braverman (born 1948) is an American psychologist and Jewish activist for Palestinean rights. He is the executive director of Kairos USA. 

The following is a transcript of Dr. Braverman's contributions to The Jim Forest Institute's online conference, "The Experience & Practice of Mutual Respect Across Faiths."

JUDAISM & CHRISTIANITY: A BRIEF HISTORY OF CONVERSATION & CONFLICT

The relationship between Jews and Christians or Judaism and Christianity—Judaism and the church—began in the 1st century in Roman-occupied Palestine with a Jewish conversation that was happening at the time. I'm oversimplifying this, but it's really true in its essence.

The conversation was about whether one worships God on one mountain in a house that you built for God or whether creation and God's love are for everyone. The conversation was about whether God chooses one family, one tribe, one people as his special people, devoted to his worship, or whether, as was made clear on the day of Pentecost, the power of the Spirit is truly in the Spirit, and it is for everyone. And those distinctions between Jews and Gentiles, slaves and free, male and female, as Paul said, are dissolved. This is the issue for humankind throughout history, up to the present day. So in the crucible of the 1st century, where we had this conversation between Jews, spearheaded by this charismatic, radical, rabble-rousing, grassroots organizer—Jesus of Nazareth—that conversation is continuing, and we have to confront this for the sake of humanity, for the sake of creation itself.

So what does the Bible record? This story begins in Luke chapter 4, where Jesus initiates his ministry in a synagogue, on the Sabbath, in Nazareth, and what happens to him? He unrolls the scroll of Isaiah. Jesus was always quoting Scripture. And he announces that the message of his ministry and the message for humankind has to be about social justice. That was the whole theme of his ministry for those three years, until that last week in Jerusalem.

What happens to him? His fellow Jews in the synagogue basically decided that he has to die—and they try to kill him and throw him off a cliff. For what? Not for quoting Isaiah. Isaiah was read in the synagogue on a regular basis. It was because he broke the rules and committed the unpardonable sin of talking about prophets and people in Syria and in Lebanon—outside the boundaries of Palestine, outside of the boundaries of us. Jesus spent his whole ministry dealing with that.

He talks to the woman in at the well, and she says, “Why are you talking to me? I’m a Samaritan.”  And he says, “You worship on one mountain, we worship one another.” But remember that he says “The time will come, woman, when we will not worship on any one mountain. But we will worship in the Spirit.

And then later, he tells the parable of the Good Samaritan, where he asks and answers the question, “Who is my neighbor?” This is the whole story.