There are no small acts of violence.

Derrick Crowe of Return Good for Evil has a splendid post up on the myth of redemptive violence. Applied quite stunningly to Iraq and Afghanistan. Read it.

"In [Walter] Wink’s view, every act of violence, no matter how well-intentioned, is an act of fundamental validation of and belief in this system, its spirit and the lie that gives rise to it: that violence saves."

Shadows of mankind

Ever wonder about the fascination with pirates that young and old seem to have? Found this neat series of articles arguing

"that piracy functions not as the enemy of all mankind (hostis humanis generis) but as the shadow of mankind: umbris humanis generis. As rebels against a social order that is oppressing them, those who turn to piracy are critiquing the economic and political systems that have seen them disenfranchised".

"...piracy as a rupture in an already corrupt system – as a shadow that makes the Empire uncomfortable -"

"What pirates do, as a rule, is emerge from the underbelly of a ’stuck’ orthodoxy and, by way of actions that are initially perceived as heretical, reinvigorate that practice. The heresy of Napster becomes the orthodoxy of Spotify. The pirate DJs of Radio Caroline join Aunty at the BBC and create Radio 1."

A Plea for Christian Piracy.

A-corny

Glenn Greenwald puts it in perspective.

"Claiming you're worried about large government and taxpayer waste while fixating on ACORN proves the insincerity of the ostensible concern, let alone doing so while cheering on the same Wall Street banks, defense contractors, and insurance industries that control and expand government power for their own benefit."

For those of us who have been truly concerned for years about government expansion, the current conservative movement is a waste of time. As the rhetoric increases, real discussion on this and many issues slips away. Like a dull hum from a street lamp against the roar of traffic below, so goes the conversation.

There are voices, left and right of issues worth listening to. Becoming harder to find though just as it is to remain thoughtful myself.

Two steps from Hell.

No, not me, the artists.

Two Steps from Hell make music for Movie trailers. I had to find them when I saw the new (March released but yet unseen by me) Star Trek movie trailer.

Listen.

Bout time.

The New York Times over the weekend reported that the anti-war movement is gearing up to challenge President Obama on Afghanistan.

Long since dormant, they are finally finding a voice.

h/t to Derrick, at Return Good for Evil.

Added to blog roll

Here's an interesting and thoughtful take on why John Piper might say some of the things he does. An overall great blog I might add, check it out.

Also added recently, Inhabitatio Dei, by Halden Doerge. An editor, among other things, with Wipf & Stock Publishers. Both worth the visit.

Powers and Principalities

Ephesians 6:12 For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. (ESV)

Thoughts for later...

An excerpt from Rene Girard on Powers and Principalities.

From Faith and Theology blog (Ben Meyers)

"William Stringfellow’s theological writing is pervaded by the conviction that the resurrection of Jesus frees us from the dominion of death. The world is ruled by principalities – by suprahuman, suprapersonal institutional powers which bind human life to the service of death.

More from William Stringfellow (Via F&T)...

“The … ingenious aggressions of the principalities against human life in society, the victimisation of human beings … by the demonic powers exposes a crucial aspect of the contemporary American social crisis.

The American problem is not so simple that it can be attributed to a few – or even many – evil men in high places…. Our men in high places are not exceptionally immoral; they are, on the contrary, quite ordinarily moral.

In truth, the conspicuous moral fact about our generals, our industrialists, our scientists, our commercial and political leaders is that they are the most obvious and pathetic prisoners in American society.

There is unleashed among the principalities in this society a ruthless, self-proliferating, all-consuming institutional process which assaults … and destroys human life even among, and primarily among, those persons in positions of institutional leadership. They are left with titles but without effectual authority; with the trappings of power, but without control over the institutions they head; in nominal command, but bereft of dominion….

The most poignant victim of the demonic in America today is the so-called leader”. (An Ethic for Christians and Other Aliens in a Strange Land, pp. 88-89).

Ben Myers adds:

The most striking feature of Stringfellow’s work is his powerful analysis and critique of the “principalities.” For him, the principalities are institutionalised forms of death. Institutions exist for the sake of their own expansion and self-perpetuation; they are not subject to human control, but are autonomous entities vis-à-vis all human agency. Human beings often believe “that they control the institution; whereas, in truth, the principality claims them as slaves(Free in Obedience, p. 99).

Revisit also,
Paul and Caesar: A New Reading of Romans - NT Wright.
Naming the Powers: The Language of Power in the New Testament - Walter Wink

Onward Christian soldiers....

(CNN) -- Two former Blackwater employees have made statements against Blackwater Worldwide and its founder Erik Prince, accusing the security company and its former CEO of murder and other serious crimes in Iraq, according to court documents filed this week.

Specifically murdering people involved in investigating them.

Who is Erik Prince? Maybe you should find out.

60 minute interview from 2007.

Or just check out independent journalist Jeremy Scahill. Twice asked by congress to testify on his findings while investigating Blackwater (Now called Xe).

The church should stop playing chaplain to the Empire.

Derrick Crowe continues to hammer the point home. The war in Afghanistan has increasingly relied more and more on long distance weapons, ie; drones, missles and assorted airstrikes. These tactics will not win the population over for the all too important reason that in kills them. And it kills them at a higher rate than the intended targets.


BBC reports that U.S. forces piloting helicopters killed three children last night in the Arghandab district of Afghanistan. Absolutely heartbreaking.

At this point, if you can read a chart, you should be able to determine that even if troops on the ground are added, they still fail to decrease civilian casualities. These are not just casualities of war in general but specific deaths due to our methods and tactics.

Elull on Prayer

From Inhabitatio Dei

“The person who claims to be full of hope but fails to lead a life of prayer is a liar. Prayer is the sole ‘reason’ for hope, at the same time that it is its means and expression. Prayer is the referral to God’s decision, on which we are counting. Without that referral there can be no hope, because we would have nothing to hope for. Prayer is the assurance of the possibility of God’s intervention, without which there is no hope. Prayers is the means given by God for the dialogue with him, that is to day, it is the very junction of the future with eternity, where we have seen that our hope is located. In its dialogue it embraces the past presented for pardon, the future defined by cooperation between the praying person and God, and eternity, which prayer lays hold of through the sighs uttered by the Holy Spirit.

“Without such prayer we can piece together a few false hopes to give the appearance of hope, but all that, even when arranged theologically, can only be illusory. That is why it is quite right to recall that hope is based on God’s promise constantly fulfilled and renewed. But how can we forget that, throughout the Bible, this promise is linked with the ceaseless outcry of prayer? It is man’s prayer which demands the fulfillment, and it is again his prayer which demands its renewal and its ongoing. Without prayer, the promise and its fulfillment are forces just as indifferent and blind as Moira (fate) and Ananke (necessity).”

~ Jacques Elull, Hope in a Time of Abandonment, 272-3.

They frankly own the place

This should enrage you.

The events preceding Goldman Sachs' new "blowout profits"

ABC News, September 26, 2008: As a group, Goldman Sachs bankers have been the country's top political campaign contributors this year and have given $29.5 million in contributions since 1989, according to the Center.

"They are almost in a class by themselves," said Sheila Krumholz, the executive director for the Center for Responsive Politics

...

USA Today, January 27, 2009: WASHINGTON — Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner picked a former Goldman Sachs lobbyist as a top aide Tuesday, the same day he announced rules aimed at reducing the role of lobbyists in agency decisions.

Mark Patterson will serve as Geithner's chief of staff at Treasury, which oversees the government's $700 billion financial bailout program.

...

Reuters, March 16, 2009: The approval of Gary Gensler, a former Goldman Sachs executive, clears the way for a Senate vote putting him in charge of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission. He was approved by a roll-call vote.

...

On and on the corruption and good ole boy network goes. Read the entire article HERE (and linked atop) by Glenn Greenwald. But I'll quote Glenn one last time...

...blurted out in April by the number two Democrat in the U.S. Senate, Dick Durbin:

And the banks -- hard to believe in a time when we're facing a banking crisis that many of the banks created -- are still the most powerful lobby on Capitol Hill. And they frankly own the place.

That was nice and blunt. That same week, it was announced that the newly-hired top lobbyist for Goldman Sachs, Michael Paese, was -- immediately prior to his hiring -- the top staffer to Rep. Barney Frank on the House Financial Services Committee chaired by Frank.

Tehran

"This, in short, could be the largest mass gathering since 15 June, complete with the presence of Rafsanjani, Mousavi, and Khatami. Start counting down the days". July 17th.

Andrew Sullivan:
Reaching a climax in Iran?

WSJ
Inside the Iranian Crackdown

Huffington Post
Religious Divisions in Iran's Leadership -- More than Meets the Eye

I wish I could say I entirely left the circuit...

Watched "Choke" and "Waltz with Bashir" last night.

Powerful movies in their own right. Sex and the search for intimacy and meaning followed by murder and war. The tragedy of love and misunderstanding. But with revisiting the memories within a community, even a flawed one, redemption and healing await in each.

"Choke", which is based on the book by Chuck Palahniuk (author of fight club) introduces us to the tragedy of lonliness and emptiness thru the escapades of a sex addict. Who within minutes of the films opening declares his orgasm as sweet...nothing. Sex has become meaningless and devoid of love. An act to fulfill the bodies now dependance on the endorphins released.

The journey from nothing to something is funny and painful to watch. Especially the main characters scheme to choke on food in restaurants so the good samaritans who rescue him will pay his bills. Watching him find the only true intimacy he can in the hug of strangers is moving.
Underneath the sex scenes and flashbacks lies a powerful story. I found many Christ-like themes exploding into view as the tale is weaved. Rent it.



"Waltz with Bashir" is rather oddly described as an animated documentary. A foreign film with subtitles that explores the horrors of the Israeli invasion of Lebanon in the early 80's thru a small units perspective. Stunning visually. It doesn't play or look like a documentary at all.

Here to, flashbacks of men haunted by their actions and inaction in that war come to play upon the present. The minds powerful ability to not casually store certain pain in its memory while simultaneously finding ways to have us deal with it. Here as well do friendships, forged in youth and tribulation, provide the needed community of similiar broken people that allow us to deal with, face and lament our crimes.
Click HERE for a trailer.

Where you been?

Still reading daily the site, Return good for Evil by dcrowe and learning greatly.

I suggest another. Pilgrimage Journal by Paul Munnon.

Some essential reading can be attained for free at Jesus Manifesto. Scroll all the way down and on the left side bar are some 'radical readings' that you can download for free. Ellul, Dostoevsky, Tolstoy are there.

And the always resourceful Center for Christian Nonviolence. The audio file, Behold the Lamb by (Rev.) Emmanuel Charles McCarthy might just wreck your life!

That of course being a good thing.

And that is my update. Peace.