S1E6 Heirs not Slaves: Spiritual Liberty & The Good and Bad of the Classical Christian School Movement
Who owns you? Does your father? Your spouse? Your Church? God? Or does no one own you?
In segment one we discuss the radical nature of Christian liberty, reflecting on a surprising ally here (for some observers at least who only think of Paul as an anti-semitic bigot): the Apostle Paul in Galatians 3-4 who argues that no one owns an heir to the kingdom of heaven.
Segment two (starting almost exactly after the first hour): the good, bad, and ugly about the classical Christian school movement, its valuable insights for K-12 education, but also its occasional association with white nationalism, opposition to racial integration and "Kinism," especially in circles influenced by Doug Wilson.
NOTE: We are not attacking classical education as such. We are not even providing a definitive argument linking movements together. Rather, we are alerting parents and teachers to our experience of an occasional but widespread connection between a rejection of diversity, failure to understand the horrors of slavery in the American south, and some forms of authoritarian expressions of the Christian classical school movement and a peculiar perspective within the Reformed theological tradition.
We discuss a treatise by Martin Luther called On The Freedom of A Christian.
Here’s the famous paradox from that work:
A Christian is an utterly free lord of all, subject to none.
A Christian is an utterly dutiful servant of all, subject to all.
We also discuss the mystical treatise called Theologia Germanica.
We summarize an essay by Dorothy Sayers called “The Lost Tools of Learning” which can be helpful even for folks not involved in classical education per se.
We discuss a prominent figure in the modern classical Christian school movement, Doug Wilson. Here is a piece on him by the Southern Poverty Law Center. Here is a piece by a historian at the University of Idaho. Here is a video of Wilson’s response to the controversy and his discussion of what it means to be a “Paleo-Confederate.” Here is a piece on the child predator at Wilson’s church. Do your own homework but these are places to get caught up on the conversation.
Here’s an article Jeff contributed to an Encyclopedia of Christianity in the United States
Anarchism, Christian
Christian anarchists advocate principled disengagement from the political sphere, a rejection of the ultimate power and authority of power structures besides the lordship of Jesus. Accordingly, they reject violent or coercive approaches to revolution, since revolutionary ideology merely seeks to supplant one system of domination with another. Likewise, those who give ultimate or undue authority to the state are in danger of adhering to a form of idolatry.
The reception of Christian Anarchism in U.S. history generally depends on the denominational traditions involved. Church bodies affiliated with Reformed, Anglican, and Lutheran traditions emerged from the “Magisterial Reformation,”which was so-named because of the close cooperation between civil magistrates and church reformers. Moreover, these traditions carried with them a history of occasional fear of persecution against the so-called “Radical Reformation,” which was associated with Christian anarchy. Thus, one can trace the genealogy of much Christian Anarchist thought in the U.S. to Anabaptist Christians who came to, or formed, the Western Hemisphere, including the Quakers, Church of the Brethren, Mennonites, Amish, Molokans, and Christadelphians. During times of war, members of these traditions have worked to establish a reputation for being good citizens despite their commitment to nonviolence, conscientious objection to military combat service, and refusal to swear oaths or vote in secular elections.
In addition to the anarchic heritage of Christians in the tradition of the Radical Reformation, several Christian Anarchists developed their own voices, originating in a distinctly American context, and often inspired by post-millennial eschatology. Unitarian pastor and member of the New England Non-Resistance Society, Adin Ballou (1803-1890), is an early example of one who, despite rejecting the “anarchist” label, confronted the authoritarian assumptions behind slaveholding culture, and called believers to begin to establish an alternative Christian civilization. He and several “Practical Christians” sought to live in an alternative community, purchasing a farm in Milford, Massachusetts in 1841, naming it the Hopedale Community, which continued in some form until 1867. Ballou and likeminded clergy composed and signed a document called the “Standard of Practical Christianity,” which captures the spirit of Christian Anarchism well in its fourth paragraph:
Placing unlimited confidence in our Heavenly Father, we distrust all other guidance. We cannot be governed by the will of man, however solemnly and formally declared, nor put our trust in an arm of flesh. Hence we voluntarily withdraw from all interference with the governments of this world. We can take no part in the politics, the administration, or the defense of those governments, either by voting at their polls, holding their offices, aiding in the execution of their legal vengeance, fighting under their banners, claiming their protection against violence, seeking redress in their courts, petitioning their legislatures to enact laws, or obeying their unrighteous requirements. Neither can we participate in any rebellion, insurrection, sedition, riot, conspiracy, or plot against any of these governments, nor resist any of their ordinances by physical force, nor do anything unbecoming a peaceable submission to the existing powers; but will quietly pay the taxes levied upon us, conform to all innocent laws and usages, enjoy all righteous privileges, abstain from all civil commotions, freely express our opinions of governmental acts, and patiently endure whatever penalties we may for conscience' sake incur.
With such sentiments, Ballou, ultimately influenced the Russian Christian Anarchist Leo Tolstoy (1828-1910), who suggested that the anarchist roots of American abolitionism became underemphasized by abolitionists in order not to detract from a movement that was beginning to become an acceptable part of mainstream, and potentially imperialist political thought. Unsurprisingly, as the Union began to emphasize the legitimacy of federal power, the anti-government sentiments of early abolitionist thinkers fell out of fashion.
Another notable American Christian Anarchist was David Lipscomb (1831-1917), who was a Restorationist pastor and founder of Nashville Bible School, which later took the name Lipscomb University. Lipscomb’s anarchist tendencies emerged after the horrors of the Civil War, after which he published On Civil Government, wherein he suggested that peaceful civilization does not require a coercive state, Christians should opt out of voting, and that governments are inherently self-serving, even causing chaos in order to expand their power, as seemed to him to be the case of the U.S. Federal government after the Civil War.
In the early twentieth century, several Roman Catholics developed a Christian Anarchist voice, typically associated with the Catholic Workers Movement and the Industrial Workers of the World. Representatives include Ammon Hennacy (1893-1970) and his godmother Dorothy Day (1897-1980). Here, as elsewhere, members of the Christian Anarchist movement tended toward nuanced forms of socialist thought and distributism, which perceives capitalism to be inherently in league with unjust and dominating political power structures.
A notable late-twentieth-century form of Christian Anarchism found expression in the ideas of Church of the Brethren pastor Vernard Eller (1927-2008). Using his idiosyncratic term “arky” for any primary power structure, Eller contended that the Lord Jesus is the only legitimate arky for Christians. For him, this thinking challenged the ultimacy of not only political power, but also ecclesial, academic, and institutional governing structures. He developed his thesis in his Christian Anarchy (1987), by tracing anarchic thinking through the Old Testament, life of Jesus, and Pauline epistles. In addition to biblical texts he drew from European Christian anarchists like Søren Kierkegaard (1813-55), Karl Barth (1886-1968), and the most explicit and detailed anarchic writer: Jacques Ellul (1912-94). In this tradition, Eller resonated with the larger Christian anarchist rejection of both right-wing attempts to legitimize power structures and also the false hope of liberal revolutionaries who sought to radically—sometimes violently—transform power structures.
Today, Christian Anarchism in the U.S. is articulated by a group called Jesus Radicals, a network of anarchist Christians, whose website, jesusradicals.com curates an array of related articles and resources by both American and international anarchists and other anti-establishment thinkers.
Resources and References
Ballou, Adin. 2002. Practical Christianity: An Epitome of Practical Christian Socialism. Oxford, UK: Blackstone Editions.
Dorothy Day 2003. Loaves and Fishes: The Inspiring Story of the Catholic Workers Movment. Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books.
Eller, Vernard. 1987. Christian Anarchy: Jesus’ Primacy over the Powers. Notre Dame, Ind.: University of Notre Dame Press.
Hennacy, Ammon. 2010. The Book of Ammon. Eugene, OR: Wipf & Stock Publishing.
Lipscomb, David. (2011) On Civil Government: Its Origin, Mission and Destiny and the Christian’s Relation to It. Eugene, OR: Wipe & Stock Publishers.
Perry, Lewis. “Versions of Anarchism in the Antislavery Movement.” American Quarterly 20, No. 4 (Winter, 1968), 768-782.
Production Notes
This was recorded at the Orlando home of Scott Copeland, Jeff’s friend since age 5, and lead guitarist for a band they had throughout childhood with Jim Schofield (bass) and Chris Frohardt (drums and backing vocals). Jeff sings and plays acoustic on a raw song during the break called “Justice” (1987) and we tag on a fun but world denying song “One Way Train” (1991) at the end.
Note that the opening music “Dive” involves the freestyle piano at the start was a stealth recording of Aidan Mallinson, Jeff and Stacie’s youngest.
