[gallery] drawingarchitecture:
Stefanidis Konstantinos, DUST COLLECTOR/ Creating dust-clouds for power generation (2013)
This kind of obedience is the substance of the Gospel - the institutional power to teach is its counterfoil. Obedience is a loving response to an embodiment of a loving word. What we today call educational “systems” are the embodiment of the enemy, of power. The rejection of power, in Greek the an-archy, of Jesus troubles the world of power, because he totally submits to it without ever being part of it. Even his submission is one of love. This is a new kind of relationship, which Paul has well explained in Romans chapter 12. The new law demands love, even the love of our enemies, whom we love without being overcome by evil. We overcome evil by our love to the point of subjecting ourselves to the utmost of evils, namely authorities. This is the context in which Paul writes, “Let every person be subject to the governing authorities.” Jesus has given the example for all times by submitting to Herod, Annas, [Caiaphas], Pilate. Paul’s sentence is constantly used to seduce Christians in the name of the Bible to integrate into systems. In fact, it says that submission to authorities is the supreme form of the “love of enemies” through which Jesus became our Savior.
[gallery columns=“1” size=“full” ids=“18461”]
drawingarchitecture: Matthew Darmour-Paul, “De-Composite” 2014, Copic Markers on Tan Strathmore, 8.5” x 5.5”.
In the pew in which we invariably sat there was a leather-bound Prayer Book with a brass clasp. It was always there and became for me an object of intense desire, which I had to resist the temptation to take home with me. It was my first intimation of the physicality of the book as something beautiful as well as desirable, and my earliest experience of the pleasure and excitement of handling its smooth, rich-smelling cover and turning the pages. I first steeped myself in the history and romance of the Prayer Book when I was about ten years old and would read it to alleviate the *longueurs* of the sermon, which in those days sometimes lasted for 40 minutes…There were, of course, varieties of practice, and little superficial resemblance between the multi-candled ceremonial, the incense and Stations of the Cross found in the extreme High Church, and the simplicities of an evangelical church which could have been mistaken for a nonconformist chapel. But it was possible to attend different churches — on holiday, for example — and feel immediately at home, finding in the pew not a service sheet with a series number but the familiar and unifying Book of Common Prayer.
demolition work
Another reason for the upsurge in writing about religion may lie in the failure of a convincing anti-capitalist discourse to emerge after the financial crisis. ‘One of the problems for a post-Christian age is what on earth to do with the figure of Jesus who – ha ha! – just won’t stay buried,’ Spufford says, unsure whether or not to be pleased with his pun. Even after we dispense with the miracles, the figure of Christ remains attractive because, as history has shown, he cannot be reduced to a single narrative account of what a person should be, but can be incorporated into several others. 'Many consider him the last bit of demolition work that needs to be done [to rid Britain of religion], precisely because he is opposed to a utilitarian account of people: the figure of Jesus resists speaking in terms of prudence or cost-benefit analysis about individuals of limitless value.'
[gallery] the Etherington brothers
[gallery]
[gallery] portrait arabesque, by Roger de La Fresnaye. Via Wood s hole
This year, as Thanksgiving bleeds into the rest of the winter holiday season, as Republicans sharpen their knives for the fight with Obama over his executive action—or ‘executive amnesty,’ whatever you choose to call it—keep this in mind: American immigration law is perhaps one of the most mercurial sets of laws we have. It is not set in stone, nor has it ever been. Historically, it has depended on racism, trade priorities, and geopolitical considerations, just as it does today. And as Senator Ted Cruz, son of a Cuban immigrant, rails against Hondurans and Mexicans for coming to America illegally, keep in mind just how lucky his family is to come from a country that got the kind of special status that allowed, and still allows, Cubans to come to U.S. in ways that would be considered illegal for other populations and to get a green card in a year. Consider that this is not because of a law passed in the U.S. Congress, but because some guy we didn’t like seized power in 1959 and a few American presidents decided to help the Cuban bourgeoisie—and to stick it to Nikita Khrushchev. It’s why I and my 60 relatives are here, too. And it is quite likely that one of your ancestors got in through some giant, executive loophole ages and ages ago. Or got here when there were no loopholes because there were simply no laws pertaining to immigration.As you celebrate tonight, consider that the lesson here isn’t so much that Cubans or Soviet Jews shouldn’t be there, but that maybe some other people deserve a shot at an American Thanksgiving rather than an ill-informed lecture on the 'law.’
