29 December 2017 @ 11:57 pm
 
The Episcopal Church is an institution that has amassed enormous resources to support the thriving of a small number of people. As an institution we potentially have enormous power to work for social change in our local communities, in our local and national government, and in the Anglican Communion. We have often chosen to exercise that power by supporting the status quo.

Power can be exercised in multiple arenas personally and institutionally. There is the power of a government and its military, police, and courts to work for or against justice. There is also a more intangible power: the power to control cultural assumptions regarding who is good and who is bad, who is smart and who is diminished, who is presumed to be innocent and who is presumed guilty. You see power in the structures that decide who can be murdered with impunity, and whose life is treated as precious.

Power can be shared, as when disparate groups finally sit at the same table. But in the work of justice, power cannot be ignored. Although you and I may sit at a table, talk about things we hold in common, and explore what makes us different, when we walk away from the table and back into the wider society, some of us are more safe, have more opportunity, and exercise fuller citizenship, while others of us are perpetually labeled criminal, suspicious, or overall problematic.

Power can be difficult to talk about, because most of us feel powerless over many things: death, illness, and injustice. In the context of a conversation about justice, acknowledging power does not assume that one feels powerful, or that one is powerful over all things. Power in a social analysis is acknowledging how one is perceived in society, and the power or privilege that comes with perceived identity. This is not a comment on intentions. It is a comment on the systems within which we function.

Power is a societal force, like gravity is a physical force. It privileges some, whether they want it or not, and disadvantages others. Race, class, gender, gender identity, sexual orientation, and physical ability are some of the categories within which a social power differential operates. As individuals, we can align ourselves with powerful institutions in how we pursue our education, where we work, or where we worship. All that power comes into play when we talk about justice, faith, and reconciliation.

//Winnie Varghese, 2016, "Church Meets World"
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cukursēne[info]saccharomyces on December 30th, 2017 - 08:45 pm
ja šis apgalvojums ir balstīts manis šeit ievietotajā citātā, tad varēšu tevi iepriecināt, ka šai gadījumā ir izdarīts nepamatots vispārinājums. citātu izvēlējos es, grāmatā ir gana daudz arī par pestīšanu un citām tēmām.

bet mani ļoti iepriecina, ka autore pievērš nopietnu uzmanību tam, ka pastāv zināma tendence dažādām kristiešu kopienām aiziet paštaisnā tīksmināšanās par sevi un savu dievbijīgumu procesā, kur vārdiem (pie tiem ieskaitot arī visas rituāla darbības) ir lielāka nozīme nekā reāliem darbiem, kas veikti, lai paši tad arī ieguldītu tajā dieva valstības īstenošanā.

un vispār jau nemaz nav tā, ka bībeles tekstos un kristietībā kā sociālā kustībā nav runa par sociālo taisnīgumu; tas nav nekas jauns vai šīs mācītājas no zila gaisa izdomāts.

"Jim Wallis, a founder of the Sojourner Community in Washington, D.C., tells the story of having an intern cut out every reference to economic justice in a Bible. When Wallis later waved the Bible around during a sermon, it looked moth-eaten. He did the same exercise with another Bible, eliminating references to sexual morality, and the text appeared whole. (..) We may think of approaching God primarily in prayer and in worship. In the Bible, God seems less interested in how offerings are made and what words we use. Instead, justice is named as true worship (..) Christian communities have historically created social institutions involved with the whole person: schools and hospitals as well as churches and monasteries. Often all of these institutions were combined in one mission site. Justice asks that, along with these acts of mercy and compassion, we work to undo institutions that perpetuate sin, the “principalities and powers” in the letters of Paul that create the conditions of suffering. Our church does not believe injustice is preordained. (..) In her seminal text, The Dream of God, [Verna Dozier] announced: “I believe the Christian church has distorted the call, narrowed it from a call to transform the world to a call to save the souls of individuals who hear and heed a specific message, narrowed it from a present possibility to a future fulfillment.”"
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(Anonymous) on January 3rd, 2018 - 02:47 am
īsumā - viss ir daudz sarežģītāk, kā varavīkšņaini jūsmīgie akadēmes vienradži te dzejo, taču, nu, Pāvila "principalities and powers" vienādot ar "grēka institūcijām", kuras kristīgi "jāatceļ" ir, maigi izsakoties, ne tikai vāja bērnudārza līmeņa teoloģija, bet gan indikācija, ka autore ir sasirgusi ar mūžseno intelektuāļu opiju - sociālismu.
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