Category Archives: Current Events

Bob Goudzwaard. Idols of Our Time

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Bob Goudzwaard. Idols of Our Time. InterVarsity Press, 1984.

This short book, written nearly three decades ago, though dated in many ways, offers an insightful analysis of modern Western culture and its challenges to authentic Christian discipleship. Goudzwaard is a Dutch economist and politician and a committed member of the Dutch Reformed Church. His writing is clear and focused.

He offers a sharp critique of the myth of progress–especially pointed coming from a professional economist–and shows how ideologies serve as the conduits for idolatry. He then looks at various ideologies, including belief in technology, nationalism and material prosperity, showing how these all stand in tension with biblical message of humanity created in God’s image and called to shalom and compassion.

His concluding chapter, “Hope Awakens Life,” serves as an excellent nutshell description of the contrast between biblical values and those of these modern idols.

This book is long out of print, but inexpensive used copies seem plentiful online. I highly recommend it.

Rebecca T. Alpert. Whose Torah? A Concise Guide to Progressive Judaism

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Rebecca T. Alpert. Whose Torah?: A Concise Guide to Progressive Judaism. The New Press, 2008.

This short book is part of a new series, “The Whose Religion? Series” published by the politically leftist New Press. This book and the series are welcome attempts to link progressive religious faith with progressive political activism.

Alpert is a pathbreaking rabbi and professor, one of the first women in Jewish history to be ordained a rabbi, a professor at Temple University, and long time political activist. All of these elements of her life are evident in this interesting book. 

I mildly recommend this book. I like Alpert’s general philosophy of life and that she refused to choose between her sense of calling as a leader in her faith community and her sense of calling to work for social change in our wider society. It is encouraging to read about the ways elements of the Jewish tradition can be understood to underwrite progressive politics.

At the same time, I felt a bit disappointed at the lack of theological depth I found. The title of the book, Whose Torah?, gave me hope that I would find a penetrating rationale for a politically progressive reading of Torah from a Jewish perspective–a repudiation of the idea that you either center on the Bible or on a contemporary, essentially secular, social justice agenda that gets its main guidance from present-day experience and Enlightenment humanism. But in the end, Alpert has very little to say about the content of Torah. 

I appreciate her affirmation of the progressive elements of modern Judaism, but I would have liked more grounding in the ancient texts–not because such grounding is the only valid way to be politically progressive but because I think the entire progressive community would benefit from more of an awareness of how progressive many elements of the biblical writings are.

 

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Healing Justice: Restoration, not Retribution

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Here is my recent sermon that critiques the death penalty and our American culture’s retributive mindset–arguing for a biblically-oriented approach that seeks healing for victim and offender. The sermon was presented at Shalom Mennonite Congregation, Harrisonburg, VA, January 11, 2009.

Slavoj Zizek. Violence

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Slavoj Zizek. Violence: Big Ideas/Small Books. Picador, 2008.

I’m not too sure about this book. I had hoped for a more perceptive analysis of the dynamics in our contemporary world and a stronger sense of opposition to violence and guidance on how to overcome its curse. Zizek, a superstar on the current public intellectual scene is supposedly a humanist and man of the Left. He certainly does not embrace revolutionary violence like some of his European contemporaries (e.g., Alain Badiou). And he does have moments of insight (I enjoyed his dismissal of Thomas Friedman).

However, he doesn’t really give us much of substance. He litters the text with references to popular culture, impressing with his breadth of awareness but not using these references to much effect. I did read this book very quickly, hoping to get a sense of whether I should pay more attention to Zizek. I’m afraid he didn’t catch my attention or pull me further into his orbit.

Bill Kauffman. Ain’t My America

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Bill Kauffman. Ain’t My America: The Long, Noble History of Antiwar Conservatism and Middle-American Anti-Imperialism. Metropolitan Books, 2008.

This is certainly an interesting–and encouraging–book. Bill Kauffman shows us that people on the right side of the conventional right/left political spectrum have resources in their political heritage strongly to oppose American imperialism. He traces how political conservatives from colonial days have opposed “foreign entanglements” in the name of democracy and national health. He even goes so far as to present his views as fully pacifist.

In doing so he punctures the myth that opposition to imperialism has been primarily articulated by leftists. Kauffman focuses on the 20th century and makes the totally valid point that it has been the great “liberal” presidents, members of the Democratic Party all, who have led our country into war–Woodrow Wilson, Franklin Roosevelt, Harry Truman, John Kennedy, and Lyndon Johnson. He does not deny that there have been imperialist Republicans–William McKinley and Richard Nixon come to mind.  And he is harsh and devastating in his critique of the disastrous evolution of the Republican Party culminating in the Bush/Cheney takeover.

That is, Kauffman does not give us a Democrat bad/Republican good polemic. In fact, probably his biggest political hero of the last fifty years is Democratic senator and presidential candidate George McGovern. Before McGovern, the model of an anti-imperial national politician is Robert Taft, long-time senator from Ohio.

Kauffman agrees with the sentiment attributed to Barry Goldwater that in the end the “Old Right” (such as Goldwater) and the “New Left” (such as McGovern) may have much more in common with each other–especially in their critique of imperialism–than they do with the political “centrists”, neo-conservatives, and Cold War liberals who tend to be in positions of leadership in the U.S. and who are succeeding in driving our country over the cliff.

Kauffman’s argument should not be surprising to anyone who has some sense of traditional, “main street” conservativism in the U.S.  It is good, nonetheless, to read an articulation of this view from someone on the Right. He doesn’t mention Andrew Bacevich in the book, but I think Bacevich’s books The New American Militarism and The Limits of Power complement Kauffman’s case for politically conservative anti-imperialism.

Kauffman and Bacevich help us a great deal in challenging the necessary association of political conservativism with imperialism and militarism. Conservatives should be challenged to repudiate the U.S. policies that rely on leading with military intervention and the creation of a global network of military bases and arms sales–in the name of political conservativism. Both of these writers may help us do so.

My only serious criticisms of the book relate to its style. Kauffman is witty and cutting in his critique–however he is sometimes a bit too cute and unfortunately a bit cryptic at times in his historical analyses. The book would have been strengthened had he given more background and explanation for his various examples. That is, his path is at times a bit difficult to follow because it isn’t always real clear what he’s describing unless one has a lot of historical knowledge. And a few of the issues that he raises as examples are a bit idiosyncratic (his hostility toward the income tax and day care for example).

But this is definitely a book for which to be grateful. May Kauffman’s numbers multiply greatly–and soon.

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Michael Standaert. Skipping Towards Armageddon

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Michael Standaert. Skipping Towards Armageddon: The Politics and Propaganda of the Left Behind Novels and the LaHaye Empire. Soft Skull Press, 2006.

One major contribution this book makes is to look critically and thoroughly at the political context of the Left Behind phenomena. This examination is illuminating and alarming. Tim LaHaye has a long history of right wing political activism–fueled in part by his paranoid theology. Standaert makes an important contribution both in tracing LaHaye’s career and connections and in making clear the political impact of the content of the Left Behind books.

This is a readable book that points to many resources to help buttress Standaert’s argument. He clearly is completely negative about LaHaye’s perspective and influence.  However, while his negative perspective comes through clearly throughout, he is reasoned and careful and documents most of his critiques.

It’s not a perfect book. Standaert is not a scholar. He writes well and has done significant research, but on many issues is clearly relying on others’ research–and not always the best research (for instance, he does not refer to Paul Boyer or George Marsden, probably the two most important historians who have written on American fundamentalism and premillennial dispensationalism).

Still, I would recommend this book as an important resource for anyone who wants to understand better why the Left Behind phenomenon is problematic. Beyond most of the critiques I have read, Standaert is especially helpful for his focus on the broader political and cultural issues at play.

 

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A. G. Mojtabai. Blessed Assurance: At Home with the Bomb in Amarillo, Texas

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A. G. Mojtabai. Blessed Assurance: At Home With the Bomb in Amarillo, Texas. Syracuse University Press, 1997 [1986].

Though this book was written over twenty years ago, it remains a fascinating portrayal of the link between futuristic eschatology and American militarism (the paperback edition, published in 1997, remains unchanged from the original).  Mojtabai, a secular Jew and humanist from New York, decided to pay an extended visit to Amarillo, Texas, in order to understand the people who make nuclear weapons. After she arrived in Texas she began to learn how intertwined the acceptance of the validity of such work was with Christian fundamentalism.

The book is well-written and for the most part lets the people of Amarillo tell their own stories. Mojtabai seems to be a good listener, able to evoke a sense of trust from the people she talked with. She does ask some pointed questions and lets her perspective enter the discussion at times. However, the book’s power stems most of all from her care in keeping her agenda below the surface.

What results, though, is indeed a powerful and frightening portrayal of American Christianity and the American scandal of pouring such an incredible amount of treasure (human and material) into the creation of an unspeakably evil arsenal of death-dealing weaponry. The shocking element of Mojtabai’s story arises from the overt complicity of theology in such a blasphemous undertaking.

Mojtabai finds herself wondering what’s wrong with the sensibility of these Christians who so blithely support the creation of such weapons of mass destruction. In doing so, she actually presents Jesus and his message over against the words of the Christians–an act of wonderful irony where the agnostic understands the gospel better than professing Christians.

“Going from church to church in Amarillo, the impression is unavoidable: some of the most ardent born and born-again Christians are writing Christianity off as something that did not, could not work—at least, not in the First Coming.  The conviction that mankind is bent on its own destruction, that goodness cannot succeed in a world so evil, the constant recourse to the Old Testament (to the most bellicose sections), the turning for betterment to the dire remedies offered by the book of Revelation, the only light left to the Second Coming—all this strangely negates the ‘good news’ of the Gospels and the First Coming.”

 

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Why People Saying “No” to World War II Still Matters

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During World War II, about 12,000 young draftees chose, because of their pacifist convictions, to refuse to go into the military and instead performed alternative service (another 6,000 or so went to prison out of similar convictions).  This made up only a tiny percentage of draftees–pacifism certainly did not carry the day.

However, that little, flickering light of witness continues to be worth reflecting on (as does our society’s continued assumption that this indeed was a “good war”–see Nicholson Baker’s critique of such an assumption in his book, Human Smoke: The Beginnings of World War II, the End of Civilization, and my reflections on critique).  

Here is a recent article I wrote suggesting that the experience on conscientious objectors in Civilian Public Service (the name of the alternative service program) provides a continually important legacy.

Andrew J. Bacevich. The New American Militarism

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Andrew Bacevich, professor at Boston University and retired U.S. Army Colonel, has emerged as a major voice in the discussion of American foreign policy and military actions.  His most recent book, The Limits of Power: The End of American Exceptionalism, a fairly popular level bestselling critique of “the illusions that have governed American policies since 1945” (reviewed here), follows upon an earlier, more substantial analysis–The New American Militarism: How Americans Are Seduced by War.

The New American Militarism is a cry of alarm from an American patriot, a military man who breaks with his former associates on the political right. The key problem Bacevich identifies is the tendency for Americans to link the military might of our country with idealism about the universality of American values–leading to a destructive tendency to use the military to further “the American way of life.” And one of the major casualties of this tendency, he fears, will be American democracy itself.

Even if Bacevich is more sanguine about positive role the US military has played in the world and could still play than I am, I found his book overall to be extraordinarily helpful–clearly written, forcefully argued, well-documented, and ultimately quite persuasive. It is great to have confirmed the conviction that our current military and global political behavior is extraordinarily self-destructive for our country.

 

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Naomi Klein. The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism

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I don’t think I can praise Melanie Klein’s, The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism, highly enough. It has become a best-seller, deservedly so, so by now many people have encountered it.  For those who have not yet, I think it would be well worth tracking down.

This one book has done more for my understanding of our current world crises than any other five books I could think of. Klein describes the evolution of global capitalism over the past generation, linking together the devastation of the southern cone of Latin America in the 1970s, the enormous disappointments following the ending of apartheid in South Africa and the reign of communism in Eastern Europe in the 1990s and since, and the disaster of the U.S. invasion of Iraq in the 21st century (plus numerous other cases).

She coins the term “disaster capitalism” to characterize how the widespread social disorientation following massive collective shocks (wars, major “natural disasters,” radical political change) is exploited by corporate leaders and their political and military allies to shift wealth in massive ways from the public sector to select powers in the private sector–with resultant widespread social dislocations and misery.

She helps us connect the dots–how the immense suffering following the rise of dictatorships such as the Pinochet regime in Chile, the immense increase in poverty and loss of safety nets in Eastern Europe, the heightening of social stratification in post-apartheid South Africa, the almost unbelievable failures of the U.S. policies in Iraq, Afghanistan, and New Orleans, are none of them accidental but, essentially, consequences of deliberate actions by people in power to transfer wealth into the hands of select corporations and their beneficiaries.

As Klein has demonstrated in her earlier work (including her extraordinarily perceptive book, No Logo: No Space, No Choice, No Jobs [2000]), she is able to combine analytical rigor, a thoroughly progressive and humane political philosophy, and an engaging ability to tell a story.  She gives the human side of these difficult issues, but not at the expense of macro-analysis.  This is to say, her writing is solid and substantial, but admirably accessible and concrete.  She possesses distinctive gifts.

For people of faith, a book such as The Shock Doctrine should light a fire under our efforts to embody Jesus’ command to love God and neighbor.  Klein, to her credit, does not simply analyze and critique (though these are where her greatest contributions lie), she also tries to point toward solutions and empower her readers to seek to resist and transform.  The task is enormous, but to move toward healing we much have at least some sense of the nature of the problems we face.  This book, better than any other I am aware of that addresses our current scence, helps us understand.

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