Reading for a Revolution
Recently a few of us have been churning over the possibility of throwing out our individualistic, wasteful, and boundaried lifestyles and embarking on an outrageous adventure in community living. Such a decision would not be taken lightly but there was a unified sense as we prayed for the Make Poverty History campaign that God was actually showing us how our lives and the culture we have been allowing to define them is found wanting in the balances of justice, and righteousness, and poverty stricken in terms of true and unselfish community. There was also a sense that we might have a better chance of re-shaping things if we tried it together in the context of a small community – the first thing would be to move in together. We have a desire to live prophetically in a way that represented values and priorities other than society at large.
No doubt the conversation we will be having over the next few months as we look at this option and consider taking this step will be pretty meaty. It will be wise to take the counsel of others who have done similar things before, both people we know and those who have written books about it. I thought this group blog may be a good place for us to gather some stuff together and share our thoughts – especially considering three of the contributors (Clare, Chris and Moi) are already up for it – and there is room for more, I am sure.
I thought I might begin by pointing out a few guiding lights in this area that people might like to check out. Firstly, Clare has started out on a related route of thinking in her blog about Making House - you might like to check that out and leave some comments. Also Dan Edelen over at the rather marvellous Cerulean Sanctum shared some very good stuff in his article A Hodgepodge of Thoughts on this July the Fourth which is a must read.
I have just started reading Homage to a Broken Man, the life of J. Heinrich Arnold. I was delighted to have this sent to me for free by Plough publishing, the Bruderhof publishing house. It is a pretty inspiring story about this man and his role in the emergence of the Bruderhof in the early twentieth century. The Bruderhof are still growing strong when so many other communities have risen and fallen in a single generation. They must be getting something right and we could learn a lot from them. They are also extremely generous with their resources and literature – most of which can be accessed from their website.
Two other seminal works are Ronald Sider’s Rich Christians in an Age of Hunger and the sequel Living More Simply. The first book, written in the wake of the Lausanne Congress thirty years ago and recently re-published, is a hard hitting look at the economics of the world and a re-evaluation of the question "how then should we live" as Christians in response. It is every bit as cuttingly challenging as thirty years ago. Living More Simply is the collected stories of a handful of different churches, families and communities who tried to do things differently in light of the Bible’s clear instruction. It has chapters on "breaking free" in the workplace, family, church and community realms and plenty of wise insight.
Finally, on the subject of challenging economics from a biblical perspective I highly recommend The Golden Cow by John White. I have an ancient paperback copy. John White gets to the heart of worldly economics and how it has infiltrated the church and compromised our integrity and witness.
There is loads to learn from all these and theyhave moved back onto my "to read again" shelf. Anyone have further suggestions?
"Without guidance, people fall, but with many counselors there is deliverance."(Proverbs 11:14 HCSB)
No doubt the conversation we will be having over the next few months as we look at this option and consider taking this step will be pretty meaty. It will be wise to take the counsel of others who have done similar things before, both people we know and those who have written books about it. I thought this group blog may be a good place for us to gather some stuff together and share our thoughts – especially considering three of the contributors (Clare, Chris and Moi) are already up for it – and there is room for more, I am sure.
I thought I might begin by pointing out a few guiding lights in this area that people might like to check out. Firstly, Clare has started out on a related route of thinking in her blog about Making House - you might like to check that out and leave some comments. Also Dan Edelen over at the rather marvellous Cerulean Sanctum shared some very good stuff in his article A Hodgepodge of Thoughts on this July the Fourth which is a must read.
I have just started reading Homage to a Broken Man, the life of J. Heinrich Arnold. I was delighted to have this sent to me for free by Plough publishing, the Bruderhof publishing house. It is a pretty inspiring story about this man and his role in the emergence of the Bruderhof in the early twentieth century. The Bruderhof are still growing strong when so many other communities have risen and fallen in a single generation. They must be getting something right and we could learn a lot from them. They are also extremely generous with their resources and literature – most of which can be accessed from their website.
Two other seminal works are Ronald Sider’s Rich Christians in an Age of Hunger and the sequel Living More Simply. The first book, written in the wake of the Lausanne Congress thirty years ago and recently re-published, is a hard hitting look at the economics of the world and a re-evaluation of the question "how then should we live" as Christians in response. It is every bit as cuttingly challenging as thirty years ago. Living More Simply is the collected stories of a handful of different churches, families and communities who tried to do things differently in light of the Bible’s clear instruction. It has chapters on "breaking free" in the workplace, family, church and community realms and plenty of wise insight.
Finally, on the subject of challenging economics from a biblical perspective I highly recommend The Golden Cow by John White. I have an ancient paperback copy. John White gets to the heart of worldly economics and how it has infiltrated the church and compromised our integrity and witness.
There is loads to learn from all these and theyhave moved back onto my "to read again" shelf. Anyone have further suggestions?
"Without guidance, people fall, but with many counselors there is deliverance."(Proverbs 11:14 HCSB)
posted by Seymour at 6:01 pm
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1 Comments:
I am kind of envious of you, being young, and having the opportunity to try this route.
By the way, I visited a Hutterite community near Winnipeg,Manitoba, in the summer of 1983. It was tightly structured, with limited freedom and personal privacy. More closed to the outside world than Christians should be, I think. I thought they were connected the Bruderhof. Not sure if they're the same, or not.
I think "intentional communities" were somewhat popular among some of the Mennonite youth in Washington, DC, back in the 70's. The Sojourners group (Jim Wallis) may have followed that model. Not sure how they evolved, later.
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