The “angel” here is, as Forbe’s reads Walter Wink’s exploration of “The Powers”: Walter Wink’s concept of “the powers” in which he describes that there is, in a sense, an angel of every nation. “The angel or spirit of America,” Wink writes, “stands, as it were, before God; it bears the knowledge of that to which it is called. The Continue Reading
Author Ched Myers (Binding the Strong Man, Who Will Roll Away the Stone, Ambassadors of Reconciliation) offers up some resources for reflection on Occupy: http://www.chedmyers.org/blog/2011/12/06/few-advent-resources-occupy-cpt-and-god-exodus-link-our-recent-sermon
Thank you Lauren, for putting into writing what is obvious to anyone who observes and listens (and read on after the quote. I’m not being sarcastic. It is something conveniently ignored by press seeking quick bites and political rancor) Much of the criticism directed at the Occupy Movement has focused on protesters’ lack of clear objectives. However, as I’ve witnessed Continue Reading
It’s a bit frustrating to see that we’re talking about “sympathetic churches” (neccessary because of the Right wing church whose bullhorn is so loud that many other more moderate churches also absorb the “anti-protest”, status-quo defending posture of the America-loving Christian) rather than asking where the churches have been all along as this economic tipping of the scales has been Continue Reading
Denominational agency efforts and reports re: economic/budget issues affecting our economy are few on the front pages of the denominations’ websites. (This post was originally published on Sep. 29, and I am re-posting it today to check on who may or may not have made progress on this front, now that the OWS movment has garnered at least some popularity, Continue Reading
Jim Rice writes in Sojourners magazine about Occupy. Sojourners is one of those communities that have become a mashup of activist, publishers, movementOrganizers….and has been an example of the kind of theological discernment regarding our country and its churches that have been seeing the kinds of things Occupy has been good at bringing into movement form in the public square. Continue Reading
Still finding tasty theological results from my Googling of “Walter Wink powers occupy”. Here’s one on the sequence implied in Walter Wink’s “Powers” series of books: As the theologian Walter Wink shows, challenging a dominant system requires a three-part process: naming the powers, unmasking the powers, engaging the powers(11). Their white noise of distraction and obfuscation is the means by Continue Reading
The title of this post is from a blog post in Sierra Voices by Sharon Delgado. It was another result in a search I just did on Google using “Walter Wink Powers Occupy”, a search that has yielded some good “Occupy Theology”. I am going to stand in solidarity with those who are oppressed by the current corporate-dominated Empire, and Continue Reading
University of Massachusetts at Amherst emeritus economics professor Richard Wolff speaks about some of the roots of, and solutions to, the economic inequality that’s finally being acknowledged On OWS: It’s clearly a very, very popular movement right from the beginning, thereby giving the lie to those had felt, and thought and said that there’s no left wing base in the Continue Reading
It is something that should cause those of us who consider ourselves to be “in the church” to be simultaneously embarassed and hopeful. Embarassed because it seems to many of us that the church should be have been conscious and mobilized about these issues long ago (it’s been in motion for 30 years, and I was, of all places, in Continue Reading
Really good article here from David Henson (via Mike Morell) on encounter with other religious faiths. and how this can have a renewing effect on one’s own faith. I thought as I read the following line from a Hindu to a Christian who had begun a conversation with some thoujghts about “Hindu scripture”, that this reply would not be received Continue Reading
I thought when I heard the jobs report, that this might give many cause to slack off with the efforts to jump start jobs; to insititute a jobs program that will give more than nominal job growth; which we definitely need to have. After all, behind these “better” numbers is the sobering fact that we’d have to continue such “better” Continue Reading
the Occupy movement, through its steadfast refusal to respond to police provocation, resonated across the country. Losing this moral authority, this ability to show through nonviolent protest the corruption and decadence of the corporate state, would be crippling to the movement. It would reduce us to the moral degradation of our oppressors. And that is what our oppressors want. — Continue Reading
Where is the church now? Where are the clergy? Why do so many church doors remain shut? Why do so many churches refuse to carry out the central mandate of the Christian Gospel and lift up the cross? Some day they are going to have to answer the question: “Where were you when they crucified my Lord?†—Chris Hedges, from Continue Reading
This is really disappointing to see and hear. I saw tweets to this effect last night, that Maher had bad mouthed #OWS, and now I heard it on this video (and read the transcript) ….Just as Bill tends to get a bit cyncial and testy about religion, he’s going to say what he thinks at just about any moment. http://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2012/02/04/bill_maher_tells_occupy_protesters_to_get_a_job.html Wes Continue Reading