This post is part of my Anarchist Bible series - see the introduction and list of posts.

Over and over we see power abused, used to dominate and for the benefit of those at the top at the expense of those below them. This even extends to the church, as seen in countless news stories covering abuses of power.

Fundamental to anarchism is challenging hierarchical power and advocating that everyone ought to be free from domination by anyone else.

A slogan used by some anarchists is “No gods, no masters!”, expressing the desire to overthrow hierarchy and allow everyone to be fully free from domination and coercion by others.

As I argue for significant overlap between anarchism and Jesus/the scriptures, how does that slogan (which ties deity to domination) fit with the teachings of Jesus, Son of God, and with the reality that there are Christian anarchists?

Jesus’ Words

Jesus called them over and said, “You know that those who rule the Gentiles show off their authority over them and their high-ranking officials order them around. But that’s not the way it will be with you. Whoever wants to be great among you will be your servant. Whoever wants to be first among you will be your slave— just as the Human One didn’t come to be served but rather to serve and to give his life to liberate many people.” - Matthew 10:25-28

“They love to sit in places of honor at banquets and in the synagogues. They love to be greeted with honor in the markets and to be addressed as ‘Rabbi.’ But you shouldn’t be called Rabbi, because you have one teacher, and all of you are brothers and sisters. Don’t call anybody on earth your father, because you have one Father, who is heavenly. Don’t be called teacher, because Christ is your one teacher. But the one who is greatest among you will be your servant. All who lift themselves up will be brought low. But all who make themselves low will be lifted up.” - words of Jesus, Matthew 23:6-12

Also: Jesus washing the feet of the disciples

What are the assumptions about power and hierarchy that Jesus is highlighting in Jewish and Greco-Roman cultures around him? In what ways is he teaching a new system of values in opposition to those assumptions?

Reshaping Power and Hierarchy

First, how can one say that a belief in God fits with a belief that everyone ought to be free from domination and coercion? Those anarchists using the slogan “No gods, no masters” imply it is not possible and the two go together.

From the functioning of religion in many historical contexts, including a lot of Christian ones, that is very understandable. Religious authorities have dominated and oppressed and used religious beliefs to justify it. Narratives of domineering capricious divinities have been models for the harmful exercise of authority in societies, and narratives of divinely-appointed hierarchies have been used to legitimize oppressive structures.

One of the difficulties of an atheist worldview is the lack of any objective foundation from which one can effectively challenge domination. Without a revelation of what is good in the eyes of God or an underlying belief in all humans being created equal in dignity and value, little means of challenge is left against “might makes right”. If we are all just accidents of history, what makes domination wrong? “No gods, no masters” leaves us only able to challenge the masters with their own tools of violence and coercion, taking power from them by force, unless we can convince them that giving up their power is somehow in their own self-interest.

On the other hand, the Creator God whom Jesus called Father and raised Jesus from the dead breaks through this challenge. First, when there is a Creator, there is a foundation from which we can challenge domination. We can look to God’s revelation as a source of authority for what is right — a framework external to the “might makes right” domination of the powerful which can challenge it. We have an origin story in which we are all created, equally valued, equally loved, and equally worthy of care and dignity.

We are all equal, under God, and no one ought to dominate another.

Looking at Jesus

But beyond that, we have a God who models and instructs in a different kind of power structure. God is continually overturning the model of dominance for a model of self-sacrificing love. Many aspects will be covered throughout this series, but Jesus highlights three of them in these verses.

First, in Matthew 10, Jesus calls out the use of hierarchy to dominate others prevalent in the Greco-Roman culture. He instructs his followers to reject this and instead to serve one another. The model he gives for this is his own life, given in service and sacrifice for the liberation of all. God's actions, in the life of Jesus, are given here by Jesus as both the revelation of God's character and the justification for rejecting domination in favor of sacrificial service for those in one's community.

Second, in Matthew 23, Jesus calls out the Jewish religious teachers for their pursuit of honored positions in social hierarchies. He instructs his followers to reject this pattern as well, not setting up hierarchical structures among themselves under "teachers” or "fathers” but living in equality as “brothers and sisters” following the triune God as the one and only Father/Teacher, before whom we are all on equal footing and called to serve one another.

Finally, in John 13, Jesus acts in a shocking way in the culture of his time, taking the place of a slave or lowly servant and washing the feet of his followers. Jesus physically embodies the character of God as one who does not lord power over others and dominate, but as one whose character is love, sacrifice, and service. This God, this King has a kingdom full of reversals of the values of the kingdoms of this world, an unKingdom that contrasts with the Roman Empire of his day and challenges and subverts the masters who dominate. The followers of this King receive his life and teaching both as a moral basis on which to challenge the hierarchies of the world and an example of non-domination and cooperative care rooted in God's own revealed character.

For those who follow Jesus, the call is to respond with rejection of hierarchy and domination and to embrace loving sacrificial service in egalitarian community as sisters and brothers of one family under God who sacrifices for us. In this way, we prefigure or enact ahead of time the new world that is coming, when all is made right and domination and hierarchy are no more.

So what about anarchism?

Taken all together, it is the life of Jesus and the narrative of the scriptures which serves as the foundation for the master-toppling work anarchism seeks to do in the world, and Christian anarchism is not a contradiction but a logical conclusion. While many false “gods” (even a distorted version of the Christian one) are complicit forces in the construction of domination in the world, the real God of Jesus’ teaching is exactly the one needed to overthrow those false gods and make the world right as anarchists hope. I believe that without that divine presence, character, and story, revolutionary efforts will spin their wheels without progress or eternally become that which they seek to overthrow as they adopt the master’s tools to upend him.

Church Structures?

I do think this offers questions for church structures that are worthy of careful consideration. How do our structures reenact hierarchy and domination instead of the way of Jesus? In what ways do we have structures that lift up Teachers and Fathers above the people and miss the egalitarian message of Jesus? More formally hierarchical communities more obviously need to wrestle with this, but informal power and dominance can exist in any place. There are efforts in hierarchical churches to teach and reinforce Jesus’ values here even within their structures. For instance, in many traditions, every clergy has to be a deacon (from Greek for “servant”) initially, wearing a stole meant to signify the towel Jesus wore during that foot-washing, reminding clergy that they are servants first of all. I wonder though if that is enough and what Jesus would have to say to pyramidal and professionalized leadership structures.

Calls to Action

As we discuss opposition to hierarchy here, protests are happening across the country tomorrow against growing authoritarianism in the current administration. See more at www.nokings.org.

As occupation continues and intensifies in Palestine, aid is cut off, starvation and refugee crises are deepening, Israeli officials become ever more open about intention to settle more Palestinian land, and Israel escalates conflict in the region, here are some of the current global pressure campaigns from BDS against groups involved with Israel, intended to pressure them so that they pressure the Israeli state. Please note the precise targeted nature of each effort as they are not necessarily blanket boycotts but involve targeted actions:

Microsoft

Reebok

Chevron

HP

Historical Heroes:

I'll regularly highlight historical heroes, often in the week of their birth or death. Sunday is the anniversary of the death of Jovita Idar.

Jovita Idár of Texas (7 September 1885-15 June 1946) was a journalist and activist for Mexicans and Mexican-Americans on both sides of the border. Her father ran a newspaper and she was brought up frequently discussing the conditions of those in their community who were marginalized. She worked for, wrote for, and eventually ran the paper, investigating the poor conditions of workers. She and the paper advocated for civil rights, quality education, preservation of Mexican identity and culture, and against discrimination, lynching, and US intervention in the Mexican Revolution. She volunteered as a nurse for those wounded in the Revolution and later volunteered in a hospital. Her early training was in a Methodist school for teaching and she also edited a publication for the Methodist Church as well.