Karl Barth Is Going Back to Prison

Here's an update on my previous post from God's Politics:

To everyone who took action and emailed the Bureau of Prisons, thank you! On Sept. 14, Sojourners helped break the story that the federal government had created a list of acceptable religious books and purged all other books from the religious libraries. Often these stories fade away and are quickly replaced by the latest crisis, but because of our readers' dedication and persistence (demonstrated by sending over 21,000 emails in just over a week), the Bureau of Prisons has reversed its policy!

According to their statement provided to NPR yesterday:

In response to concerns expressed by members of several religious communities, the Bureau of Prisons has decided to alter its planned course of action with respect to the Chapel Library Project. The Bureau will begin immediately to return to chapel libraries materials that were removed in June 2007, with the exception of any publications that have been found to be inappropriate.

I received a note today from a friend who works with prison inmates that I would like to share with all of you. It states, "On behalf of all federal inmates and chaplains, I thank you for your crucial part in accomplishing this." This is not just a thank you to Sojourners, but this is a thank you to each and every one of you who took action.

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Karl Barth Belongs In Prison

Here's a blog post that I wrote for God's Politics:

Before coming to Sojourners to serve as the congregational coordinator, I had the unique opportunity to teach Protestant faith formation classes at Leavenworth federal prison in Kansas. Leavenworth was experimenting with a program called Life Connections that allowed Muslims, Christians, and adherents of a variety of faith traditions the opportunity to live together in community and participate in spiritual formation. Participants had the opportunity to deepen their own faith and, at the same time, build trust and friendships with people from other faiths.

I will never forget arriving at the "Big House" for the first time. I approached the ominous guard tower, announced myself, and ascended the long staircase toward the prison entrance. There is something unsettling about the first time you hear the door click behind you. Yet the biggest surprise was not the unsettling confinement, but the students I was about to meet. I had great plans for imparting my superior knowledge of Christian faith and its life implications to the program participants. But when I arrived, I realized that the awaiting class would not only be students, but they would be fellow dialogue partners on the Christian journey. In particular, I was impressed by their knowledge of church history, theology, and the ability of one student to quote Thomas à Kempis.

The participants, who would soon become friends, had amassed an incredible knowledge of the Christian faith and its history from an extensive religious library in the prison. I was a little jealous of their selection. That's why I am outraged this week to read the following in The New York Times:

Behind the walls of federal prisons nationwide, chaplains have been quietly carrying out a systematic purge of religious books and materials that were once available to prisoners in chapel libraries.

The Bureau of Prisons has created a list of acceptable religious books from various faiths and excluded all others. In the name of cleansing the library of radical beliefs, some of the greatest Christian authors have been removed. Who are some of the purged authors? Karl Barth, Reinhold Niebuhr, and Cardinal Avery Dulles, just to name a few. Additionally, the Bureau of Prisons has refused to pay for re-stocking the libraries after the purge, leaving many religious libraries near empty.

In our world and especially in a prison system, where religious faith often seems to divide, my friends in Life Connections, assisted by their extensive religious library, deepened not only their faith but had a profound and positive impact upon Leavenworth federal prison. The purging of religious books from a federal institution hampers not only the discipleship of prisoners, but it should cause us to pause and ask ourselves how this happened in the name of freedom and safety.

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Christian View of Economics?

I ran across a blog post by John Armstrong (Acton Institute blog) this week dealing with economics, Christianity, and social justice. My interest was peaked. I was especially intrigued by a quote directed towards young people who care about economic justice that states, "Until you have done this serious work in economic thinking Jim Wallis will appear brilliant and consistently Christian in most of his arguments. I believe you will soon discover the opposite to be the case if you dig into these issues that I have mentioned." The author suggested that his own economic journey had been helped along Milton Friedman and F. A. Hayek’s classic, The Road to Serfdom. I have a couple of comments about this post.
First, Jim Wallis does not claim to be an economist and makes no claim (at least that I’m aware of) to any particular economic school of thought. He does make clear, on a regular basis, that a society has a responsibility to care for each of God’s children – that includes making sure children do not go hungry and ensuring that healthcare is not a luxury of the privileged few. Take from that whatever economic theory you wish, but to me that is good theology.
Second, this post intrigued me because my first economics book was Road to Serfdom and I understand well laissez-fair economic liberalism. Hayek, Freidman and others of their ilk believe that markets are amoral and are best guided by an invisible hand and without government involvement. The basic premise is this, people will pursue their own self-interest and by doing so, if the government stays out of the way, great economic prosperity will come. When asked about the poor - they would claim that everyone, including the poor, benefits from a robust economy (a compassionate libertarian would say charity should fill in the gap).
There is truth to the laissez-fair economic theory. People do prosper, at least for a time, when the government removes itself and allows the market forces to operate. Unfortunately, the market is not “intrinsically good” as the Armstrong says in his post. The market rewards greed and individualism and thrives on self-interest. These characteristics do not fit with the biblical view of justice that we find in scripture or with the call of Christ upon our lives.
We can argue about differing schools of economic thought, Keynesian or laissez-fair economic liberalism, Freidman or Galbraith, but whatever the chosen school of economic theory - we must be unified in our commitment to care for the needs of all God’s children’s. The market will not make sure that every child has healthcare, the market will not put an end to child labor, and the market will not make housing affordable for all. While the charity is useful and I applaud the market’s ability to bring economic prosperity to formerly poor countries, we must realize that this cannot negate our need as a society and especially as Christians to work toward justice for all.

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Imagination Problem

For the past couple of years I have been fascinated by the concept of imagination. It seems that our imaginations are deadened by the stories we are told each day. The movies we watch, the news we hear, the history we read - all seem to validate a particular picture of the world. We are bombarded on a daily basis with the story of power, wealth and consumption. It is hard to move beyond what appears to be reality and imagine another way of living.


While working for Sojourners as a congregational coordinator, I am often asked, "how can we as a local church embody justice." I encounter people at coffee shops that say, "we have a church full of people who want to make a difference, who want to live differently, but we're not sure what to do next." The problem is not a lack of desire, but a lack of a concrete vision. While acknowledging up front that I'm wrestling with the same questions, this blog is an attempt to think imaginatively about the church, about Christian vocation and embodying the kingdom.

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Introduction

Like writing the first paragraph to a paper - the first post on a blog is the hardest, I hope. How should I begin? Should I introduce myself? Should I be particularly witty, should I wow with my brilliant insight that the world (I'm sure) cannot do without, or should I even care, because who reads a first blog post anyway?

I begin my journey into the world of blogging with a bit of reluctance. What can I say that has not been said a hundred times? Yet, maybe my own journey and questions about the role of the church, Christian vocation and the kingdom of God will be of some help to others on the same journey.

Currently, I serve as the congregational coordinator at Sojourners in Washington, DC. Working at Sojourners and my position in particular, are a perfect fit for me and my life's journey. I am a theologian by training, but I have been captivated by the question, "What does it mean to embody justice as the church?" My time at Sojourners affords me the opportunity answer that question.

My journey has led me from holding statewide leadership in College Republicans and serving as a youth ambassador to the 2000 Republican convention - to working and living among the poor and oppressed of Oklahoma City. It has led me from local parish ministry to my current position at Sojourners. It has led me from studying theology to seeking to understand how to best live out my theological convictions.

What else can I tell you? I enjoy reading, studying theology, and drinking coffee. I am also a licensed minister with the Church of the Nazarene and live with my wife in the Washington, DC metro area.

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