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Spirituality, Religion And The Blessed Revolution
By Dave Andrews
Release on Sunday 31st of January 2021
6 - Liberating Jesus From Christianity
Video transcript
One of my concerns is that Christians want to have a monopoly on Jesus. And I think we need to liberate Jesus from Christianity so that all people of goodwill can relate to who Jesus is and discover the ... the dynamic revolutionary potential of the teachings of this carpenter- prophet from Palestine. I think it's absolutely crucial. I often talk to Christians about Muslims discovering who Jesus is, and and the Beatitudes and how that can relate to their lives. But and they say all they have to become Christians to relate to Jesus. Well, that's nonsense. We... Jesus called his disciples to be with him and he … he imposed no theological requirements on them at all. But he created a space for them to reflect critically on their engagement with the world and allowed them to debate who he was in relation to their struggle. Jesus had a much more open and tolerant and expansive way of engaging the world than most Christians to do. And most Christians have tried to kind of constrain Jesus, capture Jesus, and then even market Jesus. And I think we need to free Jesus from Christianity, so that anybody can relate to Jesus, and find for themselves the relevance of the radical teachings of the Masih or the Messiah
Suggestions for Meditation, Discussion And Action
What do you think Dave means by "Liberating Jesus From Christianity"?
What do you imagine there is in your religion that Jesus might affirm?
What do you imagine there is in your religion Jesus might confront?
Quote from Dave's new book: To Right Every Wrong
"Jesus never intended to start a religion—particularly a monopolistic religion that would bear his own name and see itself in competition with other religions for people’s allegiance. Jesus simply said that he came “to bring life and life in all its fullness” (John 10:10). Thus I think Jesus would affirm all that is life-affirming and confront all that is life-negating in all of the world’s religions.
Jesus did not play the part of a reformist priest—because he was against the establishment. He did not try to play the part of a traditional rabbi—because he was against legalism. He did not try to play the part of a classical monk—because he was against asceticism. And he did not take up arms and fight as a guerrilla—because he was against violence, from both the left and the right.
Rather, Jesus loved the world and showed people a revolutionary way that they could love their world just as he did. For Jesus, liberation could never come from Sadducean rules and regulations, Pharisaic rituals and ceremonies, Qumranic disciplines and practices or Zealot strategies and tactics. For Jesus, liberation could only come through real love—substantive, sacrificial, giving and forgiving love—for God and neighbor, for friends and enemies. "
To Right Every Wrong 49.
Dave's Song: The Rebel Jesus
From: Dave Andrews And Friends Songs Of Love And Justice - We Believe
Table of content
- Spirituality and Religion
Experience and expression of compassion for the other. - The Gospel Of Jesus – “Heaven on Earth”
An experience that people can live here and now. - The Beatitudes From The Heart
Loving our neighbor as ourself. - The Be-Attitudes Of The Beatitudes
We need to sincerely committing ourselves to do the following... - The Blessed Be-Attitude Revolution
The radical, personal-political Be-Attitudes that are at the heart of the Blessed Be-Attitude Revolution are... - >> Liberating Jesus From Christianity
Jesus never intended to start a religion. - Liberating People Of All Religions
My battle is to fight that people don't have to become Christians in order to relate to Jesus. - Reciprocity As Our Responsibility
The Golden Rule is a classic example of generalized reciprocity. - People Of The Way
The Beatitudes of Jesus as a ‘Be-Attitude Revolution’ - attitudes that can help us ‘Be’ the change we want to see in the world. - Contemplation In Action
Slowing down, so we have the time between our action and reaction and then shape our response in terms of the Be-Atttitudes.
Dave Andrews new book is available: To Right Every Wrong
My latest book, To Right Every Wrong,
is a funny, sad, brutally honest retrospective, reflecting on what it has meant for me and my family to seek to live a lifetime dedicated to love and justice. The reflections in this book, subtitled The Making And Unmaking Of One Improbable Minor Prophet, come in three parts — the personal, the prophetical and the paradoxical.
The personal part explores my experience of the radical, compassionate spirituality that I share with my wife, Angie, and which has shaped our way of life as a family in community with marginalized and disadvantaged groups of people.
The prophetical part explores my embrace of the “strange”, “crazy”, “improbable” call I felt to be a prophet, which I have sought to flesh out in classic prophetic roles - as an interrogator, a protester, a practitioner and an inspirator - in contemporary prophetic contexts characterized by poverty and violence.
The paradoxical part explores my making and unmaking as a minor prophet, critically constructing and deconstructing the more confrontational aspects of the prophetic roles I have played in order to be able to practice more sensitive pastoral care.
The personal part explores my experience of the radical, compassionate spirituality that I share with my wife, Angie, and which has shaped our way of life as a family in community with marginalized and disadvantaged groups of people.
The prophetical part explores my embrace of the “strange”, “crazy”, “improbable” call I felt to be a prophet, which I have sought to flesh out in classic prophetic roles - as an interrogator, a protester, a practitioner and an inspirator - in contemporary prophetic contexts characterized by poverty and violence.
The paradoxical part explores my making and unmaking as a minor prophet, critically constructing and deconstructing the more confrontational aspects of the prophetic roles I have played in order to be able to practice more sensitive pastoral care.
Dave Andrews other books
Dave has written more the 18 books, you can find all of his books here: Dave Andrew's books.
Some of his well known books
Who is Dave Andrews?
Dave is particularly interested in radical spirituality, incarnational community and the dynamics of personal and social transformation.
Website:
Dave Andrews
Country:
Australia
Activity:
Activist, Community organiser, Spiritual teacher
Keywords:
beatitude, change, compassion, prayer, spirituality
Discover more content from Dave Andrews
Dave Andrews has 18 interviews on our website. You can watch all Dave Andrews's interviews here.
Here are some interviews available
- Spirituality and Religion - Spirituality is the experience and expression of compassion for the others.
- The Question We Need To Ask Ourselves -
- The Blessing Of The Bismillah -
Presentation
Dave, his wife Ange, and their family, have lived and worked in intentional communities with marginalised groups of people in Australia, Afghanistan, Pakistan, India and Nepal for more than forty years. He now lives in a large joint household with his wife, children, grandchildren and others in an inner city community in Brisbane, Australia.
Dave is particularly interested in radical spirituality, incarnational community and the dynamics of personal and social transformation. He is author of many books and articles, including 'Christi-Anarchy', 'Not Religion, But Love', 'Building A Better World', 'Down Under - In-Depth Community Work', 'Out And Out - Way-Out Community Work', 'Compassionate Community Work', 'People of Compassion', 'Living Community', 'A Divine Society', and the Plan Be Series - 'Plan Be', 'Hey, Be And See', 'See What I Mean?'
Dave and Ange and their friends started a residential community called Aashiana out of which grew Sahara, Sharan and Sahasee – three well-known Christian community organisations working with slum dwellers, sex workers, drug addicts, and people with HIV/AIDS in India. They are currently a part of the Waiters Union, an inner city Christian community network working with Aborigines, refugees and people with disabilities in Australia. Out of the Waiters Union has grown the Community Initiatives Resource Association, auspicing local experimental community activities, and the Community Praxis Coop, providing holistic community work training.
Dave is the coordinator for training with the Community Initiatives Resource Association, a teacher for Praxis and Christian Heritage College and an elder emeritus for Servants To Asia's Urban Poor.
Dave is involved nationally and internationally in interfaith dialogue and engagement. He has published three books of Christian-Muslim reflections - ‘Ramadan’, ‘Bismillah’ and ‘Isa’. Most recently he has published his ground-breaking, peace-making book - ‘The Jihad Of Jesus: The Sacred Nonviolent Struggle For Justice’, which has been translated into Dutch and German. Dave is sharing the message of ‘The Jihad Of Jesus’ with people in churches, mosques, seminars, workshops and festivals around Australia, New Zealand, the US, the UK, Europe and Asia. See events, reviews and interviews at www.jihadofjesus.com.