Spirituality, Religion And The Blessed Revolution

By Dave Andrews

Release on Sunday 31st of January 2021

7 - Liberating People Of All Religions

Video transcript

My understanding is that the early church fought over the issue of whether Gentiles had to become Jews in order to relate to Jesus. And they decided, no! They didn't have to become Jews to relate to Jesus. My battle is to fight that people don't have to become Christians in order to relate to Jesus. They can relate to Jesus as they are, in whatever tradition they are, whether … whatever religion they are involved with ... any or none. And if they engage with Jesus I believe Jesus has ... has a liberating potential to help them transform their world. Starting from wherever they are

Suggestions for Meditation, Discussion And Action

How do you think the Indian idea of ahimsa (total avoidance of harming of all living creatures) could help us appreciate the role Jesus played in our world?
How do you think the radical, sacrificial, nonviolent role Jesus played in our world, could contribute to the Hindu, Buddhist and Jain practice of ahimsa?
What would the practice of ahimsa or nonviolence mean to you today?

Quote from Dave's new book: To Right Every Wrong
"Aashiana … was established by Indians for Indians, who come from many other religions (Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, Sikhism and Islam)… We all resolved to discover the meaning of our faith in Christ within the Indian context from a traditional Indian leader. We felt this was important for all of us, since we had all been brought up in an educational system that had been largely influenced by the West (even those of us who had not been brought up in the West). Thus we all felt the need to become more in touch with our Eastern context. We stayed for three weeks in Bharuch, a small town in western India Gujarat, and learned from Subodh Sahu, who initiated us all into the Indian art of meditation, an inductive study of the Scriptures and dialogue with neighbors of other religions. Later, we invited Archarya Dayaprakash from Sat Tal Ashram to hold a satsang in our house. He introduced us to the radiance of our faith in Christ in the light of other religions. Consequently, we came to understand our faith with contributions from both Western knowledge and Eastern wisdom, thereby forming a uniquely Indian synthesis. "
To Right Every Wrong 49.
Dave's Song: The Way Of Christ

From: Dave Andrews And Friends Songs Of Love And Justice - The Way Of Christ

Table of content

  1. Spirituality and Religion
    Experience and expression of compassion for the other.
  2. The Gospel Of Jesus – “Heaven on Earth”
    An experience that people can live here and now.
  3. The Beatitudes From The Heart
    Loving our neighbor as ourself.
  4. The Be-Attitudes Of The Beatitudes
    We need to sincerely committing ourselves to do the following...
  5. The Blessed Be-Attitude Revolution
    The radical, personal-political Be-Attitudes that are at the heart of the Blessed Be-Attitude Revolution are...
  6. Liberating Jesus From Christianity
    Jesus never intended to start a religion.
  7. >> Liberating People Of All Religions
    My battle is to fight that people don't have to become Christians in order to relate to Jesus.
  8. Reciprocity As Our Responsibility
    The Golden Rule is a classic example of generalized reciprocity.
  9. 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.
  10. 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.

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

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.

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