SCM Press (London 2022). Pbk. 240 pages. £15.71.
This book is a densely argued and widely referenced theological study of some 230 pages that challenges our understanding of society and God. It presents a radical interpretation of the gospel message of Jesus. Instead of a traditional theology or theo-logos focused on being, it offers a theo-poiesis in which God is the ‘poet’ of an ever-becoming world based on experience, transformation, and movement, bringing new ways into being. The chapters are buttressed with challenging Questions to Ponder. Of himself the author, Dr Graham Adams, writes: ‘I am a theological educator, with particular interest in missiology, especially as shaped in the context of Empire’.
I will mention but two authors out of the many that are referred to in the text, Hegel and Caputo: the former as a marker for the expansive depth of thought to be found in this book; the latter, John Caputo, is a widely respected contemporary US theologian best known for his theological focus on ‘the weakness of God’, a pivotal theme of this work in challenging traditional notions of divinity. Instead of power and glory, it emphasises ‘the weight of small things’ – seeds, yeast, childlikeness, the humble – that challenge ‘the structures of imperial or temple-state oppression.’
For Adams (following Caputo) the ‘kingdom of God’ encountered in the gospels is a form of ‘sacred anarchy’, where ‘weak forces play themselves out in paradoxical effects that confound the powers that be.’ Humble people and simple acts of kindness have major consequences, a view Adams elaborates by referring to the Butterfly Effect of Complexity Theory whereby small perturbations ripple through a system/universe to deliver unexpected change.
From this perspective, ‘The kingdom of God is a domain in which weakness reigns’. This is not how we normally think of a kingdom – a more perceptive word may be ‘kin-dom’ – but one that sets aside ‘the idolatry of divine strength’ in favour of Holy Anarchy, where ‘anarchy’ is understood in the literal sense of ‘an-archy’ as the negation of ‘ruling over.’ Divinity becomes an instrumental element in the ferment of change, rooted in diverse and marginalised communities.
Elaborating this theme are some key words and phrases: domination, oppression, solidarity, power structures, imperialism, de-colonisation – all words that for Adams provide the context for a proper understanding the ministry of Jesus. A passage from the radical feminist theologian Elizabeth Schussler Fiorenza neatly ties these concepts together when she describes the authentic church as ‘an anti-imperialist egalitarian movement that seeks change for all those living on the bottom of the kyriarchal pyramid of domination.’
Clearly the critical approach of Adams is about challenging/subverting traditional ecclesiology and theology. One reason given is that traditional ‘onto-theology’ focused on being is too easily aligned with the idolatry of divine strength: this misrepresents God’s will or rule that is not a ‘ruling over’ but something quite different, ‘More akin to “solidarity” (as opposed to “rule”) “in the midst” (rather than “over”).’ An expression of this is the crucifixion, in which Adams sees God not as the ‘God of the crucifiers [but] the crucified’: Jesus ‘died for the cause of divine generosity-of-spirit that the System sought to close down.’
One implication of this approach is that it addresses the ‘moral conundrum’ of a powerful God in a world where ‘so much transformation is needed but missing.’ It also leads to a distinctive understanding of truth. Here Adams distinguishes two kinds of truth: ‘truth-in-process’ that is open and expansive – ‘relating lovingly to all-comers, without precondition, the very epitome of empathetic truth-in-process’ – and ‘truth-in-hand’ where ‘we deny wider realities, complexities and ambiguities’ in favour of an edited grasp of reality focused on preserving ‘purity.’
In the wake of the recent UK census highlighting the decline of Christian belief in England this book is a welcome reminder that there is more to Christianity than often presented in traditional churches. Adams’ radical alternative compliments the work of the scholars of the Christianity Seminar in the US that has revealed how different the first two centuries were before Christianity became a distinctive imperial, state religion expressed in forms we now take as normative (cf. After Jesus, Before Christianity). In a sense the challenging teaching of Jesus was indeed anarchic in its power to disturb: as Adams has it, he was ‘The Lamb that roared’.
Dominic Kirkham’s books include From Monk to Modernity (SOF Network 2015) and Horror and Hope (Wipf and Stock, Eugene OR, 2021).