Marginal Christianity

  Perverse Patriotism is the unique and exclusive loyalty (what we call “faith”) to apocalyptic Jesus that serves him in a Subversive Counter-Revolutionary Movement                                   (SCRM, a.k.a. in polite society as “church”)  If we are God’s Subversive Counter-Revolutionary Movement (as I argued we are in the last post in this series) this entails for us perverse patriots as double-layered relationship with our homeland. -Resident Aliens (Stanley Hauerwas and William Willimon from the well-known 1989 book of that title), and -Alien Residents (Gerald Sittser from his forthcoming Resilient Faith). The former stresses the “Alien” part of our relationship to our homeland. This correlates with the “subversive” character of God’s movement of which we are a part. “They live in their own countries, but only as aliens. They . . . endure everything as foreigners. Every ...

  Perverse Patriotism is the unique and exclusive loyalty (what we call “faith”) to apocalyptic Jesus that serves him in a Subversive Counter-Revolutionary Movement                                          (SCRM, a.k.a. in polite society as “church”)  Perverse patriots can only be that if they know who they are. That’s not as easy as it sounds. In North America the church knowing who it is and understanding the difference between that identity and a living in America is problematic because the confusion between the two is profound and pervasive. It is my contention that across the board in whatever form we find God’s people, that is a people fleeing Egypt, wandering nomads, a united and divided monarchy, a people in exile in Babylon, and a people exiled in their own land under foreign rule, they are to be a Subversive Counter-Revolutionary Movement (SCRM). Jesu...

Posted on August 13, 2013 by scottemery The other day a few of my friends and I were discussing the realities of life. Rootedness, patience, and attending to the ordinary rhythms of life were at the core of our dialogue. For us, life doesn’t make a whole lot sense unless we’re pursuing the actualization of these words. The call to move into our neighborhoods is one we’ve taken seriously and are becoming more and more aware of the postures and practices needed to follow through with this. In a world where the extraordinary and flashy are sought after and valued, we believe faithfully pursuing the mundane of the everyday is where we will see actual growth. We firmly believe in things like rootedness, patience, and attending to the ordinary rhythms of life because these are some of the things Jesus firmly believed in . And by “believe in” I don’t mean mental assent alone. Belief is something that is manifested through action. Therefore, if you say you believe something, I s...