Anarchy and Apocalypse: Essays on Faith, Violence, and Theodicy

by Ronald E. Osborn

In this wide-ranging collection of essays Ronald E. Osborn explores the politically subversive and nonviolent anarchist dimensions of Christian discipleship in response to dilemmas of power, suffering, and war. Essays engage texts and thinkers from Homer's Iliad, the Hebrew Bible, and the New Testament to portraits of Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Noam Chomsky, and Elie Wiesel. This book also analyzes the Allied bombing of civilians in World War II, the peculiar contribution of the Seventh-day Adventist apocalyptic imagination to Christian social ethics, and the role of deceptive language in the Vietnam War. From these and other diverse angles, Osborn builds the case for a more prophetic witness in the face of the violence of the principalities and powers in the modern world. This book will serve as an indispensible primer in the political theology of the Adventist tradition, as well as a significant contribution to radical Christian thought in biblical, historical, and literary perspectives.

Genres: Nonfiction

174 pages, Paperback

First published June 1, 2010

Reviews

[Cheyanne · Rating 4 out of 5]

Osborn is wideranging in his discussion on the politics of violence and Christ's teaching on violence. It definitely expanded my viewpoint: I learned a lot. That being said, there were a few points that I got weighed down in political discussions (politics not being my strongest subject area). Also, while I understand that this book is a collection of previously written essays, I sometimes felt a lack of overall coherance. The wide range of approaches and sub-topics, while making the book more balanced and inclusive, did make it difficult at times to go from one chapter to the next.
Overall, however, I thoroughly enjoyed rediscovering the radical teaching of Jesus and exploring how that teaching may apply to us in the 21st century.

[Clint · Rating 4 out of 5]

As with most essay anthologies, the rating equals an average. Most of these essays are excellent, but at times he allows his Anabaptist logic to muddy his theological and philosophical insights. However, even when this happens it's usually isolated and he soars on to make powerful, incisive points.

My thinking and assumptions haven't been challenged the way Osborn challenges them, in a quite a long time. The advantage of his background, both culturally/religiously (Seventh-Day Adventist) and educationally/professionally, gives him the noteworthy advantage of seeing things "from below." That's why he's able to relate to and understand thinkers like Noam Chomsky, Elie Wiesel, Martin Luther King Jr, William Lloyd Garrison, and Dietrich Bonhoeffer, and offer salient critiques against Nieburhian ideologies and various forms of political/imperial power.

[Peter Dodds · Rating 3 out of 5]

A bit pedestrian, but not offensive.