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Editorial:
Minority Report
Anna Rankin
Comment:
Racism in Ulster: Up-front and Ugly
Ken Newell
From
the Director: Naming Our Sin
David W Porter
Faith
in Ulster: Facing Up to Diversity
Stephen Skuce
Faith
and Practice
Walter Lewis
Interview
with Rose Ozo: Where the Heart Is
Anna Rankin
Craigavon:
Religious Liberty in the Shadow of Drumcree
Small Steps
Tim Foley
Embracing the Stranger
Richard Kerr
Review:
On Eagle's Wing
Ethel White
Review:
Conflict, Controversy and Co-operation
John W Morrow
Review:
The Subversive Manifesto
John Kyle
Review:
L is for Lifestyle
Claire Martin
Review:
It Will Not Be Taken Away From Her
Cary Gibson
Review:
Prophetic Untimeliness: A Challenge to the Idol of Relevance
Paul Rankin
Review:
Two Little Boys
John Gillespie
Review:
Son
David Smith
REVIEW:
The Subversive Manifesto
by Jonathan Bartley
reviewed by John Kyle
I’M NOT SURE what the Desert Fathers would have made of this book. Their response to a corrupt world system was to withdraw to the desert while Jonathan Bartley’s is the opposite – radical engagement.
One would expect a book called The Subversive Manifesto to be provocative and it is. Bartley, a director of the think-tank Ekklesia and columnist for the Christian Herald and Third Way, begins by challenging the evangelical tendency to interpret scripture from a personal perspective. Hence the parable of the Good Samaritan is not only a lesson in neighbourly kindness but also has implications for how we, as a nation, treat immigrants, asylum seekers and persecuted minorities. In other words the parable is not merely a morality tale but, like the rest of scripture, is replete with political comment. He then proceeds to illustrate this with a whistle-stop tour of salvation history translated into modern political vocabulary.
The ‘sacred-secular divide’ is expertly dismantled and he argues convincingly that God cares about the stuff of everyday life, which can therefore have as much eternal resonance as prayer and preaching.
Jesus’ proclamation that he had been anointed to preach good news to the poor, to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight to the blind points to the gospel’s social and political dimensions. His actions demonstrated that God’s politics are quite different from the world’s and that his Kingdom has an entirely new set of values. The kingdoms of the world operate by domination and control but God’s Kingdom is a kingdom of service and sacrifice. This is where the subversion comes in. We are to engage politically but not to seek power or popular support. We should not be motivated by self interest or a desire to dominate but are to introduce God’s new order of justice by our speech and actions, laying down our own interests and giving up power for the sake of others. This behaviour, he states, is inherently subversive and will inevitably provoke a reaction from those with vested interests, namely those in power.
Bartley provides numerous examples from his own experiences in local politics and at Westminster. Many are impressive, showing that it is possible to do things differently.
The recurring motif running through the book is that our mission is to stand for justice. This I can agree with but it is not always easy to discern what is just: one man’s justice can be another man’s injustice. It would have been helpful if he had elaborated more on what makes a cause just.
For someone so committed to political engagement he is surprisingly cautious about membership of political parties, which he views as a dangerous road down which to travel. This may be the voice of experience speaking, but it seems strange to encourage involvement at every other level of political activity yet to abrogate responsibility to others when it comes to exercising political power.
This book challenges us to “Rediscover the fullness of the gospel message, the political gospel – that the gospel is good news to all of creation, to our hospitals and prisons to our town halls and businesses, to our rural and urban environments.” If you are unconvinced of the political nature of the gospel you should read this book; if you are already convinced you should also read it as an inspiration and an encouragement that simple actions inspired by the biblical imperative to act justly and love mercy can have significant and lasting repercussions.
DR JOHN KYLE is a member of ECONI and a GP in Belfast.
THE SUBVERSIVE
MANIFESTO:
Lifting the lid on God’s political agenda.
Jonathan Bartley
Published by BRF, 2003.
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