Customer Reviews

Christi-Anarchy: Discovering a radical spirituality of compassion

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If I didn't respect the person so much that gave me this book I would never had read it. Until recently I've considered religion `the opium of the masses' and wanted nothing to do with this "Christ". Marx's critic is an excellent one; religion is a drug that stops the people from questioning the tyranny of the system. But after reading Dave Andrews I no longer associate the Jewish Messiah Jesus with Christianity. I now see that Christianity is a religion that has been irreversibly distorted by its neglect of the actual figure and teachings of Christ.

The most appealing thing about the book is that Andrews commitment to what he sees as the non-violence of Jesus is even carried into the way the book is written. He doesn't appeal to the reader to come over to where he stands and see it the way he does rather he (with the integrity of a true anarchist) is not a reformer but proposes a new open(!) construct that people can engage with total disregard for the drug that has met it's used by date: Christianity.

I have not yet finished but I would also recommend "Not Religion, but Love" which Andrew's also wrote. Both books are excellent.

This book is for all those who are as turned on by Christianity as they are by the idea of their grandparents doing the bump and grind.

If you've ever been enchanted with the figure of Jesus and yet wouldn't touch Christianity with a bargepole because of the amount of BS, this book will resonate with your experiences and encourage and challenge you in living a life of radical justice and compassion.

This isn't just another undressing religiosity from the idea of following Jesus but Dave Andrews states Christianity must be thrown out!! (The Chapter "Christianity is Dead - Long Live Christi-anarchy" is amazing!) His brilliant uncovering of the brutality and violence of Christianity's histories is concise and easy to read and his deconstruction of ideological underpinning of Christianity is challenging.

This book will be hated by the religious and the status quo and written off, if not burned. But for those who earnestly seek a holistic spirituality of peace; it will become a close friend.

It returns the figure of Jesus to the marginalised and to the oppressed from the clutches of those who would use the symbols for control and oppression.

Read it... I dare you.

If you have found it hard to reconcile Gandhi's deepest connections to his Hindu nonviolence being Christ's Sermon on the Mount and yet Christians saying Gandhi isn't "saved" this book will help. Andrews is a real practitioner and the lives of hundreds of people here in India's slums and in the boarding homes of Brisbane tell of this humble man's greatness. I think Andrews is a little christ, a little mahatma.

This book merits a wide readership because it challenges
Christians to get out of their comfort zone. You may
not agree with everything Dave says (I didn't) but he
writes with a passion borne out of years of experience
in compassionate service to the underprivileged that
society and the Church have ignored.

From the beginning where he describes his excommunication
from YWAM to the epilogue where Christ's love is displayed
through actual stories, Christi-Anarchy is sure to at least
give you food for thought and fuel for action.

This book is for all those who are as turned on by Christianity as they are by the idea of their grandparents doing the bump and grind.

If you've ever been enchanted with the figure of Jesus and yet wouldn't touch Christianity with a bargepole because of the amount of BS, this book will resonate with your experiences and encourage and challenge you in living a life of radical justice and compassion.

This isn't just another undressing religiosity from the idea of following Jesus but Dave Andrews states Christianity must be thrown out!! (The Chapter "Christianity is Dead - Long Live Christi-anarchy" is amazing!) His brilliant uncovering of the brutality and violence of Christianity's histories is concise and easy to read and his deconstruction of ideological underpinning of Christianity is challenging.

This book will be hated by the religious and the status quo and written off, if not burned. But for those who earnestly seek a holistic spirituality of peace; it will become a close friend.

It returns the figure of Jesus to the marginalised and to the oppressed from the clutches of those who would use the symbols for control and oppression.

Read it... I dare you.

Dave Andrews, Christi-Anarchy: Discovering a Radical Spirituality of Compassion (Tring: Lion, 1999)

Andrews challenges Christianity's dark side - the callous disregard for human rights (especially the crusades, inquisitions and witch hunts), destruction of tribal cultures, and genocide. In contrast to `closed-set' bounded Christianity that defends beliefs and behaviours, Andrews claims `open-set' inclusive Christi-Anarchy is the way of compassion, nonviolence and liberation that centers on Jesus. He includes imaginative poetry of Jesus' ministry and passion, and shows how we can be inspired by Jesus' compassion and hunger for justice to work among marginal groups for real transformation. He writes from his experience of suffering, despair and following Jesus' example - notably being thrown out of Dilaram Community by YWAM and his current community building with `the waiter's union' in Brisbane.

Originally reviewed in Darren Cronshaw `The Emerging Church: Spirituality and Worship Reading Guide.' Zadok Papers S159 (Autumn 2008).

I like the writings of Thich Nhat Hanh, Gandhi, MLK, and the Dalai Lama. If you do too, you'll dig this guy.