Christian Anarchy: Jesus' Primacy over the Powers

by Vernard Eller

A far-ranging study of the Christian relationship to the state and all wordly powers, this book is as provocative as its unusual title. Christian Anarchy" says Vernard Eller, is the faith in God's primacy as sovereign Lord and orderer of history which is given such weight that all the big claims of self-confident human scheming and power-play become sheer distraction.

Genres: Theology, Philosophy, Politics, Christianity, Religion

284 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1987

About the author

Vernard Marion Eller was an American author, Christian pacifist and minister in the Church of the Brethren.

Reviews

[Michael Miller · Rating 4 out of 5]

I highly recommend Eller’s quirky but powerful book. Be warned, while the first four and last two chapters of Christian Anarchy are worth the price of the book, the work bogs down in between, when Eller is very intent on convincing us that Karl Barth and Soren Kierkegaard were “anarchists” as he defines the term. How this strengthens his argument is beyond me. It’s totally unnecessary. His interpretation and application of scripture stands on its own. His examination of the Anabaptist tradition of pacifism was valuable and apropos.
While the thrust of the book is to critically examine Christian political movements that are left leaning, his argument (as he states at several points) is as valid with regard to right leaning movements. As a Christian Anarchist, he is opposed to any human attempt, system, power bloc that tries to “change the world for the better.” Christians have longed for, and occasionally obtained, such political power with disastrous consequences for the cause of Christ, if not for the political movement itself.
I’m also puzzled by his desire to use (and redefine) the word anarchist to describe his position. The vast majority of anarchists from history would never accept his definition. Why try to use the word in way so contrary to ordinary usage? Find another word or way of expressing what you mean. What he’s describing seems closer to being apolitical than anarchical. In an attempt to sound “radical” in his understanding of discipleship, he will turn off many who would sincerely benefit from hearing his message, which is desperately needed by today’s politically charged churches and Christian activists on the left and the right.

[Joseph · Rating 4 out of 5]

I didn't care much for the first 150 pages of the book, which was basically 1) defining his terms and establishing a basis for his argument, 2) a literature review of influential authors (namely Jacques Ellul, the Blumhardts), which includes a 50+ page career-encompassing overview on Karl Barth, and 3) much longer than it needed to be.

But with all that said, I'm glad Eller went to such great lengths in laying a strong foundation for his arguments; it made the last 100+ pages much easier to understand. In fact, I really enjoyed the second half of the book and feel genuinely challenged by the paradigm shifts he presents regarding how we view faith and politics. Ch. 8 "Christian Anarchy and Civil Disobedience" and Ch. 9 "The Modus Operandi of History" are especially good.

[Jed Sanford · Rating 4 out of 5]

In Christian Anarchy: Jesus' Primacy Over the Powers, Vernard Eller argues that the posture that Christians should have toward political power (and power in general) is one of "anarchy." Eller grounds this understanding of political theology in the teachings of Jesus and the apostles: because Jesus alone is Lord of all, all the coercive political powers of this world have been deligitimized. He finds further support for this idea in the theological teachings of renowned theologians Karl Barth and Dietrich Bonhoeffer. Eller sharply distinguishes this concept of Christian anarchy from that of "revolution," which merely seeks to combat oppressive power by itself seizing power and coercing others to conform to its vision of what is good. Eller finds a very different picture of Christians' relationship to the political powers taught in Scripture, one that denies the legitimacy of these powers while also being willing to submit to them as far as obedience to God allows. Eller sharply criticizes the common Christian attitude that we can achieve genuine moral progress and build God's Kingdom through actions in the human political realm: instead, he argues, these things can only come about by God's gracious action at the personal level.

Eller's basic argument that the New Testament essentially teaches Christians to have an anarchist attitude towards worldly political power in light of the establishment of God's Kingdom is quite compelling. What is very interesting is his extension of this argument to critique any confident identification of a humanly created political, social, cultural, or ideological movement as "the good" as being idolatrous. His call for Christians to recognize that these movements are not of ultimate significance and to handle conflicts between them with grace is much-needed and highly relevant in our culture today.

The biggest weakness of Eller's book is that the Church plays a marginal role in his analysis; the Christian is largely presented as relating to society and government as an isolated individual. Eller is right in pointing to the establishment of Jesus's Kingdom as deligitimizing the kingdoms of this world. Yet, there seems to be no recognition by Eller that the Church needs to have structures in place to form its members into a people who will visibly embody what God's Kingdom looks like to the world; this leaves God's Kingdom rather disembodied and privatized. Nevertheless, I would recommend Eller's book to any Christian interested in the relationship between the Christian, politics, and society.

[John Lucy · Rating 2 out of 5]

I'm a fan of Christian anarchy but, while Eller does provide some useful insights into what Christian anarchy specifically looks like, as opposed to other forms of anarchy, the book is mostly a vague blob. From the outset Eller labels any power as an arky (using the Greek as a launching point) and therefore unchristian, which is a good first step, but then he gets lost in the designation. If all arkys are arkys, then what arky is not an arky? Specifically, how do we relate to God's arky? And how do we live in a world of arkys without being paralyzed?

It's the latter question that is most unanswered in Eller's work. He uses his son's trial in avoiding the draft as an example but, in terms of clarifying how we might be able to live apart from arkys, it's a bad example. The "powers" turns out to be everything. Everything in our lives is an arky not from God, except for God, but even with God there are elements of an unchristian arky arky. So, yes, we can understand not recognizing the arky of the government in his son's case, but then what about everything else? If the economy is an arky, what then? If the church is or could be an arky, what then? These questions go unanswered.

Eller wants to argue that Christ rules over the powers and so, if we are a disciple of Christ, we can be free of arkys, but the argument falls apart rather quickly because of the vague but universal definition.

[Lynne · Rating 1 out of 5]

Well, I'm sure the author's heart was in it! Unfortunately, his own modernist, "white-guy-on-top" biases completely sucker-punch the meat right out of anything of value this book might bring to any discussion.

Again and again he fails to demonstrate a real-world understanding of Jesus, God's justice, and even Christianity as Jesus and the first disciples lived it (thoroughly demonstrating that having a ThD is about as real-world useful as having a doctorate in running bath water). Beyond that, his understanding of anarchism and oppression is so weak that I can't imagine any "anarchists" outside of the most right wing libertarians who self-describe as "anarchists" (but who are really small-market let-power-do-what-it-will folks) actually finding any point of agreement with him.

Just even one example is stark: the author states proudly that he and the Roman Catholic hierarchy have the same understanding of power, oppression, and the Gospel. For one thing, statements like this are completely ridiculous, totally untrue except in the most superficial understanding. Even what the author argues in this book is completely opposite anything the Roman Catholic hierarchy has believed or done at any point in history. For another thing, assertions like this pull the rug right out from under the author's claim to understand anarchism or Christianity, and they certainly paint him as someone believing his "Christian anarchist" "duty" is to ignore the historical and personal context of group and even individual misery at the hands of other human beings.

Does he have some good points to make? A few. However, to get to them requires such a walk through so much never-ending garbage that it would be better to simply sum them up this way:

If you are a Christian, then Jesus is your only leader, and the only power whose commands you are to follow as a loyalist. All other powers in the world (even the "good" ones) are human- and demon- created and run, and will disappoint and sink you and/or others every single time. So go along with those human/demon powers when you can, but never, ever imagine that even those that claim to be about Jesus are anything but a cheap, toxic knock-off of Jesus and His real purpose in the world.

And having read that, you've read everything good the author has to say in this book.

[Eli · Rating 1 out of 5]

Though the title was alluring, the theology is sadly very poor in this treatise. The thought processes are only half-followed, and Eller has several axes to grind for particular subgroups that he repeatedly trashes with no real accuracy. I came away from much of it thinking the author must not have any background in professional theology; it turns out he has a Th.D. I'm flabbergasted.

If your theology is closer to his (classical and modernist) than mine (feminist process postmodernist narrative) you may find a useful concept or two... but unfortunately, it's just plain bad theology, and that's not overly useful to anyone.

[Liz · Rating 3 out of 5]

Christian Anarchy is not, in fact, a book about how to be both a Christian and an anarchist. This book is dense, at times, hard to follow, and the author will sometimes poke fun at himself when he uses colloquialisms. In a number of philosophical discussions on Luther, Bonhoeffer, and Barth, Eller covers the different 'arkys' (power structures) including the Kingdom of God, or what he calls the ultimate arky.

[Casey · Rating 4 out of 5]

While I definitely didn't agree with everything (and I definitely didn't understand everything), I still thought Eller brought up a truth that is subtle and not often presented in our culture and age. It's pretty extreme, but the more you think about it, also kind of true...

[Chase · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not as crazy as the title sounds. I never quite finished this book, but I think I got the gist. A helpful critique of the politics of the Christian left and right.

[Rachel · Rating 3 out of 5]

The ideas feel very worth talking about and relevant to the current U.S. political reality and Christians approach to it from both sides. However, the book isn't very well written and is very poorly edited. It's also very specifically written to an audience from the 80's with a particular political leaning which makes it more difficult to transfer to different times and audiences. It's unfortunate. I wish someone would write a better book with the same ideas.