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any source for this claim? i've always read that they favor giving in to taxation. |
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{{Short description|Movement in political theology}}
{{anarchism sidebar|issues}}
{{Historical Christian theology}}
'''Christian anarchism''' is a [[Christian movement]] in [[political theology]] that claims [[anarchism]] is inherent in [[Christianity]] and the [[Gospel]]s.<ref>{{cite book |title=Christian Anarchism: A Political Commentary on the Gospel |last=Christoyannopoulos |first=Alexandre |author-link=Alexandre Christoyannopoulos |year=2010 |publisher=Imprint Academic |___location=Exeter |pages=2–4 |quote=Locating Christian anarchism…In political theology…In political thought}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last1=Christoyannopoulos |first1=Alexandre |editor-first1=Nathan J. |editor-last1=Jun |editor-first2=Shane |editor-last2=Wahl |title=New Perspectives on Anarchism |date=2010 |publisher=[[Lexington Books]] |isbn=978-0739132401 |page=149 |quote=Christian anarchism 'is not an attempt to synthesise two systems of thought' that are hopelessly incompatible; rather, it is 'a realisation that the premise of anarchism is inherent in Christianity and the message of the Gospels'.}}</ref> It is grounded in the belief that there is only one source of authority to which Christians are ultimately answerable—the authority of God as embodied in the teachings of [[Jesus in Christianity|Jesus]]. It therefore rejects the idea that human governments have ultimate authority over human societies. Christian anarchists denounce the [[State (polity)|state]], believing it is violent, deceitful and [[idolatrous]].<ref name=CritiqueofViolence/>{{sfn|Christoyannopoulos|2010a|p=254|loc=The state as idolatry}}
Christian anarchists hold that the "Kingdom of God" is the proper expression of the relationship between God and humanity. Under the "Kingdom of God", human relationships would be characterized by horizontal organization, [[servant leadership]], and universal compassion—not through the traditional structures of [[organized religion]], which most Christian anarchists consider hierarchical or authoritarian structures.<ref>{{cite book |title=The UNkingdom of God: Embracing the Subversive Power of Repentance |last=Van Steenwyk|first=Mark |date=August 2013 |publisher=IVP Books |___location=Downers Grove IL USA |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=EVFdAAAAQBAJ |isbn=978-0830836550 }}</ref> Most Christian anarchists are also [[Christian pacifism|pacifists]] who reject war, militarism, and the use of violence.<ref name=CritiqueofViolence>{{cite web |first=Alexandre |last=Christoyannopoulos |url=http://www.psa.ac.uk/journals/pdf/5/2010/1338_1226.pdf |title=A Christian Anarchist Critique of Violence: From Turning the Other Cheek to a Rejection of the State |date=March 2010 |publisher=Political Studies Association |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110812071723/http://www.psa.ac.uk/journals/pdf/5/2010/1338_1226.pdf |archive-date=2011-08-12 }}</ref>
More than any other Bible source, the [[Sermon on the Mount|Beatitudes]] are used as a basis for Christian anarchism.<ref name=Sermon>{{cite book |title=Christian Anarchism: A Political Commentary on the Gospel |last=Christoyannopoulos |first=Alexandre |author-link=Alexandre Christoyannopoulos |year=2010 |publisher=Imprint Academic |___location=Exeter |pages=43–80 |chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/TheSermonOnTheMount_653 |chapter=The Sermon on the Mount: A Manifesto for Christian Anarchism}}</ref> [[Leo Tolstoy]]'s ''[[The Kingdom of God Is Within You]]'' is often regarded as a key text for modern Christian anarchism.<ref name=CritiqueofViolence />{{sfn|Christoyannopoulos|2010a|pp=19 and 208|loc=Leo Tolstoy}}
== Origins ==
=== Old Testament ===
[[Jacques Ellul]], a French philosopher and Christian anarchist, notes that the final verse of the [[Book of Judges]] ([[Judges 21:25]]) states that there was no king in Israel and that "everyone did as they saw fit".{{sfn|Christoyannopoulos|2010a|pp=84–88|loc=Old Testament}}<ref name=ellul1>{{cite book |title=Anarchy and Christianity |last=Ellul |first=Jacques |author-link=Jacques Ellul |year=1988 |publisher=[[William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company|Eerdmans]] |___location=Michigan |isbn=9780802804952 |pages=47–48 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=55_Oa12YTt0C |access-date=11 May 2014 |quote=Deborah, Gideon, Tola, Jair, and Samson were more prophets than kings. They had no permanent power. A significant phrase at the end of the book of Judges (21:25) is that at that time there was no king in Israel; people did what was right in their own eyes. |via=[[Google Books]] |archive-date=20 November 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151120165626/https://books.google.com/books?id=55_Oa12YTt0C |url-status=live }}</ref> Subsequently, as recorded in the first [[Books of Samuel|Book of Samuel]] ([[1 Samuel 8]]) the [[Israelites|people of Israel]] wanted a king "so as to be like other nations".<ref>{{cite book |title=Anarchy and Christianity |last=Ellul |first=Jacques |author-link=Jacques Ellul |year=1988 |publisher=[[William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company|Eerdmans]] |___location=Michigan |isbn=9780802804952 |page=48 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=55_Oa12YTt0C |access-date=11 May 2014 |quote=Samuel was now judge. But the assembled people told him that they had now had enough of this political system. They wanted a king so as to be like other nations. |via=[[Google Books]] |archive-date=20 November 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151120165626/https://books.google.com/books?id=55_Oa12YTt0C |url-status=live }}</ref> The Australian Christian anarchist [[Dave Andrews (activist)|Dave Andrews]] believes that the Israelites lived in a “decentralized federation of tribes.”<ref>[https://theanarchistlibrary.org/library/alexandre-christoyannopoulos-christian-anarchism#toc69 Christian Anarchism: A Political Commentary on the Gospel] by Alexandre Christoyannopoulos (2011)</ref> Ellul describes that when important decisions were made, a popular assembly was held, which had the final say.<ref>[https://theanarchistlibrary.org/library/jacques-ellul-anarchy-christianity-en Anarchy & Christianity] by Jacques Ellul (1988)</ref> Christian anarchists claim that until [[Samuel]] the Israelites had neither king nor central government, with God as the sole authority.<ref>[https://theanarchistlibrary.org/library/alexandre-christoyannopoulos-christian-anarchism#toc69 Christian Anarchism: A Political Commentary on the Gospel] by Alexandre Christoyannopoulos (2011)</ref> The Israelites had no taxes or rent and there was equal access to basic resources. Israel's rallying cry was "We have no king but Yahweh."<ref>''The Hebrew Bible in its Social World and in Ours'' by Norman K. Gottwald (1993)</ref> The American anarchist [[Peter Gelderloos]] sees a strong decentralization during the monarchy, seeing the [[Kingdom of Israel (united monarchy)|Kingdom of Israel]] not as a state and that its intervention was minimal, dedicated only to the battlefield and the construction of some temple.<ref>[https://theanarchistlibrary.org/library/peter-gelderloos-worshipping-power Worshipping Power: An Anarchist View of Early State Formation] by Peter Gelderloos (2017)</ref>
God declared that the people had rejected him as their king. He warned that a human king would lead to [[militarism]], [[conscription]] and punitive [[Tax#History|taxation]], and that their pleas for mercy from the king's demands would go unanswered. [[Samuel]] passed on God's warning to the Israelites but they still demanded a king, and [[Saul]] became their ruler.<ref>{{cite book |title=Anarchy and Christianity |last=Ellul |first=Jacques |author-link=Jacques Ellul |year=1988 |publisher=[[William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company|Eerdmans]] |___location=Michigan |isbn=9780802804952 |page=48 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=55_Oa12YTt0C |access-date=11 May 2014 |quote=He who was chosen to be king thus came on the scene, namely, Saul ... |via=[[Google Books]] |archive-date=20 November 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151120165626/https://books.google.com/books?id=55_Oa12YTt0C |url-status=live }}</ref> Much of the subsequent [[Old Testament]] chronicles the Israelites trying to live with this decision.<ref>{{cite book |title=Christian Anarchy: Jesus' Primacy Over the Powers |first=Vernard |last=Eller |publisher=[[William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company|Eerdmans]] |year=1987 |url=http://www.hccentral.com/eller12/part8.html |quote=God and Samuel accept (and honor) Israel's (bad) decision as accomplished fact and proceed to live with it rather than try to reverse it. |access-date=2012-08-15 |archive-date=2019-09-05 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190905132718/http://www.hccentral.com/eller12/part8.html |url-status=live }}</ref>
=== New Testament ===
[[File:Bloch-SermonOnTheMount.jpg|thumb|upright|[[Carl Heinrich Bloch]]'s depiction of the [[Sermon on the Mount]]]]
More than any other Bible source, the [[Sermon on the Mount]] is used as the basis for Christian anarchism.<ref name=Sermon/> {{interlanguage link|Alexandre Christoyannopoulos|fr}} explains that the Sermon perfectly illustrates Jesus's central teaching of love and [[forgiveness]]. Christian anarchists claim that the state, founded on violence, contravenes the Sermon and Jesus' call to [[Matthew 5:44|love one's enemies]].<ref name=Sermon />
The gospels tell of [[Temptation of Christ|Jesus's temptation in the desert]]. For the final temptation, Jesus is taken up to a high mountain by Satan and told that if he bows down to Satan he will give him all the kingdoms of the world. Christian anarchists use this as evidence that all Earthly kingdoms and governments are ruled by Satan, otherwise they would not be Satan's to give.<ref>{{cite book |title=Anarchy and Christianity |last=Ellul |first=Jacques |author-link=Jacques Ellul |year=1988 |publisher=[[William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company|Eerdmans]] |___location=Michigan |isbn=9780802804952 |pages=57–58 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=55_Oa12YTt0C&pg=PA57 |access-date=2015-08-14 |archive-date=2019-12-22 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191222142003/https://books.google.com/books?id=55_Oa12YTt0C |url-status=live }}</ref> Jesus refuses the temptation, choosing to serve God instead, implying that Jesus is aware of the corrupting nature of Earthly power.{{sfn|Christoyannopoulos|2010a|p=94|loc=Jesus' third temptation in the wilderness}}
[[Christian eschatology]] and various Christian anarchists, such as [[Jacques Ellul]], have identified the state and [[political power]] as the [[The Beast (Revelation)|Beast]] in the [[Book of Revelation]].{{sfn|Christoyannopoulos|2010a|p=123–126|loc=Revelation}}<ref>{{cite book |title=Anarchy and Christianity |last=Ellul |first=Jacques |author-link=Jacques Ellul |year=1988 |publisher=[[William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company|Eerdmans]] |___location=Michigan |isbn=9780802804952 |pages=71–74 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=55_Oa12YTt0C&pg=PA72 |quote=The first beast comes up from the sea ... It is given 'all authority and power over every tribe, every people, every tongue, and every nation' (13:7). All who dwell on earth worship it. Political power could hardly, I think, be more expressly described, for it is this power which has authority, which controls military force, and which compels adoration (i.e., absolute obedience). |access-date=2015-08-14 |archive-date=2019-12-22 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191222142003/https://books.google.com/books?id=55_Oa12YTt0C |url-status=live }}</ref>
[[Friedrich Nietzsche]] and Frank Seaver Billings criticize Christianity and anarchism by arguing that they are the same thing.<ref>{{cite book|last=Nietzsche |first=Friedrich |author-link=Friedrich Nietzsche |title=Der Antichrist |year=1895 |chapter=58 |quote=There is a perfect likeness between Christian and anarchist: their object, their instinct, points only toward destruction. ... The Christian and the anarchist: both are decadents; both are incapable of any act that is not disintegrating, poisonous, degenerating, blood-sucking; both have an instinct of mortal hatred of everything that stands up, and is great, and has durability, and promises life a future ... |title-link=The Antichrist (book)}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|first=Frank S. |last=Billings |title=How Shall the Rich Escape? |publisher=Arena Publishing |year=1894 |page=209 |quote=Taking the gospels as our only possible authority, it cannot be denied that [[Jesuism|Jesusism]] and anarchism are almost identical.}}</ref>
==
{{See also|Christianity in the ante-Nicene period|Early Christianity}}
[[File:2108-young-arrestthisman.jpg|thumb|''[[The Masses]]'', 1917 political cartoon by socialist cartoonist [[Art Young]]]]
According to Alexandre Christoyannopoulos, several of the [[Church Fathers]]' writings suggest anarchism as God's ideal.{{sfn|Christoyannopoulos|2010a|p=243–246|loc=Early Christians}} The first Christians opposed the primacy of the state: "We must obey God as ruler rather than men" ([[Acts of the Apostles|Acts]] 4:19, 5:29, [[First Epistle to the Corinthians|1 Corinthians]] 6:1-6); "Stripping the governments and the authorities bare, he exhibited them in open public as conquered, leading them in a triumphal procession by means of it." ([[Epistle to the Colossians|Colossians]] 2:15). Also, some early Christian communities appear to have practised [[anarchist communism]], such as the [[First Christian church|Jerusalem group]] described in [[Acts of the Apostles|Acts]], who shared their money and labour equally and fairly among the members.<ref>{{cite book|last=Hinson |first=E. Glenn |title=The Early Church: Origins to the Dawn of the Middle Ages |date=1996 |pages=42–43}}</ref> Roman Montero claims that using an anthropological framework, such as that of the anarchist David Graeber, one can plausibly reconstruct the communism of the early Christian communities and that the practices were widespread, long-lasting, and substantial.<ref>{{cite book|title=All Things in Common The Economic Practices of the Early Christians |last1=Montero |first1=Roman A. |date=2017 |publisher=[[Wipf and Stock]] |last2=Foster |first2=Edgar G. |isbn=9781532607912 |___location=Eugene |oclc=994706026}}</ref> Christian anarchists, such as Kevin Craig, insist that the communities were centred on true love and care for one another, rather than [[liturgy]]. They also allege that the reason for the [[persecution of Christians in the Roman Empire|early Christians were persecuted]] was not that they worshipped Jesus Christ but that they refused to worship human [[idolatry|idols]] claiming divine status (see [[Imperial cult (ancient Rome)|Imperial cult]]). Since they refused to worship the [[Roman Emperor]], they refused to swear any [[oath of allegiance]] to the [[Roman Empire]].{{sfn|Christoyannopoulos|2010a|p=243–246|loc=Early Christians}}
In his introduction to a translation of the ''[[Sayings of the Desert Fathers]]'', [[Thomas Merton]] describes the early [[Christian monasticism|monastics]] as "Truly in certain sense 'anarchists', and it will do no harm to think of them as such."<ref>{{cite book|last=Merton |first=Thomas |author-link=Thomas Merton |title=Wisdom of the Desert |publisher=Abbey of [[Abbey of Our Lady of Gethsemani|Gethsemani]] Inc. |date=1960 |pages=5}}</ref>
=== Conversion of the Roman Empire ===
{{See also|Constantine I and Christianity|State church of the Roman Empire}}
For Christian anarchists, the moment that epitomised the [[Great Apostasy|degeneration of Christianity]] was the conversion of [[Constantine the Great|Emperor Constantine]] after his victory at the [[Battle of the Milvian Bridge]] in 312.<ref name=CA>{{cite book|first=Alexandre |last=Christoyannopoulos |author-link=Alexandre Christoyannopoulos |title=New Perspectives on Anarchism |pages=149–168 |year=2010 |publisher=[[Lexington Books]] |___location=Lanham, Maryland |chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/ChristianAnarchism |chapter=Christian Anarchism: A Revolutionary Reading of the Bible}}</ref> Christianity was then legalized under the [[Edict of Milan]] in 313, which hastened the [[Christian Church|Church]]'s transformation from a humble bottom-up [[sect]] to an authoritarian [[hierarchical organization|top-down organization]]. Christian anarchists point out that marked the beginning of the "[[Constantinian shift]]" in which Christianity gradually came to be identified with the will of the ruling elite by becoming the [[state church of the Roman Empire]] and in some cases (such as the [[Crusades]], [[Inquisition]], and the [[French Wars of Religion]]) a religious justification for violence.<ref name=CA />
=== Peasant revolts in the Post-Reformation era ===
[[File:Levellers declaration and standard.gif|thumb|Woodcut from a [[Diggers]] document by [[William Everard (Digger)|William Everard]]]]
Various libertarian socialist authors have identified the written work of the English Protestant social reformer [[Gerrard Winstanley]] and the social activism of his group, the [[Diggers]], as anticipating their line of thought.<ref>{{cite web |quote=It was in these conditions of class struggle that, among a whole cluster of radical groups such as the Fifth Monarchy Men, the Levellers and the Ranters, there emerged perhaps the first real proto-anarchists, the Diggers, who like the classical 19th century anarchists identified political and economic power and who believed that a social, rather than political revolution was necessary for the establishment of justice. Gerrard Winstanley, the Diggers' leader, made an identification with the word of God and the principle of reason, an equivalent philosophy to that found in [[Tolstoy]]'s ''[[The Kingdom of God is Within You]]''. In fact, it seems likely Tolstoy took much of his own inspiration from Winstanley. |url=http://www.theanarchistlibrary.org/HTML/Marlow__Anarchism_and_Christianity.html |author=Marlow |title=Anarchism and Christianity |website=[[The Anarchist Library]] |access-date=2013-05-06 |archive-date=2012-05-15 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120515214953/http://www.theanarchistlibrary.org/HTML/Marlow__Anarchism_and_Christianity.html |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |quote=While the ideal commonwealth conceived by [[James Harrington (author)|James Harrington]] tried to combine the existence of a powerful state with respect for the political rights of the citizens, [[Thomas Hobbes]] and Gerrard Winstanley, for opposite reasons, denied the possibility of power being shared between the state and the people. ... Before defining the government of a true Commonwealth Winstanley denounces the kingly government based on property and like Proudhon he believes that '[[property is theft]]'. |first=Marie Louise |last=Berneri |author-link=Marie Louise Berneri |url=http://www.theanarchistlibrary.org/HTML/Marie_Louise_Berneri__Utopias_of_the_English_Revolution.html#toc10 |title=Utopias of the English Revolution |access-date=2013-05-06 |archive-date=2012-05-15 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120515214936/http://www.theanarchistlibrary.org/HTML/Marie_Louise_Berneri__Utopias_of_the_English_Revolution.html#toc10 |url-status=live }}</ref> For the anarchist historian [[George Woodcock]], "Although [[Pierre-Joseph Proudhon|(Pierre Joseph) Proudhon]] was the first writer to call himself an anarchist, at least two predecessors outlined systems that contain all the basic elements of anarchism. The first was [[Gerrard Winstanley]] (1609–1676), a linen draper who led the small movement of the Diggers during the Commonwealth. Winstanley and his followers protested in the name of a radical Christianity against the economic distress that followed the [[English Civil War|Civil War]] and against the inequality that the grandees of the New Model Army seemed intent on preserving.
In 1649–1650, the Diggers squatted on stretches of common land in southern England and attempted to set up communities based on work on the land and the sharing of goods. The communities failed following a crackdown by the English authorities, but a series of pamphlets by Winstanley survived, of which ''The New Law of Righteousness'' (1649) was the most important. Advocating a rational Christianity, Winstanley equated Christ with "the universal liberty" and declared the universally corrupting nature of authority. He saw "an equal privilege to share in the blessing of liberty" and detected an intimate link between the institution of property and the lack of freedom.<ref name="theanarchistlibrary1">{{cite encyclopedia |first=George |last=Woodcock |author-link=George Woodcock |url=http://www.theanarchistlibrary.org/HTML/George_Woodcock__Anarchism.html |title=Anarchism |encyclopedia=The Encyclopedia of Philosophy |via=The Anarchist Library |access-date=2013-05-06 |archive-date=2012-05-15 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120515214943/http://www.theanarchistlibrary.org/HTML/George_Woodcock__Anarchism.html |url-status=live}}</ref> For [[Murray Bookchin]], "In the modern world, anarchism first appeared as a movement of the peasantry and yeomanry against declining feudal institutions. In Germany its foremost spokesman during the Peasant Wars was [[Thomas Müntzer]]; in England, Gerrard Winstanley, a leading participant in the Digger movement. The concepts held by Müntzer and Winstanley were superbly attuned to the needs of their time – a historical period when the majority of the population lived in the countryside and when the most militant revolutionary forces came from an agrarian world. It would be painfully academic to argue whether Müntzer and Winstanley could have achieved their ideals. What is of real importance is that they spoke to their time; their anarchist concepts followed naturally from the rural society that furnished the bands of the peasant armies in Germany and the New Model in England."<ref>{{cite book |url=http://www.theanarchistlibrary.org/HTML/Lewis_Herber__Murray_Bookchin___Ecology_and_Revolutionary_Thought.html |editor-first=Lewis |editor-last=Herber |first=Murray |last=Bookchin |author-link=Murray Bookchin |title=Ecology and Revolutionary Thought |via=The Anarchist Library |date=27 April 2009 |access-date=28 December 2011 |archive-date=15 May 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120515215001/http://www.theanarchistlibrary.org/HTML/Lewis_Herber__Murray_Bookchin___Ecology_and_Revolutionary_Thought.html |url-status=live }}</ref>
=== Modern era ===
[[File:Leo Tolstoy, portrait.jpg|thumb|[[Leo Tolstoy]] wrote the book ''[[The Kingdom of God Is Within You]]'', which is considered an important Christian anarchist text.]]
The 19th-century Christian abolitionists [[Adin Ballou]] and [[William Lloyd Garrison]] were critical of all human governments and believed that they would be eventually supplanted by a new order in which individuals are guided solely by their love for God.<ref name="Anderson2017">{{cite book |first=Carlotta R. |last=Anderson |title=All-American Anarchist: Joseph A. Labadie and the Labor Movement |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=v6U7DwAAQBAJ&pg=PT302 |year=2017 |publisher=[[Wayne State University Press]] |isbn=978-0-8143-4327-2 |page=302 |access-date=2018-10-07 |archive-date=2019-03-21 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190321120116/https://books.google.com/books?id=v6U7DwAAQBAJ&pg=PT302 |url-status=live}}</ref> Ballou and Garrison advocated [[Christian nonresistance]] to evil, as they saw Christ as the embodiment of "passive nonresistance", or nonviolent praxis against the state. They both condemned violence against southern slave owners and advocated instead for [[moral suasion]] or consistent rebukes against the institution of slavery in efforts to persuade racist southerns and indifferent northerners to the abolitionist' cause. At the outbreak of the [[American Civil War|Civil War]], however, Garrison later embraced the armed struggle for black liberation and the [[Lincoln administration]]. Ballou remained a lifelong pacifist and condemned the Civil War for fear of the eventual retaliation by white southerns on freed black Americans.
Ballou's and Garrison's writings heavily influenced [[Leo Tolstoy]],<ref name="Maude1911">{{cite book|last=Maude |first=Aylmer |title=The Life of Tolstoy: Later years |url=https://archive.org/details/lifetolstoy00maudgoog |year=1911 |publisher=Dodd, Mead |page=[https://archive.org/details/lifetolstoy00maudgoog/page/n377 355]}}</ref> who was inspired by their lifelong commitment to abolitionism. Tolstoy wrote extensively on his burgeoning Christian anarchist principles in nonfiction books like ''[[The Kingdom of God is Within You]]'', which is considered a key Christian anarchist text.{{sfn|Christoyannopoulos|2010a|pp=19 and 208|loc=Leo Tolstoy}} Tolstoy sought to separate [[Russian Orthodox Church|Russian Orthodox]] Christianity, which was merged with the [[state (polity)|state]], from what he believed was the true message of Jesus as contained in the Gospels, specifically in the [[Sermon on the Mount]].<ref>{{cite web |url=https://archive.org/details/TolstoyThePeculiarChristianAnarchist |title=Tolstoy the Peculiar Christian Anarchist |first=Alexandre |last=Christoyannopoulos |author-link=Alexandre Christoyannopoulos |year=2006}}</ref> He took the viewpoint that all governments that wage war and churches that in turn support those governments, are an affront to the Christian principles of [[Christian nonviolence|nonviolence]]. Although Tolstoy never actually used the term "Christian anarchism" in ''The Kingdom of God Is Within You'', reviews of the book after its publication in 1894 appear to have coined the term.<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=O40-YRkO0t8C&q=%22christian+anarchism%22 |title=The review of reviews, Volume 9, 1894, p.306 |editor-first=William Thomas |editor-last=Stead |year=1894 |access-date=2015-08-14 |archive-date=2021-04-18 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210418050854/https://books.google.com/books?id=O40-YRkO0t8C&q=%22christian+anarchism%22 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=sIpNAAAAYAAJ&q=%22christian+anarchism%22 |title=The Speaker |volume= 9 |page=254 |editor=Mather & Crowther |year=1894 |access-date=2015-08-14 |archive-date=2021-06-25 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210625152855/https://books.google.com/books?id=sIpNAAAAYAAJ&q=%22christian+anarchism%22 |url-status=live }}</ref>
[[File:Jesus Wanted.jpg|thumb|upright=0.8|Christian anarchist graffiti of Jesus Christ]]
[[Thomas J. Hagerty]], a Marxist Catholic priest turned oculist, was a primary author of the [[Industrial Workers of the World]] (IWW) Preamble<ref name="Dawkins2007">{{cite book |last=Dawkins |first=Richard |author-link=Richard Dawkins |title=The New Encyclopedia of Unbelief |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fsZ26vQxJKMC&pg=PA468 |year=2007 |publisher=Prometheus Books, Publishers |isbn=978-1-61592-280-2 |page=468 |access-date=2018-10-07 |archive-date=2019-03-21 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190321120130/https://books.google.com/books?id=fsZ26vQxJKMC&pg=PA468 |url-status=live}}</ref> ("an injury to one is an injury to all"<ref>{{cite book |title=Proceedings of The ... annual Convention of the Industrial Workers of the World ... |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ifRQAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA245 |year=1905 |page=245 |access-date=2018-10-07 |archive-date=2019-03-21 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190321120133/https://books.google.com/books?id=ifRQAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA245 |url-status=live }}</ref>). IWW members included Christian anarchists like [[Dorothy Day]]{{r|Dawkins2007}} and [[Ammon Hennacy]].<ref name="Rosemont2015">{{cite book |last=Rosemont |first=Franklin |title=Joe Hill: The IWW & the Making of a Revolutionary Workingclass Counterculture |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=WIjiCgAAQBAJ&pg=PT442 |year=2015 |publisher=PM Press |isbn=978-1-62963-210-0 |page=442 |access-date=2018-10-07 |archive-date=2019-03-21 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190321120119/https://books.google.com/books?id=WIjiCgAAQBAJ&pg=PT442 |url-status=live}}</ref>
[[Dorothy Day]] was a journalist turned social activist who became known for her social justice campaigns in defense of the poor. Alongside [[Peter Maurin]], she founded the [[Catholic Worker]] Movement in 1933, which espoused nonviolence and hospitality for the impoverished and the downtrodden.<ref name="Benowitz2017">{{cite book |last=Benowitz |first=June Melby |title=Encyclopedia of American Women and Religion |edition=2nd |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Jm8tDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA137 |year=2017 |publisher=[[ABC-CLIO]] |isbn=978-1-4408-3987-0 |pages=137–138 |access-date=2018-10-07 |archive-date=2019-03-21 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190321120119/https://books.google.com/books?id=Jm8tDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA137 |url-status=live}}</ref> Day was declared [[Servant of God]] when a cause for sainthood was opened for her by Pope [[John Paul II]].<ref>{{cite web|work=Catholic New Service |url=http://www.catholicnews.com/data/stories/cns/1204800.htm |archive-url=http://webarchive.loc.gov/all/20121207032158/http://www.catholicnews.com/data/stories/cns/1204800.htm |url-status=dead |archive-date=7 December 2012 |title=US bishops endorse sainthood cause of Catholic Worker's Dorothy Day |date=13 November 2012 |access-date=1 December 2012 }}</ref> Day's [[distributist]] economic views<ref>{{cite book|last=Dorothy |first=Day |title=On Pilgrimage |publisher=[[William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company|Eerdmans]] |date=1999 |pages=40}}</ref> are very similar to [[Proudhon]]'s [[mutualism (economic theory)|mutualism]] by which she was influenced.<ref>{{cite book|last=McKay |first=Iain |title=An Anarchist FAQ Volume One |publisher=[[AK Press]] |date=2007 |pages=75}}</ref> Day also named the phrase "precarious work" based on the former anarchocommunist [[Léonce Crenier]]'s [[Precarity (Social Christianity)|embrace of poverty]].<ref name="LambertHerod2016">{{cite book |last1=Lambert |first1=Rob |last2=Herod |first2=Andrew |title=Neoliberal Capitalism and Precarious Work: Ethnographies of Accommodation and Resistance |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uvm-CwAAQBAJ&pg=PA4 |year=2016 |publisher=Edward Elgar |isbn=978-1-78195-495-9 |page=4 |access-date=2018-10-07 |archive-date=2019-03-21 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190321120142/https://books.google.com/books?id=uvm-CwAAQBAJ&pg=PA4 |url-status=live }}</ref> Peter Maurin's vision to transform the [[social order]] consisted of establishing urban [[house of hospitality|houses of hospitality]] to care for the destitute, rural farming communities to teach city dwellers [[agrarianism]] and encourage a movement [[Back-to-the-land movement|back to the land]], and [[round table (discussion)|roundtable discussions]] in community centres to clarify thought and initiate action.<ref>{{cite book |title=A Revolution of the heart: essays on the Catholic worker |last=Coy |first=Patrick G. |year=1988 |publisher=[[Temple University Press]] |pages=16–23 |quote=Peter Maurin}}</ref>
[[Simone Weil]] was a French philosopher who was very early animated by a great compassion for the exploited. She was first a socialist and then an anarchist. In 1930s, she converted to "love of Christ". During her experience, she explains that she suddenly felt that Christianity was the religion of the slaves and that she, like other slaves, could not resist adhering to it.<ref>{{cite book|first=Simone |last=Weil |author-link=Simone Weil |title=Waiting for God}}</ref> She is considered a "Christian mystic" and an "anarchist Christian".<ref>{{cite web |url=https://comptoir.org/2015/06/22/avec-simone-weil-george-orwell-pour-socialisme-vraiment-populaire |title=Avec Simone Weil et George Orwell |language=fr |trans-title=With Simone Weil and George Orwell |website=Le Comptoir |date=22 June 2015 |access-date=2020-11-16 |archive-date=2020-11-19 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201119145930/https://comptoir.org/2015/06/22/avec-simone-weil-george-orwell-pour-socialisme-vraiment-populaire/ |url-status=live }}</ref>
== Anarchist biblical views and practices ==
=== Church authority ===
With some notable exceptions such as the [[Catholic Worker Movement]], many Christian anarchists are critical of [[Christian Church|Church]] [[dogma]] and [[ritual]]s. Christian anarchists tend to wish that Christians were less preoccupied with performing rituals and preaching [[dogmatic theology]], and more with following Jesus' teaching and practices.{{sfn|Christoyannopoulos|2010a|p=167–175|loc=Deceptive Dogmas...Sanctimonious self-righteousness}} Jacques Ellul and [[Dave Andrews (activist)|Dave Andrews]] claim that Jesus did not intend to be the founder of an [[institution]]al religion, while Michael Elliot believes one of Jesus' intentions was to bypass human intermediaries and do away with priests.<ref>{{cite book |title=Anarchy and Christianity |last=Ellul |first=Jacques |author-link=Jacques Ellul |year=1988 |publisher=[[William B. Eerdmans Publishing Co.]] |___location=Michigan |page=26 |quote=The immediate reality, however, is that the revelation of Jesus ought not to give rise to a religion. All religion leads to war, but the Word of God is not a religion, and it is the most serious of all betrayals to have made of it a religion.}}</ref>{{sfn|Christoyannopoulos|2010a|p=175–177|loc=Institutional religion}}<ref>{{cite book |title=Freedom, Justice and Christian Counter-Culture |last=Elliot |first=Michael C. |year=1990 |publisher=SCM Press |___location=London |page=164 |quote=Jesus asserted that each person could have direct and personal access to the truth, and each become in effect his or her own authority}}</ref>
=== Pacifism and nonviolence ===
{{main|Anarcho-pacifism|Christian pacifism}}
Christian anarchists, such as [[David Lipscomb]], [[Leo Tolstoy]], [[Ammon Hennacy]], [[Jacques Ellul]], and [[Dave Andrews (activist)|Dave Andrews]], follow Jesus' call to not resist evil but [[turn the other cheek]]. They argue that this teaching can only imply a condemnation of the state, as the police and army hold a [[monopoly of the legitimate use of force|monopoly over the legitimate use of force]].<ref name=CritiqueofViolence /> They believe [[Freedom (political)|freedom]] will only be guided by the grace of God if they show compassion to others and turn the other cheek when confronted with violence. Christian anarchists believe [[violence begets violence]] and the [[Deontological ethics|ends never justify the means]].{{sfn|Christoyannopoulos|2010a|p=52|loc=The cycle of violence}}
[[File:The Deserter.jpg|thumb|''The Deserter'' (1916) by [[Boardman Robinson]]]]
Many Christian anarchists practice the principles of [[nonviolence]], [[nonresistance]], and turning the other cheek. To illustrate how nonresistance works in practice, Alexandre Christoyannopoulos offers the following Christian anarchist response to [[terrorism]]:
{{blockquote|The path shown by Jesus is a difficult one that can only be trod by true martyrs. A "[[martyr]]," etymologically, is he who makes himself a witness to his faith. And it is the ultimate testimony to one's faith to be ready to put it to practice even when one's very life is threatened. But the life to be sacrificed, it should be noted, is not the enemy's life, but the martyr's own life—killing others is not a testimony of love, but of anger, fear, or hatred. For Tolstoy, therefore, a true martyr to Jesus' message would neither punish nor resist (or at least not use violence to resist), but would strive to act from love, however hard, whatever the likelihood of being crucified. He would patiently learn to forgive and turn the other cheek, even at the risk of death. Such would be the only way to eventually win the hearts and minds of the other camp and open up the possibilities for reconciliation in the "[[War on Terror|war on terror]]."<ref>{{cite web|first=Alexandre |last=Christoyannopoulos |author-link=Alexandre Christoyannopoulos |url=https://archive.org/details/TurningTheOtherCheekToTerrorism |title=Turning the Other Cheek to Terrorism: Reflections on the Contemporary Significance of Leo Tolstoy's Exegesis of the Sermon on the Mount |pages=41–42 |date=April 2008 |publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]]}}</ref>}}
=== Simple living ===
{{main|Simple living}}
Christian anarchists such as [[Ammon Hennacy]], [[Peter Maurin]] and [[Dorothy Day]] often advocate [[voluntary poverty]]. This can be for a variety of reasons, such as withdrawing support for government by reducing taxable income or following Jesus' teachings.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.catholicworker.org/dorothyday/daytext.cfm?TextID=150 |title=More About Holy Poverty. Which Is Voluntary Poverty. |first=Dorothy |last=Day |date=February 1945 |publisher=[[The Catholic Worker]] |access-date=5 October 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110511123716/http://www.catholicworker.org/dorothyday/daytext.cfm?TextID=150 |archive-date=11 May 2011 |url-status=dead |df=mdy-all |author-link=Dorothy Day }}</ref> Jesus appears to teach voluntary poverty when he told his [[Disciple (Christianity)|disciples]], "It is easier for a camel to go through the [[eye of a needle]] than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God" (Mark 10:25) and "You cannot serve both God and [[Mammon]]" (Luke 16:13).<ref>{{cite book |title=A Penny a Copy: Readings from the Catholic Worker |first1=Tom |last1=Cornell |author-link=Tom Cornell |first2=Robert |last2=Ellsberg |author-link2=Robert Ellsberg |year=1995 |page=198 |publisher=[[Orbis Books]] |quote=At its deepest level voluntary poverty is a way of seeing the world and the things of the world.… The Gospels are quite clear: the rich man is told to sell all he has and give to the poor, for it is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter heaven. And we are clearly instructed that 'you can not serve God and Mammon'. }}</ref>
=== State authority ===
The most common challenge for anarchist theologians is interpreting Paul's [[Epistle to the Romans]] 13:1–7, in which [[Paul the Apostle|Paul]] demanded obedience to governing authorities and described them as God's servants exacting punishment on wrongdoers.{{sfn|Christoyannopoulos|2010a|p=181–182|loc=Paul's letter to Roman Christians, chapter 13}} Romans 13:1–7 holds the most explicit reference to the state in the New Testament but other parallel texts include [[Epistle to Titus|Titus]] 3:1, [[Epistle to the Hebrews|Hebrews]] 13:17 and [[First Epistle of Peter|1 Peter]] 2:13-17.{{sfn|Christoyannopoulos|2010a|p=191–192|loc=Similar passages in the New Testament}}
[[File:Blessed are the Peacemakers.gif|alt=|thumb|right|''Blessed are the Peacemakers'' (1917) by [[George Bellows]]]]
Some theologians, such as [[C.E.B. Cranfield]], have interpreted Romans 13:1–7 to mean the Church should support the state, as God has sanctified the state to be his main tool to preserve social order.<ref>{{cite book|title=The Christian's Political Responsibility According to the New Testament|author=C.E.B. Cranfield|pages=177–184|year=1985|quote=We have to serve the state for the sake of men's eternal salvation}}</ref><ref name=Alex>{{cite book |title=Religious Anarchism: New Perspectives |last=Christoyannopoulos |first=Alexandre |author-link=Alexandre Christoyannopoulos |year=2009 |publisher=Cambridge Scholars Publishing |___location=Newcastle upon Tyne |pages=106–144 |chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/RespondingToTheState |chapter=Responding to the State: Christian Anarchists on Romans 13, Rendering to Caesar, and Civil Disobedience}}</ref> Similarly, in the case of the state being involved in a "[[Just war theory|just war]]", some theologians argue that it's permissible for Christians to serve the state and wield the sword.{{sfn|Christoyannopoulos|2010a|p=181–182|loc=Paul's letter to Roman Christians, chapter 13}}<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/ethics/war/just/introduction.shtml |title=Just War - introduction |author=[[BBC]] |access-date=2019-12-20 |archive-date=2019-12-28 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191228224935/http://www.bbc.co.uk/ethics/war/just/introduction.shtml |url-status=live }}</ref> Christian anarchists do not share these interpretations of Romans 13 but still recognize it as "a very embarrassing passage."<ref name=ellul>{{cite book |title=Anarchy and Christianity |last=Ellul |first=Jacques |author-link=Jacques Ellul |year=1988 |publisher=[[William B. Eerdmans Publishing Co.]] |___location=Michigan |isbn=9780802804952 |pages=86–87 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=55_Oa12YTt0C&pg=PA86 |quote=The Interpretation of Romans 13:1-2 |access-date=2021-10-17 |archive-date=2022-05-31 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220531133937/https://books.google.com/books?id=55_Oa12YTt0C&pg=PA86 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.gregboyd.org/essays/kingdom-living/does-following-jesus-rule-out-serving-in-the-military-if-a-war-is-just/ |title=Does Following Jesus Rule Out Serving in the Military if a War is Just? |last=Boyd |first=Greg |date=9 January 2008 |author-link=Greg Boyd (theologian) |access-date=31 May 2011 |archive-date=21 July 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110721000849/http://www.gregboyd.org/essays/kingdom-living/does-following-jesus-rule-out-serving-in-the-military-if-a-war-is-just/ |url-status=live }}</ref>
Christian anarchists and pacifists such as [[Jacques Ellul]] and [[Vernard Eller]] do not attempt to overthrow the state given Romans 13 and Jesus' command to turn the other cheek.<ref name=ellul /><ref>{{cite book |title=Christian Anarchy: Jesus' Primacy Over the Powers |last=Eller |first=Vernard |author-link=Vernard Eller |year=1987 |publisher=[[William B. Eerdmans Publishing Co.]] |page=239 |url=http://www.hccentral.com/eller12/part10.html |quote=Voluntary self-subordination |access-date=2011-05-07 |archive-date=2019-09-06 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190906091321/http://www.hccentral.com/eller12/part10.html |url-status=live }}</ref> As wrath and vengeance are contrary to the Christian values of [[kindness]] and [[forgiveness]], Ellul neither supports, nor participates in, the state.<ref name=ellul /> Eller articulates this position by restating the passage this way:
{{blockquote|Be clear, any of those human [authorities] are where they are only because God is allowing them to be there. They exist only at his sufferance. And if God is willing to put up with...the Roman Empire, you ought to be willing to put up with it, too. There is no indication God has called ''you'' to clear it out of the way or get it converted for him. You can't fight an Empire without becoming ''like'' the Roman Empire; so you had better leave such matters in God's hands where they belong.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.hccentral.com/eller12/part1.html |title=Christian Anarchy (Eller) |website=www.hccentral.com |access-date=2008-01-14 |archive-date=2019-09-06 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190906091124/http://www.hccentral.com/eller12/part1.html |url-status=live }}</ref>}}
Christians who interpret Romans 13 as advocating support for [[Civil authority|governing authorities]] are left with the difficulty of how to act under tyrants or dictators.<ref name=Alex /> [[Ernst Käsemann]], in his ''Commentary on Romans'', challenged the mainstream Christian interpretation of the passage in light of German Lutheran Churches using this passage to justify [[the Holocaust]].<ref>{{Cite book|last=Käsemann |first=Ernst |author-link=Ernst Käsemann |title=Commentary on Romans |date=1980}}</ref>
Paul's letter to Roman Christians declares "For rulers hold no terror for those who do right, but for those who do wrong." However Christian anarchists point out an inconsistency if this text were to be taken literally and in isolation as Jesus and Paul were both executed by the governing authorities or "rulers" even though they did "right."<ref name=Alex/>
There are also Christians anarchists such as [[Leo Tolstoy]] and [[Ammon Hennacy]], who favor [[Jesuism]] and do not see the need to integrate Paul's teachings into their [[Subversion|subversive]] way of life. Tolstoy believed Paul was instrumental in the church's "deviation" from Jesus' teaching and practices whilst Hennacy believed "Paul spoiled the message of Christ".<ref>{{cite book |title=Church and State |last=Tolstoy |first=Leo |author-link=Leo Tolstoy |year=1882 |quote=This deviation begins from the times of the Apostles and especially from that hankerer after mastership Paul}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |title=The Book of Ammon |last=Hennacy |first=Ammon |author-link=Ammon Hennacy |year=1970 |publisher=Hennacy |page=475 |quote=Paul and the Churches}}</ref> In contrast to Eller, Hennacy and [[Ciaron O'Reilly]] advocate nonviolent [[civil disobedience]] to confront state oppression.<ref>{{cite book |title=Christian Anarchism: A Political Commentary on the Gospel |last=Christoyannopoulos |first=Alexandre |author-link=Alexandre Christoyannopoulos |year=2010 |publisher=Imprint Academic |___location=Exeter |pages=199–201 |quote=For (non-violent) civil disobedience}}</ref>
===
In the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5:33-37), Jesus tells his followers to [[Expounding of the Law#Oaths|not swear oaths]] in the name of God or Man. Tolstoy, [[Adin Ballou]] and [[Petr Chelčický]] understand this to mean that Christians should never bind themselves to any oath as they may not be able to fulfil the will of God if they are bound to the will of a fellow-man. Tolstoy takes the view that all oaths are evil, but especially an [[oath of allegiance]].<ref>{{cite book |title=Christian Anarchism: A Political Commentary on the Gospel |last=Christoyannopoulos |first=Alexandre |author-link=Alexandre Christoyannopoulos |year=2010 |publisher=Imprint Academic |___location=Exeter |pages=67–69 |quote=Swear not at all}}</ref>
===
Some Christian anarchists [[Tax resistance|resist taxes]] in the belief that their government is engaged in immoral, unethical or destructive activities such as [[war]], and paying taxes inevitably funds these activities, whilst others submit to taxation.<ref name=taxes>{{cite book |title=Christian Anarchism: A Political Commentary on the Gospel |last=Christoyannopoulos |first=Alexandre |author-link=Alexandre Christoyannopoulos |year=2010 |publisher=Imprint Academic |___location=Exeter |pages=192–197 |quote=Jesus' advice on taxes}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.nwtrcc.org/anarchists.php|title=Anarchists and War Tax Resistance|publisher=National War Tax Resistance Coordinating Committee|access-date=2011-10-10|archive-date=2011-10-13|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111013210459/http://www.nwtrcc.org/anarchists.php|url-status=live}}</ref> Adin Ballou wrote that if the act of resisting taxes requires physical force to withhold what a government tries to take, then it is important to submit to taxation. Ammon Hennacy, who, like Ballou also believed in [[nonresistance]], eased his conscience by [[simple living|simply living]] below the [[income tax threshold]].<ref>{{cite book|chapter=Ammon Hennacy |editor-last=Gross |editor-first=David M. |title=We Won't Pay: A Tax Resistance Reader |date=2008 |isbn=978-1-4348-9825-8 |pages=385–393|publisher=Picket Line Press }}</ref>
Christian anarchists do not interpret the injunction in Matthew 22:21 to "[[Render unto Caesar|give to Caesar what is Caesar's]]" as advocating support for taxes, but as further advice to [[simple living|free oneself from material attachment]]. For example, [[Dorothy Day]] said if we were to give everything to God there will be nothing left for Caesar,<ref>{{cite book |last=Dear |first=John |title=The Questions of Jesus: Challenging Ourselves to Discover Life's Great Answers |year=2007 |publisher=Doubleday |page=190 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kZ0RwN3uQXoC&pg=PT190 |isbn=9780307424075 |access-date=2015-08-14 |archive-date=2022-05-31 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220531133937/https://books.google.com/books?id=kZ0RwN3uQXoC&pg=PT190 |url-status=live }}</ref> and [[Jacques Ellul]] believed the passage showed that Caesar may have rights over [[fiat money]] but not things that are made by God, as he explained:<ref name=taxes/>
{{blockquote|"Render unto Caesar..." in no way divides the exercise of authority into two realms....They were said in response to another matter: the payment of taxes, and the coin. The mark on the coin is that of Caesar; it is the mark of his property. Therefore give Caesar this money; it is his. It is not a question of legitimizing taxes! It means that Caesar, having created money, is its master. That's all. Let us not forget that money, for Jesus, is the ___domain of [[Mammon]], a satanic ___domain!<ref>{{cite book|last=Ellul |first=Jacques |url=http://www.jesusradicals.com/wp-content/uploads/anarchism-and-christianity.pdf |title=Anarchism and Christianity |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120222054630/http://www.jesusradicals.com/wp-content/uploads/anarchism-and-christianity.pdf |archive-date=22 February 2012 |pages=20}}</ref>}}
=== Vegetarianism ===
{{See also|Anarchism and animal rights|Christian vegetarianism}}
[[Vegetarianism]] in the Christian tradition has a long history commencing in the first centuries of [[Christian Church|Church]] with the [[Desert Fathers]] and [[Desert Mothers]] who abandoned the "world of men" for intimacy with the [[Trinity|God]] of [[Jesus Christ]]. Vegetarianism amongst [[hermit]]s and [[monk|Christian monastics]] in the [[Eastern Christian]] and [[Roman Catholic]] traditions remains common to this day as a means of simplifying one's life, and as a practice of [[asceticism]]. Leo Tolstoy, Ammon Hennacy, and [[Théodore Monod]] extended their belief in nonviolence and compassion to all living beings through vegetarianism.<ref>{{cite book |title=Anniversary Essays on Tolstoy |last=Miller |first=Robin Feuer |year=2010 |publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]] |page=52 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=G9KwMaSPEF0C&pg=PA52 |quote=Tolstoy's famous embrace of vegetarianism was triggered in large part by his intensifying philosophy of non-violence |isbn=9781139486200 |access-date=2015-08-14 |archive-date=2015-11-05 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151105083122/https://books.google.com/books?id=G9KwMaSPEF0C&pg=PA52 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>"'[[Thou Shalt Not Kill (by Leo Tolstoy)|Thou shalt not kill]]' does not apply to murder of one's own kind only, but to all living beings; and this Commandment was inscribed in the human breast long before it was proclaimed from Sinai."{{spaced ndash}}[[Leo Tolstoy]]</ref><ref>{{cite book |title=The Book of Ammon |last=Hennacy |first=Ammon |author-link=Ammon Hennacy |year=1970 |publisher=Hennacy |page=125 |quote=I had been vegetarian since 1910}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=olMgmIYuMPYC&pg=PA192 |title=Four centuries of geological travel |author=[[Geological Society of London]] |year=2007 |quote=Monod became a vegetarian and an ardent pacifist |isbn=9781862392342 |access-date=2015-08-14 |archive-date=2015-11-28 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151128142056/https://books.google.com/books?id=olMgmIYuMPYC&pg=PA192 |url-status=live }}</ref>
== Present-day Christian anarchist groups ==
=== Brotherhood Church ===
The [[Brotherhood Church]] is a Christian anarchist and pacifist community. The Brotherhood Church can be traced back to 1887 when a [[Congregational church|Congregationalist]] minister called John Bruce Wallace started a magazine called ''The Brotherhood'' in [[Limavady]], [[Northern Ireland]]. An [[intentional community]] with [[Quaker]] origins has been located at [[Stapleton Colony|Stapleton]], near [[Pontefract|Pontefract, Yorkshire]], since 1921.<ref>{{cite book|title=A History of the Brotherhood Church |first=Alfred G. |last=Higgins |page=52 |year=1982}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.thebrotherhoodchurch.org/history.htm |title=The Brotherhood Church history |access-date=2011-01-12 |archive-date=2011-05-11 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110511101347/http://www.thebrotherhoodchurch.org/history.htm |url-status=live }}</ref>
=== Catholic Worker Movement ===
[[File:Dorothy Day 1934.jpg|thumb|upright|[[Dorothy Day]], co-founder of the [[Catholic Worker Movement]]]]
Established by [[Peter Maurin]] and [[Dorothy Day]] in the early 1930s, the [[Catholic Worker Movement]] is a Christian movement dedicated to nonviolence, [[personalism]] and [[voluntary poverty]].<ref>{{cite book |title=Christian Anarchism: A Political Commentary on the Gospel |last=Christoyannopoulos |first=Alexandre |author-link=Alexandre Christoyannopoulos |year=2010 |publisher=Imprint Academic |___location=Exeter |pages=24 and 260 |quote=The Catholic Worker movement}}</ref> Over 130 Catholic Worker communities exist in the United States where "[[houses of hospitality]]" care for the homeless. The [[Joe Hill House]] of hospitality (which closed in 1968) in Salt Lake City, Utah featured an enormous twelve feet by fifteen foot mural of Jesus Christ and [[Joe Hill (activist)|Joe Hill]]. Present-day Catholic Workers include [[Ciaron O'Reilly]], an Irish-Australian civil rights and anti-war activist.<ref>{{cite book |title=Christian Anarchism: A Political Commentary on the Gospel |last=Christoyannopoulos |first=Alexandre |author-link=Alexandre Christoyannopoulos |year=2010 |publisher=Imprint Academic |___location=Exeter |pages=28–29 |quote=Ciaron O'Reilly}}</ref>
Anne Klejment, professor of history at [[University of St. Thomas (Minnesota)|University of St. Thomas]], wrote of the Catholic Worker Movement:
{{blockquote|The Catholic Worker considered itself a Christian anarchist movement. All authority came from God; and the state, having by choice distanced itself from [[Christian perfectionism]], forfeited its ultimate authority over the citizen...Catholic Worker anarchism followed Christ as a model of [[nonviolent revolution]]ary behavior...He respected individual conscience. But he also preached a prophetic message, difficult for many of his contemporaries to embrace.<ref>{{cite book |title=A Revolution of the heart: essays on the Catholic worker |last=Klejment |first=Anne |author2=Patrick Coy |year=1988 |publisher=[[Temple University Press]] |pages=293–294}}</ref>}}
{{separation of church and state in the history of the Catholic Church|expanded=20th}}
The Catholic Worker Movement has consistently protested against war and violence for over seven decades. Many of the leading figures in the movement have been both anarchists and pacifists, as [[Ammon Hennacy]] explains:
{{blockquote|Christian Anarchism is based upon the answer of Jesus to the [[Pharisees]] when Jesus said that he without sin should be the first to cast the stone, and upon the [[Sermon on the Mount]] which advises the return of good for evil and the turning of the other cheek. Therefore, when we take any part in government by voting for legislative, judicial, and executive officials, we make these men our arm by which we cast a stone and deny the Sermon on the Mount.
The dictionary definition of a Christian is one who follows Christ; kind, kindly, Christ-like. Anarchism is voluntary cooperation for good, with the right of secession. A Christian anarchist is therefore one who turns the other cheek, overturns the tables of the moneychangers, and does not need a cop to tell him how to behave. A Christian anarchist does not depend upon bullets or ballots to achieve his ideal; he achieves that ideal daily by the One-Man Revolution with which he faces a decadent, confused, and dying world.<ref>{{cite book |title=The Book of Ammon |last=Hennacy |first=Ammon |author-link=Ammon Hennacy |year=1970 |publisher=Hennacy |page=0}}</ref>}}
Maurin and Day were both baptized and confirmed in the Catholic Church and believed in the institution, thus showing it is possible to be a Christian anarchist and still choose to remain within a church. After her death, Day was proposed for sainthood by the [[Claretian Missionaries]] in 1983. [[Pope John Paul II]] granted the [[Archdiocese of New York]] permission to open Day's cause for sainthood in March 2000, calling her a [[Servant of God]].
=== Doukhobors ===
{{main|Doukhobors}}
=== Online communities ===
[[File:Essays in Anarchism and Religion.pdf|thumb|upright|''Essays in Anarchism and Religion'' (edited by Matthew Adams and [[Alexandre Christoyannopoulos]], 2017)]]
Numerous Christian anarchist [[website]]s, [[Social network service|social networking sites]], [[Internet forum|forums]], [[electronic mailing list]]s and [[blog]]s have emerged on the internet over the last few years. These include: [https://www.anarchochristian.com The AnarchoChristian Podcast and Website], Biblical Anarchy: Obey God Rather Than Men, The Libertarian Christian Institute, started by Norman Horn, ''A Pinch of Salt'', a 1980s Christian anarchist magazine, revived in 2006 by Keith Hebden as a blog and bi-annual magazine;<ref name= online>{{cite book |title=Christian Anarchism: A Political Commentary on the Gospel |last=Christoyannopoulos |first=Alexandre |author-link=Alexandre Christoyannopoulos |year=2010 |publisher=Imprint Academic |___location=Exeter |pages=264–265 |chapter=Online communities}}</ref> Libera Catholick Union founded in 1988 and re-organized in 2019;<ref>{{cite web |url=https://libera-catholick-union.simdif.com/ |title=We are contemplative-activists amalgamating Independent Sacramental Movement, New Monastic, and Christian Anarchism charisms in a Catholic context.. |website=libera-catholick-union.simdif.com |access-date=2020-01-30 |archive-date=2020-02-19 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200219210929/https://libera-catholick-union.simdif.com/ |url-status=live }}</ref> ''Jesus Radicals'' founded by [[Mennonite]]s in 2000;<ref name= online /> ''Lost Religion of Jesus'' created in 2005;<ref name=online/> ''Christian Anarchists'' created in 2006;<ref name= online /> ''The Mormon Worker'', a blog and newspaper, founded in 2007 to promote [[Mormonism]], anarchism and pacifism;<ref name=online/> and ''Academics and Students Interested in Religious Anarchism'' (ASIRA) founded by [[Alexandre Christoyannopoulos]] in 2008.<ref name=online/>
== Criticism ==
Critics of Christian anarchism include both Christians and anarchists. Christians often cite [[Romans 13]] as evidence that the [[Christian anarchism#State authority|state should be obeyed]],<ref>{{cite web |last=Christoyannopoulos |first=Alexandre |author-link=Alexandre Christoyannopoulos |title=Was Jesus an anarchist? |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/ni/2011/05/was_jesus_an_anarchist.html |publisher=[[BBC]] |year=2011 |quote=The two passages that are most frequently brought up as 'clear evidence'… to respect civil authorities and to honour secular governments as those whom God has placed in authority… are Romans 13 and 'render unto Caesar'. |access-date=2019-12-20 |archive-date=2019-09-05 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190905182136/https://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/ni/2011/05/was_jesus_an_anarchist.html |url-status=live }}</ref> while secular anarchists reject belief in any authority including God. The latter often denounce religious dogma through use of the slogan "[[no gods, no masters]]".<ref>{{cite journal |last=Alexis-Baker |first=Nekeisha |title=Embracing God and Rejecting Masters: On Christianity, Anarchism and the State |journal=The Utopian |date=October 2006 |volume=5 |url=http://www.utopianmag.com/archives/embracing-god-and-rejecting-masters |quote=The anarchist position on God can be summed up in the popular slogan, 'No God and no masters'. […] If God is indeed a tyrant as Bakunin asserts then the abolition of God and religion are necessary parts of what it means to be anarchist. |access-date=2013-05-10 |archive-date=2013-10-29 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131029203706/http://www.utopianmag.com/archives/embracing-god-and-rejecting-masters |url-status=live }}</ref> Christian anarchists often believe Romans 13 is taken out of context,<ref>{{cite web |last=Craig |first=Kevin |title=Romans 13: The Most Disastrously Misinterpreted Scripture in the History of the Human Race |url=http://romans13.com |access-date=2022-05-31 |archive-date=2022-04-05 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220405194621/https://romans13.com/ |url-status=live }}</ref> emphasizing that [[Revelation 13]] and [[Isaiah 13]], among other passages, are needed to fully understand the meaning of Romans 13 text.<ref>{{cite web |work=Vine & fig tree |title="Unlucky 13": Romans 13, Revelation 13, and Isaiah 13… and why the State does not want you to read them together |url=http://vftonline.org/xmaspiracy/5/Romans13/unlucky13.htm |access-date=2013-10-28 |archive-date=2019-09-05 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190905183402/http://vftonline.org/xmaspiracy/5/Romans13/unlucky13.htm |url-status=live }}</ref>
The anarchist [[Luigi Galleani]] was a critic of Tolstoy, considering his philosophy an impossible attempt at a revival of Christianity and his morality.<ref name=":0">[https://theanarchistlibrary.org/library/luigi-galleani-leo-tolstoy-1828-1910 Leo Tolstoy (1828–1910)] by Luigi Galleani. ''Anarchist Library''. (1910)</ref> He did not consider Tolstoy an anarchist, despite recognizing his criticisms of the state, the church and property, considering the defense of divine authority contrary to anarchism. He saw Tolstoy's ideas as a theological metaphysics based on an anti-human morality.<ref name=":0" /> The British anarcho-communist [[Albert Meltzer]] was also critical of Tolstoy and his pacifism. Although he maintained that a pacifist or a Christian could be an anarchist, he considered Christian anarchism to be synonymous with liberalism.<ref>[https://theanarchistlibrary.org/library/albert-meltzer-two-caricatures-of-anarchism Two caricatures of anarchism] by Albert Meltzer. ''Anarchist Library''. (1991)</ref>
== See also ==
{{portal|Anarchism|Christianity}}
* {{annotated link|Acephali}}
* {{annotated link|Anarchism and Islam}}
* {{annotated link|Anarchism and Orthodox Judaism}}
* {{annotated link|Anarchism and religion}}
* {{annotated link|Anarchist symbolism#No gods, no masters}}
* {{annotated link|Christianity and politics}}
* {{annotated link|Christian libertarianism}}
* {{annotated link|Christian communism}}
* {{annotated link|Christian socialism}}
* {{annotated link|Distributism}}
* {{annotated link|Liberation theology}}
* {{annotated link|New Monasticism}}
* {{annotated link|Plowshares movement}}
* {{annotated link|Postmodern theology}}
* {{annotated link|Radical Reformation}}
* {{annotated link|Render unto Caesar}}
* {{annotated link|Statolatry}}
* {{annotated link|Theonomy}}
* {{annotated link|Tolstoyan movement}}
* {{annotated link|Utopian socialism}}
== References ==
{{Reflist|2}}
=== Bibliography ===
* {{cite book |last=Christoyannopoulos |first=Alexandre |title=Christian Anarchism: A Political Commentary on the Gospel |author-link=Alexandre Christoyannopoulos |year=2010a |publisher=Imprint Academic |___location=Exeter}}
== Further reading ==
=== 19th century ===
{{refbegin}}
* [[Ernest Renan]] (1863) ''[https://archive.org/details/LifeOfJesus The Life of Jesus]''.
* [[Leo Tolstoy]] (1886–94) ''[https://archive.org/details/WhatIBelieve_109 What I Believe]''; and ''[[The Kingdom of God Is Within You]]''.
* [[Friedrich Engels]] (1894) ''A Contribution to the History of Primitive Christianity''.
{{refend}}
=== 20th century ===
{{refbegin|40em}}
* [[Elbert Hubbard]] (1910) ''[https://archive.org/details/JesusWasAnAnarchist Jesus Was An Anarchist]'' (originally titled ''The Better Part'').
* [[Ammon Hennacy]] (1954) ''[https://archive.org/details/AutobiographyOfACatholicAnarchist The Autobiography of a Catholic Anarchist]'' (reprinted in 1965 as ''The Book of Ammon''). {{ISBN|978-1608990535}}
* Archie Penner (1959) ''The Christian, The State, and the New Testament'' (reprinted in 2000 as ''The New Testament, the Christian, and the State'').
* Ruth Gilmore (1970) ''The Christian Anarchists: Ruskin and Tolstoy, and a Consideration of Their Influence on Gandhi''.
* Niels Kjaer (1972) ''[https://archive.org/details/KristendomOgAnarkisme Kristendom og Anarkisme]'' (translated as ''Christianity and Anarchism'').
* Mary Segers (1977) ''Equality and Christian Anarchism: The Political and Social Ideas of the Catholic Worker Movement''.
* [[Vernard Eller]] (1987) ''[https://archive.org/details/ChristianAnarchy Christian Anarchy: Jesus' Primacy Over the Powers]''. {{ISBN|978-1579102227}}
* Linda H. Damico (1987) ''The Anarchist Dimension of Liberation Theology''. {{ISBN|978-1620323441}}
* [[Jacques Ellul]] (1988) ''Anarchy and Christianity''. {{ISBN|978-1606089712}}
* Patrick Coy, et al. (1988) ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=4dG87jxGDFcC&pg=PP1 A Revolution of the Heart: Essays on the Catholic Worker] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151120150858/https://books.google.com/books?id=4dG87jxGDFcC&lpg=PP1&pg=PP1 |date=2015-11-20 }}''. {{ISBN|978-0865712621}}
* Michael C. Elliott (1990) ''Freedom, Justice and Christian Counter-Culture''. {{ISBN|978-1620328576}}
* George Tarleton (1993) ''Birth of a Christian Anarchist''.
* [[Dave Andrews (activist)|Dave Andrews]] (1999) ''Christi-Anarchy: Discovering a Radical Spirituality of Compassion''. {{ISBN|978-1610978521}}
{{refend}}
=== 21st century ===
{{refbegin|40em}}
* Frederick G. Boehrer (2001) ''Christian Anarchism and the Catholic Worker Movement: Roman Catholic Authority and Identity in the United States''.
* [[Jonathan Bartley]] (2006) ''Faith and Politics After Christendom: The Church as a Movement for Anarchy''. {{ISBN|978-1842273487}}
* Ted Lewis ed. (2008) ''Electing Not to Vote: Christian Reflections on Reasons for Not Voting'' {{ISBN|978-1556352270}}
* [[Shane Claiborne]] (2008) ''[[Jesus for President|Jesus for President: Politics for Ordinary Radicals]]''. {{ISBN|978-0310278429}}
* [[Tripp York]] (2009) ''Living on Hope While Living in Babylon: The Christian Anarchists of the 20th Century''. {{ISBN|978-1556356858}}
* [[David Alan Black]] (2009) ''Christian Archy''. {{ISBN|978-1893729773}}
* [[Alexandre Christoyannopoulos]] (2010) ''Christian Anarchism: A Political Commentary on the Gospel''. {{ISBN|978-1845402471}}
* Ronald E. Osborn (2010) ''Anarchy and Apocalypse: Essays on Faith, Violence, and Theodicy''. {{ISBN|978-1606089620}}
* Keith Hebden (2011–13) ''Dalit Theology and Christian Anarchism''. {{ISBN|978-1409424390}} and ''Seeking Justice: The Radical Compassion of Jesus''. {{ISBN|978-1-78099-688-2}}
* Tom O'Golo (2011) ''Christ? No! Jesus? Yes!: A Radical Reappraisal of a Very Important Life''. {{ISBN|978-0953252008}}
* Jacques de Guillebon and Falk van Gaver (2012) ''L'anarchisme chrétien'' (translated as ''Christian anarchism''). {{ISBN|978-2356310613}}
* Mark Van Steenwyk (2012–13) ''[https://archive.org/details/ThatHolyAnarchist That Holy Anarchist: Reflections on Christianity & Anarchism]''. {{ISBN|978-0615659817}} and ''The Kingdom of God: Embracing the Subversive Power of Repentance''. {{ISBN|978-0830836550}}
* Noel Moules (2012) ''Fingerprints of Fire, Footprints of Peace: A Spiritual Manifesto from a Jesus Perspective''. {{ISBN|978-1-84694-612-7}}
* [[Davor Džalto]] (2016) ''Anarchism and Orthodoxy'' [https://publicorthodoxy.org/2016/09/21/anarchism-and-orthodoxy/] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161011042315/https://publicorthodoxy.org/2016/09/21/anarchism-and-orthodoxy/ |date=2016-10-11 }}.
* [[Davor Džalto]] (2021) ''Anarchy and the Kingdom of God: From Eschatology to Orthodox Political Theology and Back'' [https://www.fordhampress.com/9780823294398/anarchy-and-the-kingdom-of-god/] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210115210505/https://www.fordhampress.com/9780823294398/anarchy-and-the-kingdom-of-god/ |date=2021-01-15 }}.
* Montero, Roman A. 2017. ''All Things in Common: The Economic Practices of the Early Christians.'' Eugene, OR: Wipf & Stock. {{ISBN|9781532607912}}
* Beno Profetyk (2017) ''Christocrate, la logique de l'anarchisme chrétien'' {{ISBN|978-2839918466}}
* Beno Profetyk (2020) ''Credo du Christocrate – Christocrat's creed'' (Bilingual French-English edition)
{{refend}}
* Patrick Négrier (2024) ''Guerre, utopie & pédagogie. Pour un anarchisme politique doublé d'un onto-cratisme métaphysique'', Editions KDP ; (2025) ''Ontologie & anarchisme'', Editions KDP ; ''Être, non-agir & société. Sur les rapports entre l'Être, l'anarchisme politique, et l'exercice de la pédagogie'', Editions KDP.
== External links ==
{{Wikiquote}}
* [https://archive.org/search.php?query=subject%3A%22Christian%20anarchism%22&sort=-downloads Works on Christian anarchism] at [[Internet Archive]]
* [https://openlibrary.org/subjects/christian_anarchism Books on Christian anarchism] at the [[Open Library]]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20110411052804/http://voicesofdemocracy.umd.edu/deliberative-topics/religion-morality-in-public-life/dorothy-day-union-square-speech-6-november-1965/ "Union Square Speech"], Dorothy Day, November 6, 1965
* [https://books.google.com/books?id=MPf7qc-3stEC&pg=PA20 Commentary: John 18:33-38], Ollie Harrison, ''[[Third Way Magazine]]'', February 1996
* [https://archive.org/details/ChristianAnarchism ''Christian Anarchism: A Revolutionary Reading of the Bible''], [[Alexandre Christoyannopoulos]], World International Studies Conference (WISC), July 23–26, 2008
* [http://ssrn.com/abstract=1337761 ''Jesus Is an Anarchist''], James Redford, [[Social Science Research Network]] (SSRN), October 17, 2009
* [https://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/ni/2011/05/was_jesus_an_anarchist.html Was Jesus an anarchist?] - interview with Alexandre Christoyannopoulos by [[William Crawley]], [[BBC Northern Ireland]], May 2011
* [http://www.jesusradicals.com Jesus Radicals] - A webzine exploring Christianity and anarchism
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20121020010053/http://compassionistas.net/ Compassionistas] - A resource for Spiritual Activism with some Christian Anarchist material
* [http://christianarchism.com/ Christianarchism] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130526225957/http://christianarchism.com/ |date=2013-05-26 }} - An interpretation of Christian Anarchism
* [http://benohasopher.info/ Beno Hasopher] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220907115848/http://www.benohasopher.info/ |date=2022-09-07 }} - Webpage of Beno Hasopher, christian anarchist theologian {{in lang|fr}}
* [http://la.indymedia.org/news/2019/01/297451.php Maurin, Day, the Catholic Worker, and Anarcho-Distributism] by Nicholas Evans 2018
* [http://la.indymedia.org/news/2018/08/297061.php Pantarchy: Voluntary State and a New Catholic Church: Brief Overview of the Views of the Individualist Anarchist Stephen Pearl Andrews] by Nicholas Evans 2018
* [https://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2021/07/30/18844068.php Catholic Freedom: Why Confession To A Priest Is Not Necessary To Have Sins Forgiven] A Brief History of Confession from a Cafeteria Catholic Anarchist perspective by Nicholas Evans
* [https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=GkflmvR8RX8&feature=youtu.be Jesus was an anarchist!] - interview with Alexandre Christoyannopoulos by Matt Archer, June 2021
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