The Sermon is the longest continuous discourse of Jesus found in the New Testament and has been one of the most widely quoted elements of the Canonical Gospels. It includes some of the best-known teachings of Jesus, such as the Beatitudes, and the widely recited Lord's Prayer. The Sermon on the Mount is generally considered to contain the central tenets of Christian discipleship.
Background and setting
The Sermon on the Mount occupies chapters 5, 6 and 7 of the Gospel of Matthew. The Sermon has been one of the most widely quoted elements of the Canonical Gospels.
Before this episode, Jesus had been "all about Galilee" preaching, as in Matthew 4:23, and "great crowds followed him" from all around the area. The setting for the sermon is given in Matthew 5:1-2.
Jesus sees the multitudes, goes up into the mountain, is followed by
his disciples, and begins to preach. The Sermon is brought to its close
by Matthew 8:1, which reports that Jesus "came down from the mountain followed by great multitudes".
Components
While the issue of the exact theological structure and composition of
the Sermon on the Mount is subject to debate among scholars, specific
components within it, each associated with particular teachings, can be
identified.
Matthew 5:3–12 discusses the Beatitudes. These describe the character of the people of the Kingdom of Heaven, expressed as "blessings". The Greek word most versions of the Gospel render as "blessed," can also be translated "happy" (Matthew 5:3–12 of Young's Literal Translation for an example). In Matthew, there are eight (or nine) blessings, while in Luke there are four, followed by four woes.
In almost all cases the phrases used in the Beatitudes are familiar from an Old Testament context, but in the sermon Jesus gives them new meaning.
Together, the Beatitudes present a new set of ideals that focus on love
and humility rather than force and mastery; they echo the highest
ideals of Jesus' teachings on spirituality and compassion.
In Christian teachings, the Works of Mercy, which have corporal and spiritual components, have resonated with the theme of the Beatitude for mercy. These teachings emphasize that these acts of mercy provide both temporal and spiritual benefits.
Matthew 5:13–16 presents the metaphors of salt and light. This completes the profile of God's people presented in the beatitudes and acts as the introduction to the next section.
There are two parts in this section, using the terms "salt of the earth" and Light of the World to refer to the disciples – implying their value. Elsewhere, in John 8:12, Jesus applies Light of the World to himself.
Jesus preaches about hell
and what hell is like: "But I say unto you, That whosoever is angry
with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment: and
whosoever shall say to his brother "Raca
(fool)" shall be in danger of the council: but whosoever shall say,
Thou fool, shall be in danger of hell fire." (Matthew 5:22 KJV)
In Matthew 6 Jesus condemns doing what would normally be "good works" simply for recognition and not from the heart, such as those of alms (6:1–4), prayer (6:5–15), and fasting (6:16–18). The discourse goes on to condemn the superficiality of materialism and calls the disciples not to worry about material needs, but to "seek" God's kingdom
first. Within the discourse on ostentation, Matthew presents an example
of correct prayer. Luke places this in a different context. The Lord's prayer (6:9–13) contains parallels to 1 Chronicles 29:10–18.
The first part of Matthew 7, i.e. Matthew 7:1–6 deals with judging. Jesus condemns those who judge others before first judging themselves: "Judge not, that ye be not judged."
The teachings of the Sermon on the Mount have been a key element of Christian ethics, and for centuries the sermon has acted as a fundamental recipe for the conduct of the followers of Jesus. Various religious and moral thinkers (e.g. Tolstoy and Gandhi) have admired its message, and it has been one of the main sources of Christian pacifism.
If anyone will piously and soberly consider the sermon which our
Lord Jesus Christ spoke on the mount, as we read it in the Gospel
according to Matthew, I think that he will find in it, so far as regards
the highest morals, a perfect standard of the Christian life.
The last verse of chapter 5 of Matthew (5:48) is a focal point of the sermon that summarizes its teachings by advising the disciples to seek perfection." The Greek word telios
used to refer to perfection also implies an end, or destination,
advising the disciples to seek the path towards perfection and the Kingdom of God. It teaches that God's children are those who act like God.
The teachings of the sermon are often referred to as the Ethics of the Kingdom: they place a high level of emphasis on "purity of the heart" and embody the basic standard of Christian righteousness.
Theological structure
The issue of the theological structure and composition of the Sermon on the Mount remains unresolved. One group of theologians ranging from Saint Augustine in the 5th century to Michael Goulder in the 20th century, see the Beatitudes as the central element of the Sermon. Others such as Bornkamm see the Sermon arranged around the Lord's prayer, while Daniel Patte, closely followed by Ulrich Luz, see a chiastic structure in the sermon. Dale Allison and Glen Stassen have proposed a structure based on triads. Jack Kingsbury and Hans Dieter Betz see the sermon as composed of theological themes, e.g. righteousness or way of life.
The high ethical standards of the Sermon have been interpreted in a wide variety of ways by different Christian groups and Craig S. Keener
states that at least 36 different interpretations regarding the message
of the Sermon exist, which he divides into 8 categories of views:
The predominant medieval view, "reserving a higher ethic for clergy, especially in monastic orders"
Inaugurated eschatology in which the Sermon's ethics remain a goal to be approached, yet realized later
Comparison with the Sermon on the Plain
While Matthew groups Jesus' teachings into sets of similar material, the same material is scattered when found in Luke. The Sermon on the Mount may be compared with the similar but more succinct Sermon on the Plain as recounted by the Gospel of Luke
(6:17–49), which occurs at the same moment in Luke's narrative, and
also features Jesus heading up a mountain, but giving the sermon on the
way down at a level spot. Some scholars believe that they are the same
sermon, while others hold that Jesus frequently preached similar themes
in different places.
Modern parallels with Buddhist teachings
Although modern parallels between the teachings of Jesus and Buddhist philosophy have been drawn (by the 14th Dalai Lama
for example), these comparisons emerged after missionary contacts in
the 19th century, and there is no historically reliable evidence of
contacts between Buddhism and Jesus during his life. Modern scholarship has almost unanimously agreed that claims of the travels of Jesus to Tibet, Kashmir or India and the influence of Buddhism on his teachings are without historical basis.
The similarities between the teachings of Buddha and Jesus have been noted.
According to the Perennial Philosophy
According to perennialist author Frithjof Schuon,
the message of the Sermon is a perfect synthesis of the whole Christian
tradition. The text has the largest number of perennial and universal
doctrines and spiritual advice of all Scripture. Much of what Bible
readers remember from Scripture derives from the Sermon. Source of
spiritual and moral instructions, the Sermon on the Mount is regarded by
the Perennial Philosophy "as the quintessence itself of religion". Perennialism considers the injunctions of the Sermon on the Mount as belonging to the esoteric dimension of Christianity.
Christian anarchism is a movement in political theology that claims anarchism is inherent in Christianity and the Gospels.
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.
It therefore rejects the idea that human governments have ultimate
authority over human societies. Christian anarchists denounce the state, believing it is violent, deceitful and, when glorified, idolatrous.
Christian anarchists hold that the "Reign of God" is the proper
expression of the relationship between God and humanity. Under the
"Reign of God", human relationships would be characterized by divided
authority, servant leadership,
and universal compassion—not by the hierarchical, authoritarian
structures that are normally attributed to religious social order. Most Christian anarchists are pacifists—they reject war and the use of violence.
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".
Subsequently, as recorded in the first Book of Samuel (1 Samuel 8) the people of Israel wanted a king "so as to be like other nations".
God declared that the people had rejected him as their king. He warned that a human king would lead to militarism, conscription and 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.
Much of the subsequent Old Testament chronicles the Israelites trying to live with this decision.
More than any other Bible source, the Sermon on the Mount is used as the basis for Christian anarchism. Alexandre Christoyannopoulos 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 love our enemies.
The gospels tell of 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.
Jesus refuses the temptation, choosing to serve God instead, implying
that Jesus is aware of the corrupting nature of Earthly power.
Friedrich Nietzsche and Frank Seaver Billings criticize Christianity and anarchism by arguing that they are the same thing.
Early Church
According to Alexandre Christoyannopoulos, several of the Church Fathers' writings suggest anarchism as God's ideal. The first Christians opposed the primacy of the State: "We must obey God as ruler rather than men" (Acts 4:19, 5:29, 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." (Colossians 2:15). Also some early Christian communities appear to have practised anarchist communism, such as the Jerusalem group described in Acts, who shared their money and labour equally and fairly among the members.
Roman Montero claims that using an anthropological framework, such as
that of anarchist David Graeber, one can plausibly reconstruct the
communism of these early Christian communities and that these practices
were widespread, long-lasting and substantial.
Christian anarchists, such as Kevin Craig, insist that these
communities were centred on true love and care for one another rather
than liturgy. They also allege that the reason the early Christians were persecuted was not because they worshipped Jesus Christ, but because they refused to worship human idols claiming divine status. Given that they refused to worship the Roman Emperor they refused to swear any oath of allegiance to the Empire. For example, when requested that he swear by the emperor, Speratus, spokesperson of the Scillitan Martyrs, said in 180ce, "I recognize not the empire of this world... because I know my Lord, the King of kings and Emperor of all nations.
Thomas Merton in his introduction to a translation of the Sayings of the Desert Fathers describes the early monastics as "Truly in certain sense 'anarchists,' and it will do no harm to think of them as such."
During the Ante-Nicene Period there were several independent sects who took a radically different approach to Christianity than the Proto-Orthodox Church and displayed anarchist tendencies by relying on direct revelation rather than scripture. For example:
Gnosticism (particularly Valentinianism)
– 2nd to 4th centuries – reliance on revealed knowledge from a
transcendent, unknowable God, who was a distinct divinity from the Demiurge who created and oversees the material world.
There were many groups and individuals in the Middle Ages who displayed anarchist tendencies, taking God as their guide and rejecting both church and secular authority.
Tondrakians – an Armenian group (9th to 11th centuries) who advocated the abolition of the Church along with all its traditional rites.
Bogomils – a group arising in the 11th century in Macedonia and the Balkans who sought a return to the spirituality of the early Christians and opposed established forms of government and church.
Gundolfo – an itinerant 11th century preacher near Lille, France, who taught that salvation
was achieved through a virtuous life of abandoning the world,
restraining the appetites of the flesh, earning food by the labor of
hands, doing no injury to anyone, and extending charity to everyone of
their own faith.
Apostolic Brethren (later known as Dulcinians) – a 13th to 14th century sect from northern Italy founded by Gerard Segarelli and continued by Fra Dolcino of Novara.
The Apostolic Brethren rejected the worldliness of the church and
sought a life of perfect sanctity, in complete poverty, with no fixed
domicile, no care for the morrow, and no vows. The Dulcinians claimed that they were inaugurating a new era characterized by poverty, chastity, and the absence of government.
Fraticelli (or Spiritual Franciscans) – Franciscan extremists (13th to 15th centuries) who regarded the wealth of the Church as scandalous.
Nicholas of Basel – a 14th century Swiss leader who, after a spiritual experience, taught that he had the authority to use episcopal and priestly
powers (even though he was not ordained), that submission to his
direction was necessary for attaining spiritual perfection, and that his
followers could not sin even though they committed crimes or disobeyed both the Church and pope.
Petr Chelčický,
a 15th-century Czech leader who taught that violent punishment was
immoral, and that Christians should not accept government office or
appeal to government authority
Various libertarian socialist authors have identified the written work of English Protestant social reformer Gerrard Winstanley and the social activism of his group, the Diggers, as anticipating this line of thought. For anarchist historian George Woodcock "Although (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–c. 1660), 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 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." 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."
Modern era
Leo Tolstoy wrote extensively about Christian pacifism and anarchism.
Nineteenth century Christian abolitionist Adin Ballou
was critical of government and believed that it would be supplanted by a
new order in which individuals are guided solely by their love for God. His writings heavily influenced Leo Tolstoy, who wrote extensively on his anarchist principles and their descension from his Christian faith, in books including The Kingdom of God is Within You, a key Christian anarchist text. Tolstoy sought to separate Russian Orthodox Christianity — which was merged with the state — from what he believed was the true message of Jesus as contained in the Gospels, specifically in the Sermon on the Mount.
He takes the viewpoint that all governments who wage war, and churches
who in turn support those governments, are an affront to the Christian
principles of nonviolence. Although Tolstoy never actually used the term "Christian anarchism" in The Kingdom of God Is Within You, reviews of this book following its publication in 1894 appear to have coined the term.
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, espousing nonviolence, and hospitality for the impoverished and downtrodden. Dorothy Day was declared Servant of God when a cause for sainthood was opened for her by Pope John Paul II. Dorothy Day's Distributist economic views are very similar to Proudhon's mutualism whom she was influenced by. Day also named the phrase "precarious work" based on former anarcho-communist Léonce Crenier's embrace of poverty. Peter Maurin's vision to transform the social order consisted of establishing urban houses of hospitality to care for the destitute; rural farming communities to teach city dwellers agrarianism and encourage a movement back-to-the-land; and roundtable discussions in community centres to clarify thought and initiate action.
Anarchist biblical views and practices
Church authority
With some notable exceptions, such as the Catholic Worker Movement, many Christian anarchists are critical of Churchdogma and rituals. 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. Jacques Ellul and Dave Andrews claim that Jesus did not intend to be the founder of an institutional religion, while Michael Elliot believes one of Jesus' intentions was to bypass human intermediaries and do away with priests.
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:
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."
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. Jesus appears to teach voluntary poverty when he told his 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).
State authority
The most common challenge for anarchist theologians is interpreting Paul's Epistle to the Romans 13:1–7, in which Paul demanded obedience to governing authorities and described them as God's servants exacting punishment on wrongdoers. Romans 13:1–7 holds the most explicit reference to the state in the New Testament but other parallel texts include Titus 3:1, Hebrews 13:17 and 1 Peter 2:13-17.
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. Similarly, in the case of the state being involved in a "just war", some theologians argue that it's permissible for Christians to serve the state and wield the sword. Christian anarchists do not share these interpretations of Romans 13 but still recognize it as "a very embarrassing passage."
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. As wrath and vengeance are contrary to the Christian values of kindness and forgiveness, Ellul neither supports, nor participates in, the state. Eller articulates this position by restating the passage this way:
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.
Christians who interpret Romans 13 as advocating support for governing authorities are left with the difficulty of how to act under tyrants or dictators. 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.
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."
There are also Christians anarchists, such as Tolstoy and Hennacy, who do not see the need to integrate Paul's teachings into their 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" (see Jesuism). Hennacy and Ciaron O'Reilly, in contrast to Eller, advocate nonviolent civil disobedience to confront state oppression.
Swearing of oaths
In the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5:33-37) Jesus tells his followers to 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.
Tax
Some Christian anarchists 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.
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 simply living below the income tax threshold.
Christian anarchists do not interpret the injunction in Matthew 22:21 to "give to Caesar what is Caesar's" as advocating support for taxes, but as further advice to 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, 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:
"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!
Vegetarianism
Vegetarianism in the Christian tradition has a long history commencing in the first centuries of Church with the Desert Fathers and Desert Mothers who abandoned the "world of men" for intimacy with the God of Jesus Christ. Vegetarianism amongst hermits and 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.
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. 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. Present-day Catholic Workers include Ciaron O'Reilly, an Irish-Australian civil rights and anti-war activist.
Anne Klejment, professor of history at University of St. Thomas, wrote of the Catholic Worker Movement:
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 revolutionary
behavior...He respected individual conscience. But he also preached a
prophetic message, difficult for many of his contemporaries to embrace.
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:
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.
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.
In literature, in Michael Paraskos's 2017 novel, Rabbitman, a political satire prompted by Donald Trump's
presidency, the heroine, called Angela Witney, is a member of an
imagined Catholic Worker commune located in the southern English village
of Ditchling, where the artist Eric Gill once lived.
Numerous Christian anarchist websites, social networking sites, forums, electronic mailing lists and blogs
have emerged on the internet over the last few years. These include:
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; Libera Catholick Union founded in 1988 and re-organized in 2019; Jesus Radicals founded by Mennonites in 2000; Lost Religion of Jesus created in 2005; Christian Anarchists created in 2006; The Mormon Worker, a blog and newspaper, founded in 2007 to promote Mormonism, anarchism and pacifism; and Academics and Students Interested in Religious Anarchism (ASIRA) founded by Alexandre Christoyannopoulos in 2008.
Christian anarchism in the arts
The Charter of the Forest
is a regularly updating Read-Opera that espouses Christian anarchist
values such as opposition to hierarchy and complete commitment to
non-violence. The composer, Matthew Buckwalter, is highly influenced by
Tolstoy, particularly The Kingdom of God is Within You, and the various speeches and writings of Noam Chomsky, among other philosophical sources.
Criticism
Critics of Christian anarchism include both Christians and anarchists. Christians often cite Romans 13 as evidence that the State should be obeyed, while secular anarchists do not believe in any authority including God as per the slogan "no gods, no masters". Christian anarchists often believe Romans 13 is taken out of context, emphasizing that Revelation 13 and Isaiah 13, among other passages, are needed to fully understand Romans 13 text.
"Information wants to be free" is an expression that means all
people should be able to access information freely. It is often used by
technology activists to criticize laws that limit transparency and
general access to information. People who criticize intellectual property
law say the system of such government granted monopolies conflicts with
the development of a public domain of information. The expression is
often credited to Stewart Brand, who was recorded saying it at a hackers conference in 1984.
History
The iconic phrase is attributed to Stewart Brand, who, in the late 1960s, founded the Whole Earth Catalog and argued that technology could be liberating rather than oppressing. The earliest recorded occurrence of the expression was at the first Hackers Conference in 1984. Brand told Steve Wozniak:
On the one hand information wants
to be expensive, because it's so valuable. The right information in the
right place just changes your life. On the other hand, information
wants to be free, because the cost of getting it out is getting lower
and lower all the time. So you have these two fighting against each
other.
Brand's conference remarks are transcribed in the Whole Earth Review (May 1985, p. 49) and a later form appears in his The Media Lab: Inventing the Future at MIT:
Information Wants To Be Free. Information also wants to be expensive. ...That tension will not go away.
According to historian Adrian Johns, the slogan expresses a view that had already been articulated in the mid-20th century by Norbert Wiener, Michael Polanyi and Arnold Plant, who advocated for the free communication of scientific knowledge, and specifically criticized the patent system.
Gratis versus Libre
The various forms of the original statement are ambiguous: the slogan
can be used to argue the benefits of propertied information, of
liberated, free, and open information, or of both. It can be taken
amorally as an expression of a fact of information-science: once
information has passed to a new location outside of the source's control
there is no way of ensuring it is not propagated further, and therefore
will naturally tend towards a state where that information is widely
distributed. Much of its force is due to the anthropomorphic metaphor that imputes desire to information. In 1990 Richard Stallman restated the concept normatively, without the anthropomorphization:
I believe that all generally useful
information should be free. By 'free' I am not referring to price, but
rather to the freedom to copy the information and to adapt it to one's
own uses... When information is generally useful, redistributing it
makes humanity wealthier no matter who is distributing and no matter who
is receiving.
Stallman's reformulation incorporates a political stance into Brand's value-neutral observation of social trends.
Cyberpunks
Brand's attribution of will to an abstract human construct (information) has been adopted within a branch of the cyberpunk movement, whose members espouse a particular political viewpoint (anarchism). The construction of the statement takes its meaning beyond the simple judgmental observation, "Information should be free" by acknowledging that the internal force or entelechy of information and knowledge makes it essentially incompatible with notions of proprietary software, copyrights, patents, subscription services, etc. They believe that information is dynamic, ever-growing and evolving and cannot be contained within (any) ideological structure.
According to this philosophy, hackers, crackers, and phreakers
are liberators of information which is being held hostage by agents
demanding money for its release. Other participants in this network
include cypherpunks who educate people to use public-key cryptography to protect the privacy of their messages from corporate or governmental snooping and programmers who write free software and open sourcecode. Still others create Free-Nets
allowing users to gain access to computer resources for which they
would otherwise need an account. They might also break copyright law by
swapping music, movies, or other copyrighted materials over the
Internet.
Chelsea Manning is alleged to have said "Information should be free" to Adrian Lamo when explaining a rationale for US government documents to be released to WikiLeaks. The narrative goes on with Manning wondering if she is a "'hacker', 'cracker', 'hacktivist', 'leaker' or what".
Literary usage
In the "Fall Revolution" series of science-fiction books, author Ken Macleod
riffs and puns on the expression by writing about entities composed of
information actually "wanting", as in desiring, freedom and the
machinations of several human characters with differing political and
ideological agendas, to facilitate or disrupt these entities' quest for
freedom.
