Learning from Enemies
by Jonathan Wilson-Hartgrove
Sometime during our transition from a cold war on communism to a perpetual crusade against the slippery construct called "terror," our popular understanding of Jesus' words "love your enemies" (Mt. 5:44) also has shifted. An injunction that had been written off as the wishful thinking of idealists became the self-righteous and somewhat cynical condemnation of a war that many Americans now refuse to own. So we have the
bumper sticker "When Jesus said ‘Love your enemies' he probably didn't mean to kill them." True enough, but like the old dismissive reading of Jesus' words, this cynical realism begs the question "what could the popular leader of a grassroots movement in occupied Palestine possibly have meant when he told the victims of systemic and direct violence to love their enemies?"
In an increasingly post-Christian West, many have decided that they would rather find their way without Jesus and other religious fanatics. With so much killing in God's name going on, I can understand this. But the church may have a real opportunity here to use our life in the world to show what it could mean to read Jesus as a tactical organizer—one who knew how to lead a hope-filled subversive movement in a situation where he and his people weren't in charge and couldn't drive the Romans out. If we're going to do this, though, we have to love our enemies at least enough to learn from them. After all, Al Qaeda knows more about the tactical imagination than any of our seminaries do.
The hegemony of Christendom has crippled our imaginations when it comes to moving from the news of God's good reign to living the new life. We hear the good news, and we are glad. But when we try to organize the new life we run into tired and frustrating disagreements. We cannot find consensus on the best strategies for reorganizing society, and we are tempted to think that the main thing getting in our way is that block of other Christians who won't sign on to our plan.
Maybe what we most need is some lessons from our enemies. Though its message is flawed and dangerous, I'm amazed by Al Qaeda's ability to move people from news to new life. The members of Al Qaeda do not know the distinction between a believer and a follower. To accept Al Qaeda's vision of the world requires people to give their whole lives to it day by day, even unto death. Sometimes the news reports about Al Qaeda sound strikingly similar to what the Romans said about early Christian communities.
Take leadership: Osama bin Laden is clearly the spiritual leader and tactical mastermind of Al Qaeda's mission. He narrates the world in a way that connects everyday people to a global movement. But having done that, he isn't necessary for the movement's survival. Administration is decentralized. New leaders are empowered through discipleship. To kill bin Laden or any other recognized Al Qaeda leader is only to further convince believers that the message is true. As Tertullian said of Christians in the second century, "the blood of the martyrs is the seed of the church."
This decentralized and story-centered authority allows for a different kind of organizational structure. You don't need a building, a staff person, and a strategic plan to start a new Al Qaeda cell. These underground groups of true believers gather because Al Qaeda's way of reading the world explains their lives for them. They do not want to be alone in their struggle against huge powers, so they gather with others, sharing what they have in order to survive in poverty and pushing one another to find ways to subvert the world as it is. While there are, no doubt, tactical negotiations about where to invest money or how best to spread the message, Al Qaeda doesn't need a master plan for expansion. It spreads like a rhizome weed as people gather around its vision.
Though Al Qaeda is deeply suspicious of all things Western, it is important to note how the organization uses technology. To put it simply, its followers seem to have a hold on technology without letting technology hold them. Cell phones, the Internet, and airplanes are all potential tools to them. But they do not define life for even the wealthiest members of Al Qaeda. That bin Laden can record videos and put them on the Internet without giving his location away is a testimony to this. It reminds me of a forum I attended at a Benedictine monastery in which the abbot shared concerns about how technology can take over our lives. A guest in the audience protested, "But we can't just stay in the Dark Ages." "Of course not," the abbot said, reaching under his monk's robe to pull a cell phone out of his pocket. "But can we show the world how to use this and still listen to God?"
Attending to the way members of Al Qaeda use technology draws us into their way of engaging a world where they're not in control. They know they can't take Washington or London. But they also know that they don't need to. Slipping in through the cracks, they attack and frustrate, only to disappear before the big guns have had time to set their sights on them. This is, for sure, a slow way of winning. But it is also a way that cannot be stamped out. The only way to get rid of Al Qaeda once and for all is to get rid of everyone connected with it.
Let me be clear: I'm not saying if you can't beat ‘em, join ‘em. Al Qaeda is our enemy. But Jesus said we should love our enemies. Even if that love doesn't win them over to our side, the sort of attention that love demands can help us learn even from people who hate us. They can teach us something about how God is calling us to live in the world. Especially now, when our social location is so far from what Jesus' was, it's good to listen closely to those who live in a context much more like that of first-century Palestine.
Those who run the large institutions of the church in America are painfully aware that we have to find a better way. Pastors are leaving, congregations are drying up, and younger generations care less and less about the conventional church. At the same time, there is an upsurge in faith-based activism in this country. Young people are hungry for community, and many of them are connecting to the ancient traditions of the church. In the apparent ruins of Christendom, a new monasticism is emerging. What is most striking, perhaps, is that its organization looks more like Al Qaeda's than like any denominational model.
In the history of the church, renewal has almost always come from the margins. Institutions rarely have the imagination to see themselves transformed. But those who operate under the radar, captivated by news that compels them toward new life, can experiment with new forms of faithfulness. These little cells don't always get it right, but they can become places where the whole church can learn again the tactical imagination of Jesus. Who knows? Jesus' injunction to "love your enemies" alone might be enough to save us.
Jonathan Wilson-Hartgrove is author of Free to Be Bound (NavPress), New Monasticism (Baker), and Becoming the Answer to Our Prayers (IVP), with Shane Claiborne. He is an Associate Minister at the historically black St. John's Missionary Baptist Church, Inc. in Durham, NC. He and his wife, Leah, and their son, JaiMichael, live with other friends in the Rutba House, a new monastic community that prays, eats, and lives together, welcoming the homeless to join them as brothers and sisters. Jonathan attended Collegeville Institute's summer writing workshop Writing and the Pastoral Life in 2008.
Copyright 2011