The Power Made Perfect in Weakness: Nonviolence as Metaphysical Revelation

About this episode

The episode discusses nonviolence as a metaphysical revelation in the context of Christian faith and divine agency.

There is a habit in Western theology so old it feels like air: imagining God as the supreme instance of coercive power — the divine despot whose omnipotence is measured by the capacity to override whatever resists. Whitehead called this the deep idolatry, and we would rather work like cross-builders than cross-bearers because of it. This essay argues that nonviolence is not a secondary ethical application of Christian faith, a political strategy, or a counsel of perfection for those with the luxury to afford it. Nonviolence is a metaphysical revelation — a disclosure of the actual structure of divine agency in the world, worked out across the long history of the cosmos and concentrated in the particular life of a first-century Jewish peasant. The power made perfect in weakness is not an exception to how the universe works. It is the deepest account of how the universe works. I am writing as someone who has done the cross-building too, and this is my attempt to name what is at stake when we make that choice, and what becomes possible when we stop. This audio essay is the kind of theology you will find at Process This — my Substack. You the join 75k+ subscribers and get them all…

People in this episode

Host: Dr. Tripp Fuller

Topics covered

• nonviolence
• metaphysical revelation
• Christian faith
• theology
• divine agency
• Western theology

Keywords

• nonviolence
• Christianity
• theology
• divine power
• metaphysics
• Western theology
• cross-building
• cross-bearing

Sponsors

Humanitas

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Anabaptist Mennonite Centre at Trinity Western University

Books & works: Process This

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