Spirit and Conscience

William Stringfellow was a Harvard-educated lawyer who, in 1956, motivated by his understanding of the Word of God, moved to a cockroach infested apartment in Harlem and became a legal advocate for poor blacks and Puerto Ricans living there. He was devoutly ethical and committed to biblical truth as he saw it. He wrote 14 books on theology and numerous articles on theology and law. His writing is passionate, eloquent and dense. Whether you understand and don’t agree or simply don’t understand, his integrity, nevertheless, shouts from the pages. When the German theologian Karl Barth visited the United States in 1962, he said Stringfellow was the voice the country should listen to. Ill health and a brush with death led Stringfellow to a contemplative life in a spiritual community, where he and his close friend Anthony Towne were indicted for harboring Jesuit anti-war activist Daniel Berrigan. Stringfellow was a civil rights activist and a defender of women priests in the Episcopal church. He called for the impeachment of Richard Nixon (long before Watergate). He was an environmental activist, a connoisseur of the circus, a recluse and at the same time an extraordinary cook and host. He died at 57 of diabetes.

Out of the 15 friends and one stranger I asked, only two knew anything at all about Stringfellow. My friend Sarah knew he was a mentor to Jim Wallis, leader of the Sojourners community in Washington, D.C. My friend John vaguely associated him with Dorothy Day. A couple of others had heard his name. So it’s high time somebody held a seminar about his life and writing. In October, a group called Word and World is coming to Minneapolis to hold classes on Stringfellow, as well as present two evening events to the general public.

Steve Clemens, one of the local organizers, described Word and World as “a faith-based traveling school for movement activists.” The name comes from Karl Barth’s statement that a Christian needs to have the Bible in one hand and a newspaper in the other. The school, which organizes mini-schools once or twice a year in different U.S. cities, was inspired by the German Confessional movement which resisted the theological claims of the Nazi state. Among other historic precedents, Word and World draws inspiration from the Freedom Schools of the Civil Rights movement; the “womenchurch” experiments of Christian feminism; and the radically biblical “underground seminary” of nonviolent resistance in the 1970s and 80s. It provides radical education and training for Christian disciples committed to the work of social transformation.

The first Word and World School took place in April 2002 in Greensboro, N.C., the site of the 1979 Greensboro Massacre. The school focused on four decades of Black struggles for civil, racial and labor rights in Greensboro. In November 2002 the school in Tucson, Ariz., dealt with immigration and border issues. Nonviolence and urban struggles was the theme of the June 2003 school in Philadelphia. In June 2004, the school held in Rochester, N.Y., focused on gender and sexuality, justice and inclusion.

Edwin Holmvig-Johnson, 21, who is a member of St. Paul Reformation Church in St. Paul, attended the Word and World school in Rochester. He said it was about “the intersection of faith with everyday life … applying the message of social justice into the everyday world.” There was a mix of young and old, he said, as well as Roman Catholic and mainline Protestants, especially from the United Church of Christ and the Episcopal church.

This year’s school will “mark the 20th anniversary of the death of Stringfellow, a lay theologian whose understanding of the Powers and Principalities continues to shape radical discipleship and resistance in an age of renewed empire,” according to the flyer put out by Word and World.

The eight courses and Bible studies include “Empire and Resistance,” “Biography as Theology,” “The Law: Master or Servant?” “Gender, Identity, and Justice,” “Acts and the Politics of Resurrection.”

The faculty includes Anthony Dancer, from Christchurch Cathedral in Nelson, New Zealand, who has written the book “William Stringfellow in Anglo-American Perspective”; Liz McAllister, widow of Phillip Berrigan; local activist, labor and faith consultant Bob Hulteen; Uncas McThenia, lawyer and friend of Stringfellow; and Joyce Hollyday, co-founder with Bill Wylie-Kellermann of Word and World.

Bill Wylie-Kellermann, in the late 70s and early 80s, was part of an underground seminary and Bible study weekends with Stringfellow. Wylie-Kellermann has put together a Stringfellow reader called “Keeper of the Word” and is also writing a biography of Stringfellow.

Wylie-Kellermann said that Stringfellow’s theology came out of his work in East Harlem. The people he worked with on the streets opened his eyes to St. Paul’s discussions about the powers and principalities. Stringfellow was instrumental in the United States in putting the idea of powers (and principalities)”back onto the map of theology.” He recognized and identified systems that created “predatory forces such as cops, mafia, utilities, real estate speculators, and even liberal philanthropy,” Wylie-Kellermann said. As I read Stringfellow this past week, it was confirmed that Stringfellow wasn’t saying that cops, politicians or presidents, etc., are evil. He was saying that the Bible’s message is that every victim needs an advocate.

According to commentator Simon Barrow, whom I found on the internet, Stringfellow really did “turn things upside down.”

Stringfellow’s faith was “incarnational” and he talked a lot about what “the Word made flesh” means. One thing it means is that the message of the Bible is essentially political; incarnational faith gives one a “radical and preemptive concern for life in this world,” which is the source of “viable ethics and political action.”

Stringfellow saw the “the Word made flesh” as a living thing, not a philosophy, an ideology or a religion. (I’ll have to read quite a bit more to understand what he means exactly by “the Word.”) For some reason he felt a need to understand the Bible. Most people don’t care what it means, which is strange, since it has set off a chain of manifestations, reactions and interpretations that pervade Western culture.

I think if we could really understand Stringfellow, we could find a way to stop the Bible from doing damage. I think there’s a growing group of people insisting that Christianity absolutely cannot be about imperialism. It’s impossible. They want to be servant Christians, not ruling Christians.

Another commentator on the internet said Stringfellow was “one of freedom’s greatest allies, and death’s fiercest adversaries. Stringfellow created unique definitions of words like the Word, freedom, death. He discussed Babylon and Jerusalem at length. They are the two parables of the biblical story, he said. They are the two options for society. He believed that Babylon prevailed in Germany in the 30s, in the United States in the 70s. A nation that wants to be God has a deep-seated contempt for human life. The symptoms of Babylon (death) (that is, “hardness of heart” “demonic possession”) in America were: “apartheid stalemate in race; prevalent waste ethic in production, market and consumerism; degeneration of medical care; emergent technological totalitarianism; militarization of police power; official assault against due process of law; proliferation of illegitimate authority.”

His theology is difficult and beautiful. Suddenly, at the moments when you get it, it makes you feel, not judgmental, but secure. His most influential book is called “An Ethic for Christians and Other Aliens in a Strange Land.” In “Conscience and Obedience: The Politics of Romans 13 and Revelation 13 in Light of the Second Coming,” Stringfellow makes statements with which I resonate completely, but their connection to the biblical texts is beyond me at this point. I was very moved by “A Simplicity of Faith: My Experience of Mourning,” which he wrote following the death of his very close friend and companion.

The profundity of Stringfellow’s thought and example is well worth learning about. It is still possible to sign up for classes, October 6, 7 and 8. Based on a sliding scale, the cost is between $190 and $250. They will take place at University Episcopal Center, 331 17th Avenue SE. FFI contact Kate Foran or Steve Borla at info@wordand world.org., 336-230-0330 or www.wordandworld.org.

Events that are free and open to the public will be held at 7 p.m. both Fri., Oct. 7 and Sat., Oct. 8 at Holy Trinity Lutheran Church, E. 31st St. off Minnehaha Ave. On Friday there will be a circus/art presentation and a talk by Bill Wylie Kellermann followed by responses from Elizabeth McAllister and Ched Meyers. On Sat. there will be a concert followed by a panel on labor and theology.