Cast down the mighty/send the rich away/fill the hungry/lift the lowly
September 21, 2021 11:26 AM Subscribe
Ben Wildflower is a Philadelphia-based artist who makes Christian anarchist prints, most famously one of Mary with a raised fist and ringed with words from the Magnificat (artist's note). In an interview with Killing the Buddha, Wildflower discusses his faith, his artistic influences, and his thoughts on right-wing Christian artists like Jon McNaughton ("He makes devotional art to the gods of death").
A few days after my son was born I found my wife holding him and sobbing. I asked what was wrong and she said, “It’s terrifying to love someone this much.”
Interesting interview, thanks.
posted by They sucked his brains out! at 11:55 AM on September 21, 2021 [2 favorites]
Interesting interview, thanks.
posted by They sucked his brains out! at 11:55 AM on September 21, 2021 [2 favorites]
That's a fascinating interview. He really knows how to throw the Gospel right into the face of contemporary evangelicalism, not to mention capitalism:
Is there something unique to the theology of Christianity that you think lends itself to an anarchist political program?
Yes. What is grace but anarchy? The message of Christianity is that all debts are paid, all the captives are set free, there is no score board in the sky measuring your rights and wrongs. The cross is the end of punishment and reward. There are no deserving and undeserving. The Gospel is handouts for the least deserving, commuted sentences for the most guilty, equal wages for the unproductive. Mercy is abolition. Jesus said the Kingdom of God is like a bunch of people working various hours in the vineyard but all getting full pay. Christ’s description of the rearrangement of the cosmos represented by his advent is the abolition of the wage system.
posted by vverse23 at 11:58 AM on September 21, 2021 [27 favorites]
Is there something unique to the theology of Christianity that you think lends itself to an anarchist political program?
Yes. What is grace but anarchy? The message of Christianity is that all debts are paid, all the captives are set free, there is no score board in the sky measuring your rights and wrongs. The cross is the end of punishment and reward. There are no deserving and undeserving. The Gospel is handouts for the least deserving, commuted sentences for the most guilty, equal wages for the unproductive. Mercy is abolition. Jesus said the Kingdom of God is like a bunch of people working various hours in the vineyard but all getting full pay. Christ’s description of the rearrangement of the cosmos represented by his advent is the abolition of the wage system.
posted by vverse23 at 11:58 AM on September 21, 2021 [27 favorites]
Oh, man, this is good work!
I think we just might send out xmas cards this year.
posted by Thorzdad at 12:07 PM on September 21, 2021 [1 favorite]
I think we just might send out xmas cards this year.
posted by Thorzdad at 12:07 PM on September 21, 2021 [1 favorite]
Further reading: Revolutionary Christianity / by Sherwood Eddy.
posted by No Robots at 12:18 PM on September 21, 2021
posted by No Robots at 12:18 PM on September 21, 2021
That's an interesting interview for sure, and I am definitely sympathetic to this guy and his message of Jesus the Ass-Kicking Anarchist, but I struggle with statements like
The message of Christianity is that all debts are paid, all the captives are set free, there is no score board in the sky measuring your rights and wrongs. The cross is the end of punishment and reward.
When the Bible is very clear, in Revelation and other parts of the New Testament, that Jesus will return to rule over all nations and be worshipped as a King and an everlasting lake of fire is waiting for those who don't want to get with that program.
This guy would probably say those parts of the Bible and Christianity don't reflect the real message of Jesus, and I can certainly appreciate that, but it's not like white evangelicals suddenly dreamed up that part after Roe v Wade; it's always been there.
If this is what motivates him to continue the struggle, good on him, I'm just not convinced that Anarchist Jesus can be completely pried loose of the, uhm, more problematic parts of the New Testament.
posted by fortitude25 at 12:32 PM on September 21, 2021 [7 favorites]
The message of Christianity is that all debts are paid, all the captives are set free, there is no score board in the sky measuring your rights and wrongs. The cross is the end of punishment and reward.
When the Bible is very clear, in Revelation and other parts of the New Testament, that Jesus will return to rule over all nations and be worshipped as a King and an everlasting lake of fire is waiting for those who don't want to get with that program.
This guy would probably say those parts of the Bible and Christianity don't reflect the real message of Jesus, and I can certainly appreciate that, but it's not like white evangelicals suddenly dreamed up that part after Roe v Wade; it's always been there.
If this is what motivates him to continue the struggle, good on him, I'm just not convinced that Anarchist Jesus can be completely pried loose of the, uhm, more problematic parts of the New Testament.
posted by fortitude25 at 12:32 PM on September 21, 2021 [7 favorites]
I'd say that anarchist Jesus is within you and that's why he's in the gospel - just like with any religion. People have the potential within them to desire universal liberation; that's as human as the desire to torture and control. If anarchist Jesus is "out there" in some way, if there's some universal principle or spirit that exists independent of humans, then we tune in to it through our desire for the good and sometimes that gets expressed as anarchist Jesus, sometimes it gets expressed through Sikh community programs, sometimes it gets expressed through radical Judaism, sometimes it's expressed as movements totally divorced from what we think of as "religion" or "spirituality", etc. Anarchist Jesus doesn't particularly belong to the gospel because he doesn't come from the gospel in the first place, so to speak.
posted by Frowner at 12:58 PM on September 21, 2021 [5 favorites]
posted by Frowner at 12:58 PM on September 21, 2021 [5 favorites]
I can see how this can compete with the rotating neon Jesus.
posted by clavdivs at 1:02 PM on September 21, 2021
posted by clavdivs at 1:02 PM on September 21, 2021
I love everything about this. Thank you so much for posting it.
posted by emjaybee at 1:50 PM on September 21, 2021 [2 favorites]
posted by emjaybee at 1:50 PM on September 21, 2021 [2 favorites]
This is fantastic, thanks!
As someone who also block prints holiday cards, I'm thinking they might be more activist in nature this year.
posted by indexy at 2:18 PM on September 21, 2021 [3 favorites]
As someone who also block prints holiday cards, I'm thinking they might be more activist in nature this year.
posted by indexy at 2:18 PM on September 21, 2021 [3 favorites]
If this is what motivates him to continue the struggle, good on him, I'm just not convinced that Anarchist Jesus can be completely pried loose of the, uhm, more problematic parts of the New Testament.
Absolutely true. But the evangelical machine has spent the last 50 years convincing people that real Christianity subjugates women and non-heterosexual people, is pro-gun, anti-choice, you know the drill. Whereas a less biased reading of the Bible reveals a whole host of fascinating contradictions and challenging pronouncements that completely eclipse these narrow and unenlightening dictates. You find the stupid shit right alongside the revolutionary and enlightening shit.
I guess what I'm saying is that the right wing has had a good run with its cherry-picked Gospel to manifest its false Jeebus. If Christianity is gonna stick around -- and it looks like it will, at least for the time being -- then it's time for a new paradigm.
posted by vverse23 at 3:00 PM on September 21, 2021 [7 favorites]
Absolutely true. But the evangelical machine has spent the last 50 years convincing people that real Christianity subjugates women and non-heterosexual people, is pro-gun, anti-choice, you know the drill. Whereas a less biased reading of the Bible reveals a whole host of fascinating contradictions and challenging pronouncements that completely eclipse these narrow and unenlightening dictates. You find the stupid shit right alongside the revolutionary and enlightening shit.
I guess what I'm saying is that the right wing has had a good run with its cherry-picked Gospel to manifest its false Jeebus. If Christianity is gonna stick around -- and it looks like it will, at least for the time being -- then it's time for a new paradigm.
posted by vverse23 at 3:00 PM on September 21, 2021 [7 favorites]
If you like anarchist Jesus renditions and art, I can also highly recommend The Harrowing of Hell.
posted by foxfirefey at 4:09 PM on September 21, 2021 [1 favorite]
posted by foxfirefey at 4:09 PM on September 21, 2021 [1 favorite]
In a similar vein, I keep thinking I need to buy this icon of the Berrigan brothers.
posted by FencingGal at 5:38 PM on September 21, 2021 [1 favorite]
posted by FencingGal at 5:38 PM on September 21, 2021 [1 favorite]
This guy would probably say those parts of the Bible and Christianity don't reflect the real message of Jesus, and I can certainly appreciate that, but it's not like white evangelicals suddenly dreamed up that part after Roe v Wade; it's always been there.
If this is what motivates him to continue the struggle, good on him, I'm just not convinced that Anarchist Jesus can be completely pried loose of the, uhm, more problematic parts of the New Testament.
From what I can see of Wildflower from my own Anabaptist perspective, I bet he reads the Bible starting with the Gospels and interprets the Old Testament and the later parts of the New Testament in light of Jesus' words, rather than the other way around. Things really change if you take the Beatitudes literally rather than the first couple chapters of Genesis.
posted by technodelic at 8:33 PM on September 21, 2021 [9 favorites]
If this is what motivates him to continue the struggle, good on him, I'm just not convinced that Anarchist Jesus can be completely pried loose of the, uhm, more problematic parts of the New Testament.
From what I can see of Wildflower from my own Anabaptist perspective, I bet he reads the Bible starting with the Gospels and interprets the Old Testament and the later parts of the New Testament in light of Jesus' words, rather than the other way around. Things really change if you take the Beatitudes literally rather than the first couple chapters of Genesis.
posted by technodelic at 8:33 PM on September 21, 2021 [9 favorites]
Oh hey, I have that Magnificat on my living room wall. Bought it at an arts fundraiser for a scrappy little harm reduction group, which seems very much in keeping with Wildflower’s take on Christianity. I had no idea that he was well known outside of Philly!
posted by ActionPopulated at 9:24 PM on September 21, 2021 [1 favorite]
posted by ActionPopulated at 9:24 PM on September 21, 2021 [1 favorite]
My mom would totally have fed Ben soup made in her large group stockpot. I'm not a Christian myself but I'll serve Ben bean vegetable soup from the largest stockpot I have.
posted by away for regrooving at 11:13 PM on September 21, 2021 [1 favorite]
posted by away for regrooving at 11:13 PM on September 21, 2021 [1 favorite]
This also is truth.
posted by away for regrooving at 11:36 PM on September 21, 2021 [3 favorites]
He’s called “the painter of light,” which is funny, because he is exceptionally bad at painting light. Reflections on idyllic waterways correspond to no light source in the painting. The sunset pictures somehow have brightly illuminated pastel flora in the foreground, even though the light source is clearly painted behind. He simply doesn’t paint shadows. The windows of the cottages and lighthouses glow so bright that the only possible explanation is that the insides are on fire. These images soothe, but make no sense. It’s fantastical, but not like a good sci-fi or fantasy novel that gazes at an alternate universe to better understand this one. He paints a picture of a world with nothing wrong with it. Nothing’s more dangerous than people who think the world is basically good and that all you need is positivity. Want to see art better than Thomas Kinkade? Walk into any construction site port-a-pot. See where somebody has drawn a penis or written such-and-such contractor is a scab. That is art.Bob Ross > Thomas Kinkade
If all that is said of my artistic legacy is, “He was no Thomas Kinkade,” I count that a success.
posted by away for regrooving at 11:36 PM on September 21, 2021 [3 favorites]
I fucking love Ben Wildflower's Mary. Artistically, theologically, mythologically. I knew someone who absolutely loathed the snake-crushing print because it was (1) making Mary into a contemporary SJW in ways unsupported by scripture, and (2) a white guy co-opting not just the icon of the Señora de Guadalupe, but traditional Mexican printmaking styles. Scripture, shmipture, as far as I'm concerned, but I was sad not to see Siqueiros/Guerrero/Taller de Gráfica Popular listed among Wildflower's artistic influences, they seem pretty obvious.
posted by All hands bury the dead at 9:45 AM on September 22, 2021 [1 favorite]
posted by All hands bury the dead at 9:45 AM on September 22, 2021 [1 favorite]
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Check out the "Miraculous Metal" print!
posted by wenestvedt at 11:51 AM on September 21, 2021 [3 favorites]