Religion

“When I give food to the poor, they call me a saint. When I ask why the poor have no food, they call me a communist.”

Hélder Câmara; Archbishop, Archbishop of Olinda and Recife,

Thursday, 28 December 2023 10:00

Christ Beneath the Rubble

Written by Jim Aitken

in Religion

In the occupied West Bank city of Bethlehem, the birthplace of Jesus, city and church leaders cancelled all Christmas festivities this year to mourn the more than 20,000 Palestinians killed in Gaza. Below is the Christmas sermon, “Christ in the Rubble: A Liturgy of Lament,” delivered by Reverend Munther Isaac…

Genocide in Palestine Israeli bombing Christmas story

Thursday, 21 December 2023 11:43

The Quest for the Materialist Jesus: Part 2

Written by James Crossley

in Religion

In Part 1, I argued that a historical materialist understanding of Jesus in a world of competing class interests needs to be revitalised, updated, and developed further by a new generation of historians. Before we turn to these issues, it might be helpful for readers unfamiliar with how we go…

K2_PUBLISHED_ON Thursday, 21 December 2023 10:40

The Quest for the Materialist Jesus: Part 1

in Religion

Written by James Crossley

Who or what is “the historical Jesus”? Put crudely, the historical Jesus is the figure historians reconstruct from behind the embellishments, mythmaking, and ideas attributed to him, that took place after his death. From the best sources we have, a full biography remains impossible. What historians have instead attempted to…

Historical materialism Age of reason Strauss marxism

K2_PUBLISHED_ON Monday, 08 May 2023 14:01

From Millenarianism to Dictatorship of God: The Radical Ideology of the Early Jesus Movement

in Religion

Written by James Crossley and Robert J. Myles

Anointing Jesus as a king ready to take his place in the coming transformation of the world was among the most obvious cultural options for an emergent Jewish social movement in Palestine without access to established channels of authority. The early Jesus movement envisaged a regime change coming down from…

K2_PUBLISHED_ON Tuesday, 27 December 2022 15:00

'I’m a Marxist who believes in God': Ernesto Cardenal, 1925-2020

in Religion

Written by Jenny Farrell

Since the rise of early capitalism, the quest of working people for liberation, equality and peace for all – not only for the evolving bourgeois class – has been frequently been framed in religious terms. Translations of the Bible from Latin into the vernacular languages certainly played a role in…

Winstanley John Ball Thomas Muntzer Saint John Paul II Pope Francis

K2_PUBLISHED_ON Friday, 15 April 2022 09:03

Culture for All: Why Religion Matters

in Religion

Written by Culture Matters

As part of the Culture for All series, supported by the Communication Workers Union, we're proud to present a short film about religion, written by James Crossley. Why Religion Matters by James Crossley Religious ideas have been central to human culture and society for thousands of years. They have been…

Karl Marx John Ball william morris Liberation Theology

Thursday, 28 May 2020 13:11

Apocalypticism Now

Written by James Crossley

in Religion

James Crossley reflects on the dangers and possibilities of the Covid-19 crisis. Image: Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, Albrecht Durer, 1497-8 Towards the end of March, it was reported that an English hiker returned from a five-day trek in the New Zealand wilds and was surprised to see “three hooded…

John Ball william morris Bob Crow

Monday, 25 May 2020 10:05

Class struggle in the New Testament

Written by Robert Myles

in Religion

Robert Myles shows how historical materialism explains the origins of Christianity “The history of the world is but the biography of great men,” wrote nineteenth-century historian Thomas Carlyle. Great Men might be out of fashion, but you wouldn’t know it from reading some recent popular studies on the history of…

Jesus

Monday, 24 December 2018 16:41

Jeremy Corbyn’s Good Samaritan

Written by James Crossley

in Religion

James Crossley writes about Jeremy Corbyn's Christmas message. Christmas is a rare time when politicians can, without too much embarrassment, openly talk about issues relating to popular understandings of religion. As I’ve argued in detail elsewhere, Christmas functions as a soft authority for various political ideologies and a particularly good…

Thursday, 20 December 2018 21:43

Capitalism, Communism, Christianity - and Christmas

Written by Roland Boer

in Religion

Roland Boer answers questions about religion, capitalism, Christian communism – and Christmas. Culture Matters is also giving away a downloadable PDF of Professor Boer's new ebook on Christian communism, with best wishes to all our readers for the midwinter celebrations. Let's hope we have a culturally and politically progressive 2019........…

Christian communism Acts of the Apostles Muntzer Levellers and Diggers Pantisocracy Keir Hardie Pope Francis Wu Yaozong Engels Marx Kautsky Lunacharsky Cultural democracy