Title: Not Religion, But Love: Practicing a radical spirituality of compassion
Author: Dave Andrews
Publisher: Lion Publishing
Publication Date: 2001
ISBN: 0 7459 5045 0
Price: NZD24.95
Reviewed by: Richard Davis, Communications Advisor, Presbyterian Church and past Executive Officer of the Churches' Agency on Social Issues.
Reviewed: January 2002
In this book, a rewrite of Can you Hear the Heartbeat?, Dave Andrews argues that "We do not suffer from the lack of religion, but from the lack of love." The answer to world and personal problems is not religion, which is sometimes a cause of suffering or oppression, but love and the action that flows from compassionate love, as modelled by Jesus Christ. Today, when the irrelevancy of the Church is increasing, Andrews aims to show that Jesus remains as relevant to our time as he was to his followers in Galilee 2000 years ago. This is an important distinction; the Church can act as a barrier to Jesus. Andrews wants us to act as followers of Christ in community, yet he rarely mentions the church.
Christi-Anarchy: Discovering a radical spirituality of compassion (1999) was the title of Andrew's last book. Not Religion, But Love is a companion volume to this earlier work, as the similar subtitle indicates. It is worth quoting his definition of 'Christi-Anarchy' here to show the general message of both books:
Christi-Anarchy / kristiaeneki/ n. Christ like life; lifestyle characterized by the radical nonviolent sacrificial compassion of Jesus the Christ; a way of life distinguished by commitment to love and to justice; working from the bottom up to empower people particularly the marginalized and disadvantaged, so as to enable them to realize their potential, as men and women made in the image of God, through community groups and organizations; from Christi- 'for Christ', and anarche - 'against the power', as in 'against the principalities and powers'.
Most chapters in Not Religion, But Love start with an examination of its topic (such as sympathy or compassion) through the experiences of Jesus, sometimes illustrated with a contemporary paraphrase of a parable or event from Jesus's life. Andrews then illustrates the topic with examples from his own life and community. At a few places this formula annoyed me because it seemed a little sanctimonious, showing how closely Andrews is living a Christ-like life. Although having met Dave I know this was not his intent.
Each chapter ends with questions for meditation, discussion and action. The chapters are short enough to be used for small group study. There are additional resources for study at the end. Andrews once proposed to his preacher father that he should hold a moratorium on preaching and instead have smaller study groups focus on the stories and sayings of Jesus. I find this idea compelling at a time when the church needs to try something (not quite anything) different to make Jesus known in our world. His models for such study, along with the sayings themselves, are provided here.
At a time when the Presbyterian Church has considered the concept of Servant Mission Leadership it is interesting to note that Andrews's primary community group in Brisbane is called the West End Waiters Union, for they wish to serve others: "We decided to call ourselves the West End Waiters' Union because we wanted to be 'waiters' in West End. We didn't want [to] set agendas for people. We just wanted to be available, like waiters, to take people's orders, and to do what we could do to help them." There is no attempt to promote themselves or work at things in that organisation's name, they focus on their neighbours needs. This is indicative of the stories in the book, serving and putting others first.
Appropriately this book was launched in Wellington at the base of Urban Vision, a Christian community located in central and south Wellington. The young people who make up this community have been heavily influenced by Andrews and strive to live out their Christianity. Working with disadvantaged individuals and on social issues, they show what compassionate love is. As an outsider to that community it looks demanding, but rewarding, to live such a life of service in addition to having jobs and study commitments. This contrasts to the level of commitment expected by most Christian congregations in Aotearoa. A lesson for the Church from this example and Andrews's books is that the Church should not be afraid to demand more of its members, we should not try to make being Christian easier to suit our culture of leisure, but try to make our faith a more authentic representation of the compassionate love of Christ.
This book is easy to read, but it is not easy to dismiss its call to genuine Christian action that involves us in the lives of others. It is radical without being confrontational; this being achieved by being focussed on individual change, which is much less threatening than social revolution. Not Religion, But Love and Christ-Anarchy comes highly recommended.
Dave Andrews, and his community, run short courses (2 or 3 weeks) twice a year called "With Christ in Community" in Brisbane. For more information contact Dave Andrews on dave@tear.org.au or write to PO Box 5519, West End, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia.