The Universe Bends Toward Justice Radical Reflections on the Bible, the Church, and the Body Politic

includes index and biblioraphy

I Am the Holy Dope Dealer: The Problem with Gospel Music Today .................. 1 The Spirituals: The Prism of the African American Social Experience / 7 The Normative Elements of Black Sacred Music / 15 Gospel Music: Hear No, See No, Speak No (Political) Evil / 16 Commonalities with Spirituals: Hope, Immanence, and Deliverance from Burdens /16 Differences: Meek Jesus, Absent Moses, Individuation, and the Timetable of Justice Eschewing Prophetic Critique / 20 Prophetic Critique and Painful Memory / 21 Residues of the Prophetic / 23 The Evolution of Gospel Music / 26 The Apocalyptic Origins of Gospel Music / 27 Mode of Production, Mode of Presentation: Assembly Lines and Trickeration / 28 The Advent of "Clowning" / 30 Commodification and the Evolution of`Audience" / 33 No More Clowning, No More Dope / 35 From Spirited Singing to Spirit-led Action / 38 Classes Class a Contej The The The Class 3 A Can Class, Econc The Grapes of Wrath and the True Vine: Reading from Below Is the Way to Go .. Thucydides: Putting the "Story" in Historiography / 42 Telling the Family`s History, Not the Odd Uncle`s / 47 The Gospels and "Everyman" / 50 From the Great to the Little / 52 Reading and the Assertion of "Somebodiness" / 56 Reading from Below Is the Way to Go(d?) / 60 The Salt of the Earth / 62 Jesus` Setting in Life / 64 Taxation / 65 Debt/66 Social Marginalization / 66 Galileans: Twice Marginalized / 68 Am ha aretz / 69 Asserting a New Subjectivity: The Case of John 15:1-5 / 72 The Grapes of Wradr and the True Vine / 76 The Grapes of Wrath / 78 Bringing the Gospel Story to Life / 81 Partaking of the Fruit of the True Vine / 87 A Camel through the Eye of a Needle (Part I): Class, Political Conservatism, and Anti-Christian Economics The Conundrum of Political Conservatism / 89 The Tenets of Conservatism / 96 Classes and Conservatism / 104 Class and the Gospel of Jesus / 116 Contextualizing Jesus and Class / 123 The Meaning of Rich and Poor for Jesus /126 The Rich /128 The Poor/130 Class and the Hebrew Bible / 132 Camel through the Eye of a Needle (Part II) Class, Political Conservatism, and Anti-Christian Economics The Meaning of Rich Today / 141 America`s Class Society / 144 The Theoretician of Unaccountability / 146 The Rise of Supply-side Economics / 151 Enter "Trickle-down," or Masquerading Greed as a Social Good / 155 How Did Supply-side Economics Win? / 160 The Spawn of Supply-side / 164 Conservative Economics and the (Un)-American Aristocracy / 165 Removing the Rungs on the Upward Mobility Ladder / 167 Knowing the Tree by the Fruit It Bears / 170 Economic Classes and Human Suffering / 174 The Selfish Side of Economic Policy / 176 Rejecting the Biblical Wheat for the Conservative Chaff /ISO How the Economic Philosophy of Political Conservatism Garners the Support of Those It Exploits / 181 Do You Know the Jesus That Martin Knew? An MLK Birthday Sermon .......................... 195 A Manifesto: Practicing the Politics of Jesus ............. 207 The Principles of Jesus` Politics / 207 Politics and Biblical Legalism / 208 The Tardstick of Justice / 210 Patriotism and the Politics of Jesus / 211 The Politics of Jesus and the Kingdom of God / 213 Followers of Jesus or Simply Bearers of His Name? / 215 A Manifesto/215 Notes .............................................. 221