Book Review: How to Have an Enemy

I just finished reading How to Have an Enemy: Righteous Anger and the Work of Peace, by Melissa Florer-Bixler. Our last book club meeting is this evening. 

As I had hoped, it's been a provocative read with some difficult topics to discuss - especially across the divide of the different perspectives represented in our group. After finishing the last chapter, I am happy I chose this as our book study - I think it's a great way to stir up conversation and debate on important topics, as opposed to book studies revolving around books that discuss docile topics, or controversial ones from an insulated, 'safe', and comforting perspective. 

This is not that kind of book. 

I would issue a warning for any study facilitators hoping to use this book in a group with a diversity of perspectives to be sure they have the capacity, skill, compassion, and wisdom to navigate some pretty hefty dissent while also holding a space of emotional and psychological safety for everyone involved. It's not easy. It got a bit dicey in our group, I have to say. I've learned that when we get nearer to the tender areas, where people's hackles begin to rise, that's when the real spiritual growth work can begin: because we can actually feel and see the hackles, and can get curious about them. Avoidance of vulnerable topics for fear of hurting ourselves or others makes for insipid, meaningless chatter that brings about no change. No pain, no gain, as they say. I am very proud of the people who willingly chose to participate in this book study, risking pain and discomfort. If we're gathered together in close proximity, examining our wounds and the weapons that cause them, missteps can get bloody very quickly.

Blood (psychological/metaphorical) was drawn in our conversations - nicks from the barbs of opposing opinions and fiercely held beliefs. A group who walks into such a book study with eyes open, and a commitment to graceful dialogue despite contrary opinions is a must. From my perspective, the gains are well worth it!

I gained a great deal from this book study, not only from the book itself, which challenged and provoked my own understanding of injustice and righteous anger, but I also gained a glimpse into different perspectives. Perspectives, I confess, I find difficult to wrap my mind around. Getting to know a person better in a small group setting can help to open our eyes to the deeper humanity of others, and illuminate the background behind their opinions and stances that a surface understanding cannot possibly provide. The book touches on this as well, in fact. There is often a commonality at the core of opposing beliefs and actions. If we take the risk, the time and emotional energy, to examine ourselves and be willing to hear and see the humanity of the others around the table these commonalities may surface.

Some favourite quotes from the last chapters:

"Writing from the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, it's decimation of economies and ruin of human life [and, i - Jocelyn - may add, the current 'circumstances' of global powers, including the Trump administration, wars in Ukraine/Russia and Gaza/Israel, the Canadian federal election approaching within the next few months, etc], we wonder, "Is this the apocalypse?" Catherine Keller and John J Thatamanil answer, "We hope so." [I agree!!] Apocalypse unveils our social order - what we value and what we consider worthless. "Prophesy," write Keller and Thatamanil, "is the poetic unveiling of underlying patterns - patterns of civilization so deep that they may replicate themselves indefinitely, until they bring on some climactic self-destruction." What is being revealed to us in the catastrophe of electoral crisis, in the spread of viral death, and in the Movement for Black lives?" We are given another chance to break open our vengeance and choose our place among the faithful who stand witness to God's liberation of peace." 196

"[Revelation] is a frightening book. But it is preserved for us so that in every generation we awake from our sleep, pulled out of moderation and moved into a form of life where, if we live as Jesus lives, we will stand against the work of death in its brutal and benign forms." 196

"The questions are asked of people in every generation: will we take our place among the faithful who also become the victims through their active witness against the power of death? Or will we continue to get along within the peace of quietism and conformity?" 194

"We cannot heal the deep wounds inflicted during the era of racial terrorism [or, any era of wounding] until we tell the truth about it." 178

One of the things I noticed in the 5 weeks we gathered to dialogue on this book was the incapacity of most of us to even imagine a new world order where peace reigns, where whiteness is not superior, where money doesn't dominate life, where humans don't exploit creation or create institutions - that provide aid and order, yes, but also - abuse power. Florer-Bixler invites us to inspect the stories of Jesus through a different keyhole, peek through at how Jesus initiates destruction to the 'powers and principalities' by entering into these systems and taking away the power of the enemy, an enemy that - if we're honest - many of us are aligned with and benefit from befriending! Oh dear.

This, for me, is the uncomfortable truth I read in this book, articulated in ways that unsettled my spirit anew: the evil systems are so intricately, insidiously part of who we are that if we want to see God's Kingdom break through, we will experience the breakage first hand, and it will be painful. The discomfiting question is: do I want the Kingdom to break through, or do I want to maintain my current 'peace' and well-being? 

Hear Jesus ask you: "Do you want to be healed?" - John 5:6 

My answer, "...ummm.... yes? not really? I want the Kingdom, I want Jesus and God and all the good stuff... but I don't know if I want to pay the price of my comfort and position in the current world systems... which, not so strangely, clarifies why it's so difficult for a rich man/woman to enter the Kingdom. It's the reason why the poor are rich in faith - they have less to sacrifice to get access. 

When Peter rebukes Jesus and Jesus responds, "Get behind me Satan!" (Matthew 16:23) I can see myself mirrored in Peter's confused, indignant, passionate eyes: I don't want Jesus to be crucified! I want the dominating powers of this current age destroyed and new, better powers put in place to govern! Florer-Bixler writes,

"Peter is drawn back into the old logic of domination and dominion. He can't see beyond the structured violence of Rome. He cannot imagine beyond endless cycles of revolutionary upheaval that replace old tyrants with new tyrannies. Jesus forcefully disabuses Peter of this future. God's reign will not be like this. The principality does not need a new master. The system itself must be destroyed." 176.

I encountered this chapter the morning after I had read about the conflict between The New Evangelicals (a group of Christians standing up to the power abuses of the Evangelical church) and the people who were being abused by TNE leadership. (find the victim/witnesses' perspective @tnereckoning on IG) Gosh! Someone on social media suggested that 'The New Evangelicals' should rather take on the name 'Nothing New Evangelicals' in light of the ways in which the leadership was handling the situation. Indeed! The dismay I felt reading about this, but - notably - not surprise, was itself a heaviness in my heart. The reality is, humans have tried for generations to reform society and the church, but this sort of reform ends up repeating the same mistakes. It's not for lack of good intentions! I'm sure most reformers have the good of the community as their initial motivator, so, what goes awry in these movements? Florer-Bixler reminds us that it's because we use the same systems, just with new masters, to achieve our reforms. Jesus is asking us to embrace new systems, ones that don't benefit us as individuals who prefer to dominate, but a new order where dominion-over model is cast away. Egad!

The fact that this kind of world is difficult for many to imagine prompted me to realize with greater clarity: we need the mystics and prophets, the artists and poets, the non-conformists, to help us with this! They're the ones who have caught glimpses of this new order and have the capacity to communicate it to us in a way we might understand, if we value the gifts they wield. ...Our world doesn't value mystics, prophets, artists nor poets, or non-conformists, not for structuring world order. Not for sitting on a steering committee or a board of directors. Our systems won't ever have the chance to change if we keep prioritizing the voices of those who support the old systems of expansion and dominance.

Anyway, all that to say, I enjoyed this book and the discussions with the group I read it with. I would recommend it as a book study for people who are:

- not interested in insipid, feel-good books that paint pretty pictures of peace and well-being for the privileged. 

- open to hearing other people's alternative perspectives with grace and a desire to understand.

- committed to holding a space of non-judgement for all participants in the group so everyone feels safe to express their experiences and perspectives without fear of belittling, teaching, dismissal, etc.

Thoughts? I'd genuinely love to hear them!

Send me a note or, if you're brave enough, leave a comment on this post.

How does this review strike you?

Could you see yourself participating in a book study with such volatile subject matter?

Have you read the book? How did you read it?

What makes you angry?

How do you feel about standing up against commonly held systems - and the people who defend them - on behalf of the marginalized and those experiencing injustice?

Do you identify more with the motto, "Go along to get along", or do you lean more toward "poke the bear" in pursuit of justice?