Freestyle Theology
Let's Talk About: Enemies
Let's Talk About: Enemies (with Fr. Joash Thomas) Jesus told his followers to love their enemies. Western Christianity went on to build one of the most sophisticated systems in history for finding them. That chasm is what I come back to again and again. So I sat down with Fr. Joash Thomas to talk it out plainly. We start with a question nobody really asks: Who actually counts as an "enemy?" Because it isn't the neighbour whose dog barks at 7am. It's not the guy who wants to rearrange the pews at church. It's not the commuter who tailgates and flips you the bird. Those hokey, middle-class Christian examples are useless. Those people are your neighbours, not enemies. Joash brings in Palestinian church leaders who say plainly that the Western church has been their enemy. I bring in the early church, where the enemy was defined by belief instead of territory or ethnicity. That meant the enemy was invisible. Which meant you needed a system for finding them, fueled by suspicion and vigiliance. But that system did not get dismantled after the persecution ended. It just got more sophisticated. From there it opens up. The Great Commission as a colonial-era invention. "The world" in the New Testament read as "empire" not "society." Marx in Manchester. Haudenosaunee ceremonies that could turn a stranger into kin. Benedictines who had to open the door to anyone who knocked. St. Francis talking to Brother Wolf, and Joash getting scared of bears in Algonquin Provincial Park. Canadian Settlers who hated the forest. And then something more practical: If loving your enemy is real, it doesn't start with your abuser. Telling a survivor to do that is violent and cruel. Start with the person your culture tells you to fear. Give it time, respect, and gain knowledge. That's how you learn to love a forest, and it's probably how you learn to actually love a neighbour too. I left this one with a bigger heart. And that's always the goal. In this episode [0:24] The chasm between Jesus on enemies and the church's enemies [2:08] Who did we decide our enemies are? Barking dogs, the pews, and Munther Isaac [3:31] Middle-class Christianity and its hokey examples of sin [6:03] "You've been the enemy to us." Palestinian church leaders to the Western church [8:41] Reading the Bible with an empire-informed lens, not just a trauma-informed one [13:04] "The world" as the empire-shaped world [14:22] Two kinds of enemies, and which one you're actually supposed to start with [16:10] Converting your neighbour is treating them like a target [18:10] The Great Commission as a colonial invention [20:30] Love thy trillionaire (!?) and the universalizing move that protects the status quo [24:13] Marx, Manchester, and the opiate of the masses [27:30] Every society has enemies. Not every society builds machinery to find them. [31:22] Why the early church's enemy was invisible, and what happened after Constantine [34:51] St. Francis, Brother Wolf, and Joash's bear [41:10] Settlers and the forest. Time, respect, knowledge. [46:30] Don't start with the abuser [46:59] Celtic ancestors, and decolonization that starts with your own grandmother [55:26] Loving your enemy doesn't mean sparing them the consequences About Joash Father Joash Thomas is the author of The Justice of Jesus . He teaches at St. Stephen's University, writes the Masala Chai Theology Substack, and sits on the advisory council of the Bethlehem Institute for Peace and Justice. The Justice of Jesus Masala Chai Theology on Substack Instagram: @joashpthomas St. Stephen's University: https://www.ssu.ca/ And if this is your kind of thing: I have a free course called Ancestral Trauma in the Church. It's the trauma approach to church history that sits underneath most of what I talk about here. Head over to bradleymelle.com/free to gain access.
