Comprised of lectures, panels, singing, dancing, and prayer, to a degree, this gathering felt shockingly transformative. I cried a lot. It healed a lot of wounds from my civilizing Lutheran upbringing and to me, combined here-to-fore opposing ideologies, at least in the way most often practiced.

The ideological foundation for the gathering was built upon Derrick Jensen's Endgame series in tandem with the premise that the Christian faith-based tradition was hijacked by the powers-that-civilize. These hijackers at some point decided that it was holy to simply serve as the "Moral Managers" of civilization, instead of following the true path of Christ - Anarcho-Primitivism, aka Indigenous Lifeways.

The main speaker Ched Myers did a great job at articulating an Anarcho-Primitivist Reading of the Bible. Here is my own abbreviated summary of the Bible:

The Old Testament arose from the civilization** of the indigenous Jewish tribes who belonged to the land between the Nile Delta and Mesopotamia (**NB: civilization used as the noun-form of the verb "to civilize" ie: action done to these peoples). These two fertile areas birthed the evil that was some of the earliest city-states on record, resulting in the Jews serving as one of the earliest tribes to face colonization/civilization: clearcuts & systematic oppression, agriculture & slavery, desertification & abandonment. Parts of the Old Testament document the indigenous Jews' struggle with attempts to civilize them and their own attempts to free themselves. Exodus and wandering in the once-forest, now-desert for 40 years was the story of attempting to fully Rewild a generation of Jews.

Fast forward to the New Testament and Jesus appears amongst the now-assimilated-and-fully-civilized-Jews to call for an end to capitalism, hierarchy, and civilization and return to the wilderness ways. With hilarious results.

Anywho, Ched believes we can learn much from an anti-civ / Rewilder's Reading of the Bible, because this book may very well serve as a testament of prior attempts to end civilization. Ched Myers believes lessons can be learned from the Bible so this movement doesn't repeat the same mistakes.

JesusRadicals.com did a "Report Back" from the conference and they summarized some key points made throughout the weekend:

* Those who eagerly await “the collapse” with joyful anticipation should realize that civilization probably won’t end in our lifetime. For this reason, we need to practice what Ched called “insomniac faith and revolutionary patience” on one hand, and love and grace on the other. We don’t know the time civilization will fall and we can’t begin to imagine how devastating “the collapse” will be particularly for those people whose necks are already under its heels. For there reasons alone we ought to check ourselves.

* We need to build this anti-civ movement on more than doomsday predictions about the end as we know it. Many groups before us have arisen based on a solid critique of civilization only to disappear when the expected collapse didn’t come when they wanted it to. The analysis that civilization is self-destructive is demonstrated in history as well as in our Biblical text and faith tradition. Anti-civ theology based on so-called “final countdowns” instead of faithful thought and practice will only distract, undermine and disappoint.

* We need to be in solidarity with others who are struggling against the oppressive affects of civilization even if they don’t share every aspect of our outlook. This begins with listening and learning from those who have been resisting longer than we have.

* Don’t confuse enlightenment and exodus with escape. Although we understand civilization’s failures and are doing what we can to break out of some of its hold, we are all caught “in the system” — a truth that should make us generous givers of grace.

* Unconsciousness and lack of action around white privilege sexism and patriarchy, heterosexism and other kinds of oppression within and outside of the Christian and anarcho-primitivist movement is not only inexcusable — it is also a surefire way to alienate potential allies, repeat the ills of civilization and undercut the very liberation we seek.

JesusRadicals.com's "Report Back" also contains an excellent summary of some key Bible verses referenced during the weekend.

All in all, I found the conference a fabulous step towards uniting once-thought-to-be-diverse interests under the same flag. There wasn't much time at the conference spent attempting to develop a Praxis for Faith-Based-Rewilding, so that's been on my brain. How to connect and share and serve a broader community than "the choir"?

Thanks, Matt! Had I not had my presentation at Bioneers on the same day, I'd have considered making the drive out to Philly for this. Thanks for telling us how it went. It continues to amaze me how civilized folk can read the Bible and conclude, somehow, that this book belongs to them.