George Bernard Shaw once suggested all progress was dependent upon the existence of unreasonable – or awkward – people. St Stephen – the first Christian martyr – was definitely one of them. We need more of them to make the world a better place.
This is the audio version:
And this is the transcript:
Happy Boxing Day! Or, as the Christian Church would have it, St. Stephen's Day.
And St. Stephen was an interesting character. And so whilst we could talk about the curse of materialism today and the fact that no doubt there will be some people who watch this video, who will also be dragging around shops to celebrate the day after Christmas, let's just think about St. Stephen for a moment.
St. Stephen makes a brief appearance in the Bible. His story is told entirely in Acts of the Apostles, Chapters 6 and mainly 7. He was a Hellenic Jew, in other words, a Greek-speaking Jew, who appeared to live in Jerusalem at the time of the very early church, soon after the death of Jesus, whose birth we celebrated yesterday.
And, the point about St Stephen was, he was a bit of an awkward character, if I'm completely honest with you. He didn't buy the way that the Jewish authorities were running the church of which he was a member. He was pretty darned unhappy with them to be totally honest. And if you read what he had to say, he didn't hold back.
He had his own view of the world. He believed that they should be running it for the benefit of the people who Jesus was concerned about. And that was the poor. And he didn't believe that God only lived where the high priests were. He thought God could be seen everywhere - which was a pretty radical vision for the time.
And he paid a high price for being this cantankerous. St Stephen was the first-ever Christian martyr. He was stoned to death for his views, and somebody called Saul, who was later called Paul, and became the most prolific of the Apostles when it came to writing the New Testament, stood by and apparently watched the event of the stoning.
Now, what is the reason for referring to all this? It is very simple, it's very straightforward, and it is that if change is to happen in this world, we need cantankerous people. People who will stand up and say to the emperor, you are wearing no clothes, as Saint Stephen did. We need people who have a vision of change as he had.
We need people who will hold their convictions, whatever the situation. as he did. And I think that in that sense, the reason why Stephen's day is straight after Christmas day is partly to draw a contrast and even a comparison between the two. The contrast, of course, being that Stephen was meant to be very much a human being with all the normal flaws that we all have. And of course, by then Christianity was claiming that Jesus was divine. Take it or leave it. I'm not telling you which to do, but Stephen also died for his convictions, and the point that I made yesterday when talking about Jesus is that he died for his economic convictions.
And I'm not suggesting that anyone should ever die for their convictions because I sincerely hope that will always be unnecessary. But do need people who will live with the discomfort that being outside the mainstream brings.
Because it is uncomfortable to be a critic.
It is difficult to see your career blocked by those who don't want to hear what you have to say.
It is difficult to know that most of the world disagrees with you and would rather not hear until the moment when they realise that you were right all along.
Stephen never got to that point. He died before that opportunity arose, and as I'm saying, I hope that is not the case for today's critics, but my point is we definitely need them.
All change is dependent upon the existence of awkward people. Stephen was an awkward man, a man who would stand up and say, “I don't agree with you however much you wish to persecute me.” If we are to have a better world, then we need some more awkward people.
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On the memorial wall of St Andrew’s Church, Sonning, close by the River Thames, is a memorial plaque which states:
“Always awkward. Never dull”
Might an appropriate plaque for Jesus, and as many of us as possible, be?
“Always awkward. Never unkind”
Very good
Sadly a good many awkward people are spending Christmas in UK Jails including a 70 year old for no other reason than the authorities cant find a tag small enough to fit her
Which is blatant discrimination.
And an outrageous example of crony, vested-interest capitalism at its most objectionable, anti-democratic worst.
A fine example of bought politics.
Thank-you Richard for that reminder about the value of being awkward, and the fact that it can be costly.
The views which I find people in my various circles (wider family/neighbourhood/faith community)are least likely to tolerate include:
That Jeremy Corbyn was an unremarkable & thoroughly decent social democrat, with popular policies (& some flaws), who was viciously smeared by the the Labour bureaucracy and the Israel lobby to an extent that cost him the 2017 election and gave us Brexit.
That taxes don’t finance public spending, that our gov’t can’t run out of money, that the wealthy are subsidised by the poor, that the Bank of England governor is destroying the country, that interest rates are far too high, that gov’t could instantly reduce its interest rate bill by changing the rules (& the rates) but refuses to do so.
That our benefit rates and rules are killing people in large numbers, by design.
That the NHS is being deliberately dismantled and has already been largely privatised.
That the USA, UK, Europe and the petro-states in the Middle East are actively supporting Israel as it conducts a genocide on an unprecedented scale not seen since the middle of the last century.
That not all criticism of Israel comes from antisemites.
That our civil rights are disappearing fast.
That Palestinians are human beings like me.
That simplistic geopolitics that divides the world into good and bad countries, even good and bad “terrorists” and good and bad dictators & good and bad war criminals, is dangerous, divisive and destructive.
That these things are WORSE under Starmer/Reeves, not better.
The challenge for ME, is to learn enough to be able to explain my views, or signpost people to where s/o else can explain (like this blog & other sources).
Also, to work out when to be persuasive, when to be combative, when to bide my time, and how best to challenge when s/o says s/thing that is wrong, hateful or that I deeply disagree with, but in a way that opens up dialogue rather than shutting it down.
And of course, being open to the v faint possibility that I myself might be wrong or ill-informed!
Here’s to the awkward squad!
Thanks
Of all the ‘institutions of power’, the Roman and Orthodox Christian Church(s) are amongst the ones I distrust least. ‘Activist’ Stephen is a big part of that. He was a socialistic zealot who spoke his mind. He lived his remarkably short life serving a cause and building a community group to embody some fairly radical ideas and promote them forcefully. Had the Imperial overlord of the day had a Ceaser-Blairus or a reprobate like Starmer at its helm, he and the community, or embryonic chruch, would have been proscribed as a Jew-hating terrorist organisation.
FWIW – anyone who wants to understand the man’s radicalism as it was kvetched at the time , only needs to read Acts 7 where he theologically states that the life and death of Jesus, the Palestinian from Nazareth, was the fulfilment of biblical prophesy about the Messiah. Me? I prefer to see him as an ‘apostolic connection’ that would eventually express itself as “Liberation Theology” where the Nazerene’s teachings and those of a different Jew born in 1818 which wiki summarises as ” a philosopher, political theorist, economist, historian, sociologist, journalist, and revolutionary socialist” combined. Besides which, I’m an un-observant something else, not a Christian. Blessed be St. Stephen.
Interesting article here
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2024/dec/25/birth-jesus-plague-roman-empire-christianity
At the expense of pinching a point from a commentator on your previous post, the World could have been a very different place had the Romans not taken up Christianity
Agreed
Thanks for the link to the article. “If the New Testament is to be believed” – sadly this is impossible – German scholars in the late-19th century undertook “form analysis” – and pretty much pull the New Testament to pieces.
Related and picking on your comment: “the World could have been a very different place had the Romans………” never had an empire. Terry Jones in his book “Barbarians” notes that from a tech point of view, the Romans arrested all development. As Colin Wilson in his book “A Criminal History of Mankind” – the chapter called “No Mean City” notes at the end “from the point of view of humanity, the Romans were a step back in the direction of the ape”. Think this too strong? The Colliseum was designed to provide entertainment by means of killing people – that was the Roman’s idea of “entertainment”. There is something deeply wrong in the way the Romans are regarded. Jones in his book mentions two genocides by Romen (Carthaginains and the Dacians) – and still this bunch of monsters is “celebrated”.
I make no apologies for being part of the awkward squad.
I’ll be “awkward” (!) & say German critical scholarship does NOT IMHO make belief in the New Testament impossible. There’s plenty of good biblical scholarship on the NT that takes issue with their conclusions – including from NT Wright who is no lightweight ideologue conforming to received orthodoxy (and a lot of conservative scholars don’t like his conclusions on either Jesus, Paul, or the Parousia, mainly because NT Wright’s interpretation of the texts, knocks the bottom out of Christian Zionism).
Declaration of interest – my own degree dissertation in the 1990s was in this area.
The “radical Jesus” we’ve championed here is perfectly compatible with “believing” the New Testament (as long as that belief isn’t assumed to be fundamentalist) otherwise I wouldn’t be here myself, nor would many other “awkward” believing followers of Jesus.
This battle for a new vision in politics, and for some truth-telling in economics, needs as many foot soldiers as possible.
BTW – Thanks for building and giving us all access to your place of creativity (and ‘awkward’ thoughts’), Richard. And a MASSIVE thanks for the audio version of this incisive piece. I’ve noticed recently that every site which promotes leftish, questioning or a avowedly left-leaning platform suddenly needs youtube sign in (‘to confirm you’re not a bot’) to view a video – even on the issuer’s own site. Right-leaning and pro status quo sites need no such sign-in.
This is obviously heavy-handed censorship. They know that thousands of us CANNOT sign in to utube – cos we’d never agree theirr T+C to register in the first place.
Alphabet, Meta, Apple and M’soft, et al and their acquiescence to the deep-state/CIA/NSA security surveillance system is the issue here!
Thanks again for being and promoting questioning, Richard.
Thanks Ronald
You can access youtube without signing in – and with the additional benefit of no ads – on the Brave browser.
Awkward beats becoming part of an increasingly parochial world any day.
I’ve had people tell me I’m a pain in the arse, but they would still have me in their team because I apparently see things other’s don’t. Difficult but good’ is decent enough praise for me. Mind you, you will not retire on a huge salary and pension it seems.
Being awkward I would say is exactly that – it is when you are being faced with some proposal or other that you know has not been thought through in terms of application and consequences. It’s about dealing with an absence of detail, no grasp of impact – so that you are dealing with a faith only at implementation. I think it has to do with a lack of domain knowledge because management can manage anything – especially faith.
These days in which that we hear there is declining faith in religion, there is ever climbing faith in ‘management’ it seems. Yet management is accelerating away from people and towards the mechanical production of tasks and objectives. It is human robot managers who are the first AI, human algorithms.
Here’s to be ‘awkward’ and those who see.
Seconded
Happy Boxing Day! Sorry I missed Christmas Day here. Caught up now though.
After your mention of St Stephen, I thought you might find this short thread from Friendless Churches interesting.
https://x.com/friendschurches/status/1872251065711697945
Best wishes from Liverpool, where we have thick fog! Can barely see the bottom of our road, let alone the River Mersey.
Thanks Maggie
I have just posted our version of the haze
Thank you Richard for the words of encouragement to those bashing their heads of a brick wall. To those ignoring the obvious, please consider what your legacy will be.
I like it
Yep, seems to me that basic critical thinking and simply questioning the status quo is regarded as being awkward these days
Oh yes.
The University of Leicester sacked those in its business school who described themselves as critical thinkers.
An interesting account of activist and award guy St Stephen. I’ve enjoyed both this video and the one about Jesus being an economic reformer, relating both to contemporary issues.
I expect you know that the late Tam Dalyell’s autobiography was called ‘The importance if being Awkward’ and he certainly lived up to that, challenging both his own party Labourcwhen he felt it necessary as well as the Conservatives.
You probably also know if Professor Danny Dorling, Oxford Professor of Geography who writes extensively on inequality which he identifies by using statistics such as rising maternal and infant deaths in unequal societies and the shocking decrease in life expectancy overall in them as well since the rise in poor areas drags down the overall figures despite the increasing gap between the numbers in wealthy and poor neighborhoods.
I live in Oxford, having moved from Scotland for family reasons and find the levels of inequality problematic. Interestingly, having read some of Dorling’s books and wanting more, I looked him up in the Oxfordshire Libraries catalogue. None are listed!
I know Danny, a bit. He is definitely awkward.
Morten Morland’s Times cartoon: December 27, 2024
Please try to remember that when you disagree with me!
Being awkward doesn’t mean getting the argument wrong
I think Stephen’s martyrdom was featured on the back page of early editions of the Eagle boy’s comic in the 1950’s – not sure his ‘awkward’ message came across. Its editor was a revered – and it seems the publication was meant to instil Christian values , so as a publication the Eagle was hardly revolutionary politically.
How the world changes.
If you are interested in the history of paternalistic conservative bigoted journalism, then Dundee is your town!
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/DC_Thomson
Being awkward is natural to me.
Challenging is a norm! Having posted the Popes wishes and questioned??? , My reply on Facebook was from a friend in NZ and my son on FB . My friend in NZ was “don’t be so humbug lovely man” my son’s was that I was talking nonsense? I asked him to check his carbon footprint? This is something we need to do! My friend in NZ barely has a footprint.
I was awkward back then as I am now! I don’t personally feel awkward, however I have contributed to awkwardness. It is somewhat a trait of which I’m proud and privileged.!