"Life at the End of Us Versus Them"
Artwork by Jane Gateson. Cover design by Matt Veith.
Our present moment can no longer sustain a stable “us” versus an alien “them,” according to René Girard and Ivan Illich, radical critics of both Christianity and culture. The end of us versus them can deteriorate into the chaos of each against each or it can open outward into freely chosen communion. It is an expectant - and apocalyptic - time. How does one live in this strange, endtime world? As a wanderer in the odd, cross-culture country Girard and Illich have mapped, the author arrives at a surprising new place in relation to those who are his other: women, queer folk, refugees, Muslims, atheists, and Indigenous people. In this collection of essays, he blinks, looks around, and makes some field notes.
Read the Foreword by Brian McLaren.
Read the Foreword by Brian McLaren.
Where to buy the book
Direct from the publisher: FriesenPress (this is the best way to support me if you are buying online.)
More online options: Amazon.com, Amazon.co.uk, and Amazon.ca
Bookstores in Winnipeg: Commonword, Prairie Sky Books, McNally Robinson.
More online options: Amazon.com, Amazon.co.uk, and Amazon.ca
Bookstores in Winnipeg: Commonword, Prairie Sky Books, McNally Robinson.
"THIS GUY POOPS IN A BUCKET" (Speakeasy Review)
"With forthright courage, Rempel, who is a Mennonite, takes on Interfaith relations, Inter-cultural dialogue, eco-spirituality, the spirituality of sex, biblical interpretation, the role of government, the importance of friendship, and living a life together. His spiritual wisdom is nourished from the 'lament of the dead;' learning from the voices of Rene Girard and Ivan Illich. Rempel’s work is no less prophetic than his mentors."
- Gil Stafford
- Gil Stafford
NEW COMMENDATION!
The Girardian Lectionary has added Life at the End of Us Versus Them to its list of recommended books! Curator Paul Nuechterlein says the book "updates and surpasses" Gil Bailie's Violence Unveiled. This is an amazing commendation! Bailie's landmark publication was a winner of the 1996 Pax Christi USA Book Award, hailed at the time as "the single most important book of social analysis and prophetic theology to appear in our generation." (Sam Keen)
WHAT READERS ARE SAYING
"I have to get up from reading every few minutes to walk off my happiness at the clarity and incisiveness of your prose."
- David Norling
"This book is awesome, in the awe-inducing sense of the word...Now, back to my second reading. There may be a third."
- Matt Wiebe
- David Norling
"This book is awesome, in the awe-inducing sense of the word...Now, back to my second reading. There may be a third."
- Matt Wiebe
PRAISE FOR THE BOOK
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"I’ve read a lot of books, but very, very few have been as rich in generative insight as this one.”
BRIAN McLAREN, speaker, theologian, author of The Great Spiritual Migration and A new Kind of Christian. “I’m in huge AWE at this incredibly powerful material, wonderful storytelling gifts, and the hugely rich sense of a Christian re-telling Rempel offers. . . . [This book] brings together Illich and Girard in what I can only call a Thomas Merton style, with Rempel’s community farm as his Abbey/hermitage. I also love the bravery and straightforwardness of what he has to say about sex.” JAMES ALISON, author of The Joy of Being Wrong and Undergoing God "A powerful and passionate fresh voice from the Mennonite Tradition. I am reminded most of Belden Lane's The Solace of Fierce Landscapes." CYNTHIA BOURGEAULT, author of The Holy Trinity and the Law of Three and Mystical Hope “This is an attempt to speak to a new world, a world that many churches appear to have no capacity to recognize. . . . As a believer in militant nonviolence, I will think about Rempel’s conclusions for some time.” MARK McDONALD, National Indigenous Bishop for the Anglican Church of Canada |
“Many are writing today in an attempt to unhook Christianity from the cruel ravages of European colonialism, but few are getting us past the rage of particular injustices. Marcus Peter Rempel serves us well by introducing a vital relationship of thought between René Girard and Ivan Illich that gets to the root of things and offers a pathway of recovery and renewal, and good hope for a kinder future.”
STEVE BELL, singer/songwriter “Rempel’s creative musings on such vital matters as violence within today’s world, sex, economics, religion, and friendship are truly a breath of fresh air. . . . I love the passion, the wit, and the serious thought his work displays! A deeply engaging and delightfully chal- lenging read.” HARRY HUEBNER, Professor Emeritus of Theology and Philosophy, CMU “This is an original work, authentic, clear, informed, alive, and sometimes thrilling. Rempel is a writer who cares about what is real and strives to discern what is not.” MICHAEL LEACH, columnist for the National Catholic Reporter |