About Me
I was overcome by Jurgen Moltmann’s idea that hope sets us apart from all creation in that we can go beyond everything present and past in the power of the coming, the power of the promise (cf. “Theology of Hope”)
Born in 1946 in Chicago, Illinois, I attended Northwestern University and graduated from the University of Wisconsin. After completing one year at Rutgers School of Law, I moved from Newark to San Francisco and worked as a desk clerk in a small hotel in Berkeley from 1980 to 1999. In 1999 I moved to Portland, Oregon and have been an active contributor to www.portland.indymedia.org.
Baptized in St. Marks Lutheran Church in San Francisco, I am a Jewish Christian who finds prophetic liberation Christianity as the completion not denial of Judaism. I think of myself as a Kierkegaardian and Bonhoefferian enamored of the wonders of contemplation. Life is full of super nova explosions where stars remain invisible until they find their partner star. Life is full of play, exuberance, and mystery and the future could be full of community centers, free Internet books and soft power.
Dear Matriots
Dear Matriots, seekers for an alternative economics and an alternative spirituality,
In Kaspar Hauser by Jacob Wassermann, a town was afflicted by drought, the wells were dry and people became angry and violent until a little boy played so beautifully on his flute that water rose in the wells again. Kaspar Hauser is a cultural symbol of our refractory and resistant nature, our questioning and yearning for authenticity., our utopian and future-oriented restlessness. “The Mystery of Kaspar Hauser” by Werner Herzog is available as a foreign film/DVD from www.modernrock.com. My other fictional model is Oscar from Gunter Grass’ “The Tin Drum.’ As a protest against the Nazi enslavement and genocide, Oscar refuses to grow up and lives out his life in resistance and solidarity.
The German philosopher Jurgen Habermas said that instrumental rationality threatens to colonize all life, relationships and dialogue. Professors lament that they are often only asked whether the question will be on the test and whether it will put money in our pockets.
