Domination or Shalom: Be Careful What You Support

Revisiting a previous writing because its still timely

note to reader: I published this six months ago on my previous website, but in light of events globally (the USA vis a vis Hamas, Ukraine, Russia, the EU, and the wholesale cancellation of USAID) and domestically, (the unilateral firing of government employees in violation of due process, based on lies, and leaving countless families in states of financial trauma), I thought it wise to repost this today.

Remember: Domination is always anti-relational. It’s view of the world that objectifies the other as either a winner or loser, and seeks to always make the other the loser. It’s born of insecurity and narcissism.

Shalom is always relational, always looking for the win-win because it understands the value of diversity, reciprocity, ands mutuality in health relationships.

A recent article highlighted a conversation in England about the degree to which some caretakers of public spaces are struggling to deal with their past. The statue of a kneeling and shackled slave seen in the photo is in one of the stately country manor houses now preserved for the public and posterity. Some parties want to preserve the past ‘as is’ without commentary on the injustice of slavery, or the fact that the enormous wealth that accrued to the manor house where the statue resides came about through oppression and ‘blood money’. Others want to highlight the injustices that created the wealth.

The importance of these conversations (and similar ones in America regarding race, slavery, and the Confederacy) can’t be overstated, for how we view such matters reveals something about the fundamental lens through which we look at the world. That lens is less political than theological, though we who have the privilege and responsibility of voting should use that lens to inform our decisions.

Two World Views

What's at stake is our preference and affirmation of either a domination or shalom value structure. We choose one or the other of these frameworks countless times every day, and likely choose unconsciously because these systems (especially one of them) are so deeply embedded in our psyche that it’s more accurate to say that we’re socialized into them, so they become the ideological air we breathe. We’re invited into one or the other via advertisements, sermons, books we read, our social media feed, and the stories we tell, as well as the ones we hide, stories which reveal our personal, familial, and national identity and values.

For people of faith, I can’t over-stress the importance of actively resisting the cultural paradigm of domination. The model is the headwaters of slavery, cultural and physical genocide, racism, replacement theory, xenophobia, and colonialism/cultural imperialism. When Christ followers adopt it and advocate for it in Jesus name, horrific misrepresentations of the heart of Jesus are created, and we set our lives on a trajectory utterly opposite of God’s good intent for us. This matters because, as has happened so often in history, we’re once again in a place where domination is elevated and given a 'Jesus whitewash.'

Here’s a brief description of both domination and shalom:

The domination model is as old as the story of Cain and Abel and as recent as Putin’s incursion into Ukraine, or the president’s recent declarations regarding the fate of Palestine, Greenland, and the Panama Canal. It’s seen in the Palestinian horrors of October 7th, and the subsequent Israeli responses which have left countless thousands of Palestinians hungry, thirsty, wounded, maimed, displaced, or dead. The domination model says, “I have a right to overpower you because I can and because…’ and then the perpetrator finishes the sentence with a list of grievances ranging from ‘you’re not Christians so we have the right to enslave you’ to ‘the German people deserve this land because we are the superior race’ to ‘replacement theory’ to ‘it’s in the Bible: black people serve white people’ (a long held misinterpretation of a story about Noah’s sons after the flood), to ‘if a person works hard enough, they can always lift themselves out of poverty.’ Domination doesn't see the other as made in God’s image, but rather as a threat, less important, less human, disposable even, for any number of reasons. The bottom line of the domination model is that you end up with ‘winners and losers’, ‘slaves and free’, ‘oppressed and oppressors’, people with ‘more than enough’ and others plagued with food insecurity and one paycheck away from homelessness.

Domination, by the way, has little regard for the rule of law. It will work hard to find ways of getting what it wants, even if that means cancelling existing ethical standards, firing judges who don’t align with the will of the leader, or even unilaterally declaring themselves, as leaders, to be above the law.

The other model is best summarized by the word "shalom," which means more than just peace, though it includes peace. Shalom, in its fullest sense, can’t ever have winners and losers, because the peace of God is, by its nature, holistic and inclusive. This, of course, is the picture one gets at the end of time, with nations joining hands, and with a big banquet, where every person is reconciled, healed, filled and connected with God and each other. This sense of shalom is at the heart of what Jesus was speaking about when he spoke of the kingdom of God, and is spoken of directly over and over again when Jesus promises gifts of peace. It will take four minutes of your life, but a quick look at this video will help you grasp this important concept.

Though peace includes a person’s individual wholeness, healing, and well-being, the concept of shalom never ends there. One’s personal peace is a starting point intended to transform us so that we become peacemakers, inviting and leading others to wholeness, healing, and reconciliation. This is why Jesus, in his most famous sermon, didn’t say, blessed are the ones who have peace, for they shall be peaceful. Instead, he said, blessed are the peacemakers, because they’re the ones that are living into their calling, and participating in the story of hope God is writing in the world.

This matters because whether you’re predominantly governed by shalom or domination will determine how you spend your time and money, and the degree to which you’ll be personally on a path of either peace and wholeness, or anxiety, cynicism, and rage. It will also inform how you vote (though it must be said that there is no shalom party, and it must also be said that this doesn't mean all parties and systems fall short of shalom in equal measure). It also It’s also true that the degree to which our culture will either descend into further mistrust, fear, and violence, or rise to become a place where dividing walls are broken down and the power of justice and reconciliation is made visible will be determined by which paradigm we're moving toward in the public square, elections, and our institutions.

So it will be of great value to spend time doing a deeper dive into both domination and shalom. I’ll be looking at both models in greater depth in the next few offerings, but by way of introduction, here are some truths that will frame our time. Two thoughts close this introduction

The choice is binary, moment by moment

When Jesus said ‘no person can serve two masters’ he was challenging us to see that every choice we make feeds either the domination or shalom value system and structure. The critical binary choice you make isn’t, ‘do you attend church or go hiking on Sundays?’ It’s not, ‘are you republican or democrat, socialist or capitalist, male or female, black or white, liberal or conservative?’ The most important matter is: Are my choices feeding the domination model or the shalom model. Every choice we make contributes to, and has its origin in one or the other

Your well-being is not the same thing as Shalom

Here’s John Wesley’s description of shalom values

I write this from a space that feels bathed in shalom. From the windows of my office I look out on a forest of fir and hemlock, inhaling the scent of freshly split wood. I’ll write this morning, hike later this afternoon, and along the way enjoy healthy food, intimate conversation with my wife of 44 years, and an afternoon drink with friends and/or family. Shalom?

Not really, for two reasons. First, though my day carries hints of shalom, they're only personal. Shalom isn’t shalom as long as there are people stuck on the margins, abused, enslaved, alone, hungry, oppressed, displaced. My little world is a contrast to life on the streets, or life in Palestine, Haiti, Sudan, and a thousand others places and circumstances. God’s vision for shalom, by definition, is an outpouring that extends, like a flood, into every parched corner of humanity. Those with abundance must, must, stand against oppression, share resources, and use their spiritual and material gifts to make a difference in the lives of others. For this reason, my view of the world mustn’t simply ask, ‘Am I enjoying personal well being?’ Rather, it needs to ask, ‘Who is currently suffering in the world and what can I do about it?’ None of us can do everything needed, but all of us can do something(s) and some of those things will include speaking out against systemic domination systems when they arise, such as the cancelling of USAID in a manner that leaves people starving and contracting diseases that were easily preventable until the USA stepped in and killed live saving programs. Personal well being and wealth aren’t shalom, they’re resources empowering me to work for shalom.

Second, I’m mindful of my own privilege, and by that I don’t mean things were handed to me. It means I’m mindful that my dad, a school teacher, could eventually buy his own house in Fresno, while Willie Mays, a baseball super star with lots more money, wasn’t allowed to buy the house of his choice in San Francisco because of the color of his skin. It means that when I asked a group of students on the east coast recently what they were afraid of, the answers from white kids ranged from ‘not getting into Harvard’ to ‘SAT test is coming soon’ and 'body image issues' while the young man from Harlem said he feared getting shot in random gang violence while walking home after work. We who enjoy privilege must embrace not guilt, but responsibility: to whom much is given, much is required.

Shalom is relational. Domination is transactional.

As we collectively move deeper down the rabbit hole of transactional domination, the importance of being people of shalom cannot be overstated. Seek peace with God, peace with your neighbors, peace with your enemies, and proclaim by your lives the glorious reality that God is in the business of building bridges not walls.