Chapter Two, pages 86-92

The Power of Exclusion

If the last section was weak, this section was downright scary. The title doesn't quite do it justice; this section maps how a reasonable people, nation, or community can become purveyors of violence and exclusion through simple, seemingly reasonable steps and circumstances. It strikes very close to home in this day and age.

Volf begins with the firm statement that there is always a choice. There may never be any innocents, but there is always a choice as to how to respond in any given situation. The choices may be awful and the repercussions unimaginable, but there is always a choice. "Within the vast expanse of noninnocence whose frontiers recede with the horizon, there are choices to be made, important choices about justice and oppression, truth and deception, violence and non-violence, about the will to embrace or to exclude, ultimately choices about life and death." I think one of the ways evil masquerades in our midst is by whispering that we have no other choice, and so, feeling justified, we choose an easier, and more harmful, way.

Evil here is given shape and form, power and personality. "We choose evil; but evil also 'chooses' us and exerts its terrible power over us." This is not some red Satan-doll with a tail and pitchfork, but a dark spirit that thrives in our unexamined thoughts and actions and lives in our deepest selves. There is a "complex transpersonal and systemic reality of evil which dominates, ensnares, and lures persons to dominate others." In the language of this book, that domination becomes exclusion, and permeates all facets of our lives.

Then, when life begins to be difficult or tragedies occur, this background cacophony of evil gets begins to crescendo, and its different themes begin to be trumpeted by the leaders of the day. Volf's rendering of this movement is masterful, and I cannot being to recapture it as well as he wrote it. Suffice it to say, we don't have to look very far today to see this being played out in our society.

All of these things rest on the foundational thought that "we" are the ones who are right, "we" are the ones for whom glory is destined, "we" are the ones who are unable to fall short in any way. With this blind faith in ourselves and our virtues, we are easily led down paths where evil is "necessary" in order for the "greater good."

It begins with a "background cacophony of evil" that permeates everything; "this is the low-intensity evil of the way 'things work' or the way 'things simply are.'" It is the background cacophony that helps us adopt attitudes of resignation when we know that we are literally buying into harmful cycles. "Faith in oneself is generated by the tales of historical glory and plausible explanations of past failures; hope in the future is born, a future in which we will no longer suffer injustice and discrimination, a future underwritten by the unfailing promises of our god." With such an end in sight, the means are clearly interpreted to justify the ends.

This underlying melody and music serves to show us who is "in" and part of the grand symphony "our god" has orchestrated for us, and who is out. If someone else is different, then that difference is not allowed, because all must be sacrificed for the harmony we are seeking. Instead of being able to embrace difference and make space for each to be himself or herself, difference is seen as errors and willful disobedience.

This system of exclusion plays perfectly into our own tendencies towards exclusion on a personal level, leading us down a path that can quickly suffocate any difference that might seek to thrive in our general area. It is only through the gift of the Spirit that Volf sees our hope of being freed from these twin bonds. "The Spirit enters the citadel of the self, de-centers the self by fashioning it in the image of the self-giving Christ, and frees its will so it can resist the power of exclusion in the power of the Spirit of embrace." And so God, the true Creator, is at work to dismantle our own exclusionary creations.