The Torah requires that nothing be placed at the centre of worship. The Gospel proclaims that God came into the world as nothing. So will nothing save us? This book is a pastoral and critical work of constructive Mennonite theology, inspired by the tradition of liberation theology which claims
there is no salvation outside the poor. By attending to the people and places dismissed, despised, and discounted as nothing, we find eyes to see the idolatrous systems and the structural sin of the church and world. From beginning to end,
Nothing Will Save Us is in search of what church and world should be made accountable to. There is a tendency for conservatives to abuse judgment and liberals to abdicate themselves from it, with both disavowing those who are daily crucified. Once we understand our common place among those considered nothing by the world, we may find ears to hear the good news of another, immeasurable, life.
David C. L. Driedger is Leading Minister at First Mennonite Church in Winnipeg, and a public theologian who speaks and writes at the intersection of faith and politics.
Nothing Will Save Us is a hopeful book about hopelessness. Pastor, theologian, and activist David Driedger's voice is both unique and much needed in these times where all hopes for a just and humane society and thriving planet appear to be lost causes. With an eye well trained to the contours and complexities of the biblical text, Driedger engages a range of social and political questions-from Basic Income to sex work to policing-with humility, depth, experience, and compassion. This book is a must read for clergy, theologians, and Christians who seek the immeasurable and abundant life to which Christ calls us in the midst of idolatry and violence. -Jane Barter, University of Winnipeg
David Driedger writes from a less than familiar perspective. This permits him to dispose quite readily of the various triumphalisms that seduce us. He makes room for hope and reflection on "what is not of this world." He puts our daily lives into quite a fresh perspective. He knows in compelling ways that our lives are beyond our own management, and are best lived in response to the Holy One who lives beyond us and outside of our control. This book is an invitation to reflect and trust beyond the ideologies that press upon us. -Walter Brueggemann, Columbia Theological Seminary
David Driedger's Nothing Will Save Us shows us how the Gospel can be a challenging word, one that dismantles idols while recognizing its own temptation to set up new ones. Addressing topics as wide-ranging as universal basic income and sex work, Driedger gives us a theology that is both deeply biblical and urgently contemporary, both sharply critical and profoundly empathetic. -Adam Kotsko, author of Neoliberalism's Demons
Nothing Will Save Us-beyond attentive thinking, refusing to place faith in easy answers. In this way, Driedger's book is a testimony to an examined life, bringing the thoughtfulness of the Bible to bear on the many dimensions of structural sin. This is liberation theology for a Canadian context: engaged, sincere, and open-hearted. Above all, Driedger's own character comes across, a character condensing and expressing a Christian life faithfully lived. -Philip Goodchild, University of Nottingham
It's hard to find much "good" in the Christian Good News these days, in a world shaped by structural injustices and systemic oppressions empowered and sustained by the assumption of Christian supremacy. If there is anything good to hear in this news, it will be, as David Driedger provocatively suggests, 'nothing' in terms of the logic of this world. Nothing Will Save Us is an impassioned call for Christians to resist violence in the name of a Gospel that the church historically has refused to hear and follow. -David W. Congdon, University of Kansas, author of Who Is a True Christi
