Kenarchy Volume 7.1 – The Kenarchy Journal

Kenarchy Journal: Perfecting Love, 2025, Volume 7

The Great Music: Perfecting Love in Order and in Chaos

Author:
Spencer Thompson

Abstract

This paper starts from the observation that the modern world is characterised by a particular sense of discord, which seems to be broadly shared and to pervade multiple domains. To understand this discord, the paper proposes that the prevailing order of the modern world is driven by a logic of chaos elimination, within which we are prone to conflate chaos with discord, and order with harmony. But in fact, fields ranging from information theory to physics indicate that harmony is defined by a kind of divine marriage between order and chaos, meaning it is precisely the attempt to eliminate chaos that results in discord. The modern order also fulfils its own prophecies, while failing on its own terms, by provoking a corrective form of chaos that truly threatens it. The paper goes on to demonstrate that the creation myth of Genesis amounts to a defence of chaos, which, as propagandised in the earlier Babylonian myth, the imperial order sought to eliminate. Following the arrival of discord that accompanied the Fall, the Law represented an order that left room for the divine chaos, while the Prophets represented a chaos that reopened the door to the divine order; yet the hope of harmony remained unseen. The paper draws on the work of J. R. R. Tolkien to illuminate the way that this hope can be realised, pointing to a ‘higher harmony’ that is capable of including and transcending even the discord of the world. Examining the New Testament correlation between agape (self-giving love) and teleiotētos (consummative harmony), the paper concludes that it is Love, and only Love, which achieves the higher harmony, and in so doing recreates a world uniquely conducive to the flourishing of all things.

DOI:
https://doi.org/10.62950/vupl71

Pages 1-21

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About Kenarchy

While kenarchy is a gift for everybody, those of us who configure the politics of love in these terms are strongly motivated to do so in a way that deeply penetrates existing socially constructed mind-sets. This is why we combine applied academic research and writing together with grassroots social, economic and political activism. Kenarchy developed initially as a form of political theology and we make no apology for that, but it now embraces a wide and interdisciplinary perspective relevant to the politics and theology of love. The purpose of this Journal is to advance the applied research, and as such, it is an academic journal.

Lead Editor:

Roger Haydon Mitchell, PhD, theologian and activist, honorary researcher in the Lancaster University Centre for Alternatives to Social and Economic Inequalities, and political theologian with the Westminster Theological Centre

Associate Editors:

Sue Mitchell, MSc – co-facilitator for the Morecambe Bay Poverty Truth Commission, leading conversations between people with lived experience of poverty and decision makers, towards a new sociality

Bradley Jersak, PhD – (BradJersak.com) is the editor of CWRmagazine and Clarion-Journal.com, Principal & Director of Theology & Culture, at St. Stephen’s University

Andrew Klager, PhD – Provost & Vice-Chancellor, Professor of Religion and Peace Studies, Director of the Jim Forest Institute for Religion, Peace and Justice, St. Stephen’s University, Canada

Publishing Team:

Mike Winter, PhD
Martin Scott

In order to undergird the academic quality and scope of the Journal we are delighted that the following have agreed to be academic advisors to the lead editor and team.

Academic Advisors:

Linda Woodhead MBE DD FAcSS is FD Maurice Professor and Head of the Department of Theology and Religious Studies at King’s College London

Professor Maggi Dawn, MA, PhD (Cantab), CCTM, APRS, APSE, Principal, St Mary’s College, Durham University, UK

Professor Anthony Reddie, Extraordinary Professor of Theological Ethics at the University of South Africa and Director of The Oxford Centre for Religion and Culture, Regent’s Park College, University of Oxford

Thomas Jay Oord, PhD, Director, Doctoral Program at Northwind Theological Seminary/C4ORT, Director, Center for Open and Relational Theology

Timothy Stacey, PhD, Lecturer in Religious Studies, Leiden University, The Netherlands, Co-Founder and Co-Director, AltVisions, Co-Founder and Co-Director, Lived Religion Project

Submissions to the Journal

Submissions are welcomed from a wide and interdisciplinary perspective relevant to the politics and theology of love. Initial submissions must include at least a 250 word abstract and a brief outline. Please state your full name, your applied research field and any other information you deem relevant. Full submissions from now on should be in the region of 3,000-10,000 words and be in accordance with our Chicago “notes and bibliography” in-house style. Longer articles will be accepted at the discretion of the editors. All full submissions will be double peer reviewed before acceptance for publication.

Use the contact form to submit your proposal.

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The Kenarchy Journal (ISSN: 2976-6001) is published in Lancaster UK by 2MT, Charity registration number: 1069653.