Dear Alan/All
Years ago I remember our vicar (wonderful enlightened man - now working in one
of the toughest areas of Bristol!) had a very different interpretation of this
same text. He said we should see this as an exhortation NOT to be subservient
ie You choose what is due and you give what is due (and no more) to authority.
We are so fortunate in that we freely elect a governing class in this country
and clearly there needs to be a ruling elite of some kind in every society -
and it is the element of choice that is crucial especially in action research.
There are ruling elites in action research too who enable and abuse. We choose
to support them - sometimes because they represent (rhetorically at least) our
aspired values, sometimes because we feel they embody these ideals in practice
As you know I feel strongly that we should be more catholic (pun intended!) in
this list and not restrict ouselves to discussing self-study action research.
We should pay it due respect - but no more - other kinds of AR are useful too.
Kind regards
Sarah
Quoting Alan Rayner <[log in to unmask]>:
> Dear Jack and all,
>
> Yesterday morning I was intrigued to note a quote from the bible (Romans)
> in our Parish newsletter exhorting us to 'submit to the governing
> authorities'. This quote had followed on from the story of Jesus saying to
> 'Render unto Caesar that which is Caesar's and unto God that which is
> God's'. Our Parish priest apparently interpreted this to mean that we had
> both secular and spiritual responsibilities. It is easy to see how this
> interpretation could result in subservience to what might be called 'The
> Vampire Archetype', a tyrannical regime in which an elite few or one at the
> top of a hierarchical governmental structure impose their will upon those
> many upon whom they depend, whilst declaring their independence of these
> many, their 'host'. My feeling is that there are many such tyrannical
> regimes at large in our modern world, not least in our educational
> Institutions.
>
> So the questions that occur to me are as follows:
>
> 1) Who or what are the governing authorities?
> 2) What is meant by 'submission'?
>
>
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