“We are in an imagination battle,” writes adrienne maree brown in her book Emergent Strategy: Shaping Change, Changing Worlds. “Imagination has people thinking they can go from being poor to a millionaire as part of a shared American dream. Imagination turns Brown bombers into terrorists and white bombers into mentally ill victims. Imagination gives us borders, gives us superiority, gives us race as an indicator of capability. I often feel I am trapped inside someone else’s imagination, and I must engage my own imagination in order to break free.” Brown has teamed up with spoken word artist Walidah Imarisha to lead “visionary fiction” workshops to create strategies for activism and social change, and to compile an anthology of fantastical stories that imagine new, freer worlds without reinforcing dominant narratives of power. (See Octavia’s Brood: Science Fiction Stories from Social Justice Movements.) Their goal is to engage more people, particularly marginalized people, in the imaginative work of creating social change. “One of the ways we perpetuate individualism is by ideating alone, literally coming up with ideas in solitude and then competing to bring them to life. Our workshops are designed to encourage collaborative ideation.” In Mark’s “Little Apocalypse” at the beginning of chapter 13, Jesus invites the disciples into imaginative visioning. They sit together atop a mountain, to view the landscape and learn about where God’s world-building is leading them. The signs of this new world are frightening – the destruction of the Temple, false prophets, wars, earthquakes, famines. Readers are challenged to repent and get right with God before the end. But this apocalyptic vision also inspires hope – a new day, a new community, and a new world is being birthed. Salvation is on the horizon. ...
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