A new Great Awakening : the Tradition of Radical Christian Discipleship and the Current Transformational Moment in the United States

Abstract

This article argues that the USA has had a lasting tradition of radical Christian discipleship. The revival of interest in a radically understood socio-economic program of the Bible among the newly emerging intentional communities reflects the moral passion of the older faith-inspired reform movements that helped abolish slavery, introduce universal suffrage, and establish civil rights. The reformist goals of the radical Christian movement, sometimes hailed as another Great Awakening, resonate deeply with the demands of the Occupy Generation and its fundamental concern about values and identity. Like the young Occupiers, the faith-based activists for social justice challenge Americans to rethink who they are and who they want to be. Having defined the tradition of radical Christian discipleship, I then proceed to reclaim the legacy of two of its icons—Ammon Hennacy and Jim Corbett—as embodiments of two different facets of the phenomenon.