Charlie Kirk & the Sabbath

 

“Remember the Sabbath day and keep it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work. But the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God; you shall not do any work—you, your son or your daughter, your male or female slave, your livestock, or the alien resident in your towns.  For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but rested the seventh day; therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and consecrated it.                                   Exodus 20: 8-11 NRSVue

When I led a study group on the biblical concept of Sabbath in the Fall of 2023 it was one of the more poorly attended of the many I've offered at Trenton United yet the conversation was really worthwhile. Some of the participants were old enough that they grew up in a time long before Sunday commerical openings and their families engaged in activities that would be considered boring and stifling today. Along with church attendance they were encouraged to read and engage in music. Several of them have carried personal Sabbath-keeping into the present day with a commitment that puts me to shame, although I do have the decency to feel guilty about breaking the Sabbath. 

I pointed out that this one of is the only "remember" commandment while most of the others are prohibitions, the "thou shalt nots" of the KJV. And it is the lengthiest and most specific of the bunch, other than the one concerning idolatry. In a way the two go together. 

I was discombobulated when I read that the late Charlie Kirk, the young American right-wing star who was gunned down at a rally, had just finished writing a book about the Sabbath and it's now published. I heard about it through an Atlantic magazine article with the title There Were Two Charlie Kirks: A new book by the right-wing activist, who was murdered in September, has moments of seriousness, beauty, and cross-partisan appeal.

The writer of the article is Judith Shulevitz, a Jewish author whose book on the Sabbath I used in the study I led, as well as with other similar studies. In her piece she begins: 

Charlie Kirk’s last book, Stop, in the Name of God, was released on the morning of December 9. By afternoon, it had jumped to No. 1 on Amazon and then sold out. On one hand, this should surprise no one. Kirk had a huge following even before his assassination made him, for many, a martyred saint and drove an online surge of both mourning and recrimination over insufficient mourning. On the other hand, this is a book about the Sabbath. Living authors of books investigating the day of rest, a small but select sodality, are probably feeling dizzy right now. I know I am. (Kirk seems to have read my book, The Sabbath World, and mentions me once.) The Sabbath is generally regarded as a topic of specialized interest. I can’t think of any other work of Sabbatarian theology that has attained instant best-seller status.

It sounds as though Kirk practiced a Friday sundown to Saturday sundown Sabbath in the Jewish tradtion, including shutting down social media. I was able to find some quotes from the prologue of his book and I would agree with many of them, so I included them below. I would add, though, that Sabbath is both the immediate practice and an outcome that aligns with the fruits of the spirit described by the apostle Paul. We are called to live the Sabbath in every day and every aspect of our lives. I found far too much of what Kirk had to say elsewhere as divisive and disturbing in ways that fed White Christian Nationalism, so I won't be buying the book. Others may find it insightful and useful. 

You can read a few of his thoughts here and draw your own conclusions: 

"In this book, I intend to persuade you of something that may, at first, seem quaint, old-fashioned, or even unnecessary: that the Sabbath is not merely a helpful tradition or a cultural relic—it is essential to the flourishing of the human soul," Charlie Kirk wrote in the prologue:

"I will define the Sabbath not just in doctrinal terms but in existential ones. We will explore its origin—not in history, but in eternity; not in law, but in creation," he wrote. "I will show you how to incorporate it not as a weekly burger but as a life-giving rhythm that reorders your time, renews your mind, and restores your humanity."

"It is written for the exhausted parent, the anxious student, the burned-out executive, the soul-numbed scroller," he wrote.

"This is not a suggestion manual or a spiritual upgrade for those with spare time," he continued. "This is a manifesto against the machine of modern life. It is a call to war against the endless noise and ceaseless hurry that have slowly robbed you of your joy, your wonder, and your rest."

Charlie Kirk wrote that he did not write the book to "affirm your lifestyle," but instead "to interrupt it." 

"I am writing to cut at the root of some of the deepest wounds in our society—disconnection, anxiety, spiritual fatigue, moral confusion—and to offer you a concrete, ancient, and divine practice that can begin to heal them," he wrote.

"As America has abandoned the Sabbath, we have watched nearly every major marker of health—emotional, spiritual, communal—begin to fail," he wrote. "We are more productive and less peaceful, more connected digitally and more isolated relationally. We are over-stimulated, undernourished, distracted, discontent, and desperately lonely."

"My mission in writing this is very simple: I desire to bring all humanity back to God’s design to rest for an entire day," Charlie Kirk writes. "To cease working, to STOP, in the name of GOD."