Love at the Margins, with Tom Crisp

What are the implications of Jesus’s radical ethics of love and shalom? How far are Christ followers meant to go with the compassion and witness of the gospel?

Philosopher Tom Crisp (Biola University) reflects on how a powerful religious experience transformed his academic career and personal faith. Once focused on metaphysics and abstract philosophy, Crisp was confronted in 2009 by the radical compassion of Jesus in the Gospels. That moment led him toward the Catholic Worker movement, the teachings of Dorothy Day, and ultimately, deep involvement in labour and immigrant justice through Clergy and Laity United for Economic Justice (CLUE).

He describes participating in civil disobedience, forming solidarity with marginalized communities, and serving as a nonviolent presence in immigration courts where migrants face arrest and deportation. Through these stories, Crisp testifies to the cost and invitation of discipleship: following Jesus into the margins with courage, humility, and love.

Episode Highlights

• “What struck me was Jesus’s deep compassion, mercy, fiery concern for people in the margins. And it came to me as deeply convicting.”
• “I immersed myself in the writings of Dorothy Day… she's had an enormous influence on how I've come to think about what it would look like to be a Jesus follower in our context.”
• “I was having this very powerful sense of God’s presence, feeling broken by it, feeling like I’d hit a turning point in my life.”
• “If Jesus really is the Jesus of the margins that I’m seeing in the Gospels, then I need to figure out how to get to the margins.”
• “This isn't a matter of guilt, it’s invitation… we’re always being invited further in.”
• “When you’re with someone who’s been separated from their children, when you’re with someone who’s shaking with fear… it’s just a completely different thing.”
• “So a horrific violation of human rights is happening around us in our immigration courts, and it’s happening here in Orange County.”
• “We are trying to be a presence of love for everybody there.”

Helpful Links and Resources

• Clergy and Laity United for Economic Justice (CLUE)
• Shalom Ethics: Loving Your Neighbor as Yourself, by Thomas M. Crisp
• The Irresistible Revolution: Living as an Ordinary Radical, by Shane Claiborne

About Tom Crisp

Tom Crisp is professor of philosophy at Biola University, specializing in ethics and justice. After completing his PhD at Notre Dame, Crisp shifted his academic work toward Christian ethics following a transformative religious experience in 2009. He is a community member of the Orange County Catholic Worker and active in Clergy and Laity United for Economic Justice (CLUE), advocating for immigrant and labour rights through nonviolent action and accompaniment.

Show Notes

• Religious Experience and Transformation
• Tom Crisp recounts his 2009 religious awakening while reading the Gospels.
• “Fire—my soul is blowing apart, I need to quit my job.”
• Realization of Jesus’s “deep compassion, mercy, fiery concern for people in the margins.”
• Movement from abstract philosophy to Neighbour Love Command.
• Catholic Worker movement and Dorothy Day
• Influence of Shane Claiborne’s The Irresistible Revolution and new monastic movement.
• Encounter with Dorothy Day’s writings as a model of radical discipleship.
• Involvement with the Orange County Catholic Worker community.
• Attraction to Catholicism
• Inspired by Notre Dame liturgy and Benedictine practices.
• Influenced by saints like St. Francis, Maximilian Kolbe, Oscar Romero.
• “As I spend time in Catholic spaces, I feel the presence of this cloud of witnesses.”
• CLUE and Nonviolent Action
• History of CLUE: founded by Rev. James Lawson, trained in Gandhian nonviolence, connected to Martin Luther King Jr.
• Focus on labour justice and immigrant rights.
• Training in nonviolent presence, civil disobedience, and accompaniment.
• Example: shutting down LAX in a five-hundred-person protest for hotel workers.
• Court Observation and Migrant Accompaniment
• CLUE partnership with Orange County Rapid Response Network.
• ICE arrests of migrants who believed they had lawful parole status.
• “A horrific violation of human rights is happening around us in our immigration courts.”
• Strategy of nonviolent presence to “dramatize bureaucratic and physical violence.”
• Clergy presence offers spiritual authority and comfort.
• Judges and ICE agents sometimes allow moments of prayer or comfort before deportation.
• “We want to accompany migrants into this dark, dark space and be there as a source of comfort to them.”
• Formation and Solidarity
• “When you're with someone who's been separated from their children, when you're with someone who is shaking with fear … it’s just a completely different thing.”
• Experience of humility, solidarity, and courage among migrants and workers.
• Philosophy, theology, and action integrated in discipleship.

Production Credits

Conversing is produced and distributed in partnership with Comment magazine and Fuller Seminary.