Unearthed Fire Lives By Burning
by Wayne David Knoll

In memory of Scholar and Christian Social Justice and Radical Discipleship Pioneer, Dr Athol Gill.


Bearded thinker: Coppola of the Gospel,
You gave us breathtaking bible
Discipleship with the damned
Community with a cooking pot
& mission with muscle of mind.

Your red blooded Jesus
spoke the veils of squeamishness
disarmed sure creeds of comfort
& conjured the wild man of God.

Nothing cheap about you
Not grace, not supermarket goods
You left profiteering for
The road of radical prophethood.

Let the supermarkets sellout, the churches burn!
Who can dodge the word which shakes our boots?

The manager has quit to be a man:
Living on costlier manna,
A Gospel not of speeches
But authentic life - letting go.

You broke the adage of the academic
Taught theology the trade of turning tables
& the tame churches quailed on their cushions.

Old-young Athol, Humble-to God Moses! Gentle Bunyip!
Blessed is the foot put down in loving justice
for the marriage of death and resurrection.

Twinkle-eyed Blues-man,
Rabbi of road metal faith
The unearthed fire lives by burning
And evening quail can cost an early grave.


First published and presented at the first anniversary of the death of Athol Gill at the community he founded, The House of The Gentle Bunyip in 1993. Written Jan 93. Also published in the biography of Athol Gill.