Subtextual “empire” in Paul?

Merely knowing the Roman Empire existed during the time of Jesus and Paul would lead almost anyone to assume that said empire was a factor in people’s lives.  I suspect that the extent (a) differed regionally, and (b) will remain largely unknown to us.  I am deeply interested in the “empire” topic and am under the impression that there’s been a lot of discussion about it in the last few decades, but I am not well read in the sphere.  On Saturday, I did make my way through a consequential article about hidden Empire subtext in Pauline letters.  (Find the article here.  The article correlates to the contents of the same author’s book.)

It seems to me that authority and dominion questions, i.e., the relationship of believers to any ruling entity, have been key for humanity, dating at least back to Babel, if not to Adam and Eve.  I’m persuaded, then, that scholarship around such matters isn’t merely academic.  Rather, questions such as these are integral in the process of interpreting New Testament writings and coming to understand the origins and underpinnings of the Christian faith.  After all, if Jesus is really Messiah-King, and if the claims are true that He is Lord, isn’t it possible that He and His followers would be seen as threats to the Roman emperor—and potentially to many other political authorities to come?

Yet we do not necessarily find what we would expect about the Roman Empire in Paul’s writings.  Here is author Heilig’s take on the matter:

The apostle Paul seems, at least at first sight, not to offer a particularly critical perspective on the Roman Empire of his own days:  only a few years before Christians were burnt alive as torches by Nero in Rome, his advice to the congregations in that city (Rom 13:1–7) seem to be marked by submissiveness and even theologically motivated respect!  – C. Heilig

The Pax Romana-oriented “church father” Eusebius, says Heilig, takes “a very positive stance towards the Empire” and saw it as having prepared the way for the gospel.  Here, a connection with Paul seems a trifle exaggerated.  Paul seems less forthcoming and explicit to me, but I suppose this is the crux of the matter:  if coded material is present in Pauline literature, critical of the Empire, I suppose that makes him a bit more forthcoming—to those who had ears to hear, anyway.

The first quarter of Heilig’s article is the most consequential in terms of practical theology; the remainder goes into a review of the literature and a comparison of scholarly methods.  I would say the main questions (for those of us who aren’t vocationally invested in research in this field) are these:

1. What concerns, if any, did Paul have with the reach of the Roman Empire into his particular mission areas (and, by extension, to the whole known world)?
2. What about the Roman Empire appears, doesn’t appear, or might be hidden in Pauline texts about discipleship, Christology, and broader theology?
3. If we determine that aspects of Empire were coded or concealed in some way by Paul, what are the implications for reader-interpreters—and for would-be disciples (in his age or ours)?

Of course, those who want to be serious Jesus-devotees today ought somehow to apply the ancient evidence, bringing important concepts to bear in our time.  One can’t deny that empirical thinking has intruded rather pervasively into the U.S.A.’s “progress” over the centuries.  (Here, think “manifest destiny” and the Trail of Tears.  Perhaps some political administrations/eras have been characterized more than others by background notions of empire.)  The idea that the advancement of any geopolitical entity—Egypt or Babylon or Rome or the U.S. or the U.S.S.R. or Great Britain or North Korea or any other—could be specially approved by God flies in the face of what I read about Kingdom in the NT.  For the Christian, the Father and Son have ultimate dominion, and no one else even comes close.

It is important to acknowledge broadly that interpreting the New Testament writings well is integral in attempting to live a Christ-ian life.  Moreover, some questions—such as the Roman empire element in Paul— seem especially important despite their having been ignored by the masses.

Peace Events

I’ve learned that today, September 21, is an International Day of Peace.  A quick scan of this website (currently not responding, presumably because of high traffic) tells me that the associated enterprise is too politicized for my taste, but there are many less worthy things to be aware of and involved in.  I’m glad to know of this.

Apparently coincidentally, last Sunday evening, I attended a peace-oriented lecture at the local Roman Catholic college:

Nonviolent Practice:  A Personal, Active, and Creative Way of Life

The lecture’s title promised great challenge and inspiration, but the content was actually somewhat disappointing.  The speaker, Cory Lockhart, appealed primarily to two sources:  one of the popes and Martin Luther King, Jr.  The two seemed to be treated almost equally, which is fine but perhaps offensive to a full-bore RC believer.  Aside:  in our country, in our time, it sometimes seems that nonviolence is inextricably associated with M.L. King, Jr.  That King obviously advocated nonviolent responses with good reason, and with some good effect, but his work and causes constitute only one area of the whole picture of what it means to be a peacekeeper, a peacemaker, and/or an advocate of nonviolence.  Missing a royal (!) opportunity, the speaker largely overlooked spotlighting Jesus as an example of nonviolence.

Lockhart did appear sincerely convicted—and experienced, in that she has engaged in “peacekeeping efforts” in Israel and environs.  I learned too little about her actual activities, so I was not compelled to become involved in Middle East peacekeeper teams, but there is something deep within me that wants to do something like that one day.

Lockhart’s presentation style was not particularly engaging, and I had hoped for a more robust set of creative suggestions to live as a peacemaker.  I also wish her fish net had been more inclusive.  She of course needed to be aware of the makeup of her audience of about 200, which surely included no more than four non-Roman Catholics.  At the very least, I figure lots of Roman Catholic college students (some of whose professors required their attendance, no doubt) were introduced to the idea that one doesn’t have to support war efforts in order to be a “conservative” (which most of them surely consider themselves).  I wish the students had also been treated to some solid scriptural work with, say, Matthew’s gospel or Romans 12-14, but the mere fact that they heard someone talking as a believer about peace and peacemaking was valuable.

Back in July 2016, just after my book Subjects of the Kingdom was complete, I saw this shirt in a fast food restaurant.  (I wrote about it here.)  It was very encouraging to know that someone was teaching young people at a camp that Jesus was and is interested in peace.

In fact, it is always encouraging to know that others are thinking about peacemaking and somehow, devotedly or nominally, seeking to disconnect Christianity from the use of force.  The existence of International Peace Day is even a nice addition to the plethora of special days observed—and far more significant than National Pepperoni Pizza Day, which occurred yesterday.

But I’m still not sure I have much idea how to live as a peacemaker—practically, in my world and beyond.

 

NT kingdom instances

A kingdom word study appeared here on the Logos Academic Blog in September, 2017.   This is succinct, valuable information, and it led to a little re-thinking on my part.  Below, I’ve reproduced a slightly edited version of my comment on that blog.

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Thank you for this word-use analysis.  Your observations seem sound, and I greatly appreciate them.  I might nuance a thing or two, such as expanding the possible referent in Heb. 1:8 to include a revised, post-crucifixion and -resurrection concept of kingdom.  [In other words, a quotation from the Hebrew Bible could be re-appropriated with a NT view.]

I made a similar study in 2003 and then revised it while writing on aspects of Kingdom two years ago.  I am increasingly seeing that kingdom is a pervasive concept for NT interpretation—and for Christian living in any era.  I might go as far as to suggest that, when taken in tandem, (1) kingdom and (2) discipleship ideas pretty much envelop it all for Christian believers.

My word-study work, which includes a display of all the words “in context.” may be found here:https://subjectsofthekingdomblog.wordpress.com/basileia-in-nt/.  My approach was different in that I did not group the synoptics together.  Instead, I have “Jewish” literature (Matthew, 2Pet, and Hebrews), then Petrine, Pauline, Luke-Acts, and finally Johannine.  This grouping could be as significant for analysis as taking the synoptics over against everything else.  I had no predetermined purpose in grouping the way I did, but with mine—which takes each gospel in a separate literature group—I observe that Luke-Acts appears as the second-largest repository (behind Matthew-Hebrews-James).  Luke’s connection with Paul might be noted here, and we might subsequently hypothesize that these major text-areas all duly emphasize kingdom:

1. early oral tradition about the Messiah Jesus—including “kingdom” references and concepts—that came to be written in Mark and Matthew (and Luke)
2. Luke-Acts—manifesting a sense of “kingdom” at work during a formative “early church” period of roughly 40 years

As for Paul—and I would not necessarily assert this as significant—I observe that 9 of the 15 instances occur in the earlier letters Gal, 1 & 2 Thess, 1 Cor, and Rom.  Perhaps the assumptions of kingdom needed more articulation in the later 50s and 60s. Combining Pauline and Lukan references for analysis does intrigue me.

In addition, I would say that, when analyzing “kingdom,” the literary structure of certain documents (namely, Matthew and Mark) should be taken into account.  In other words, frequency of word use shows something, but the specific placement of βασιλεία within the structure of a document can be integral in determining emphasis and meaning.

I would like to correspond with you about possibly including your post as an appendix in my next book.

The Kingdom is good news

The horrors of Hurricane Harvey are only beginning to be known by those of us not directly affected.  I won’t attempt to encapsulate an event of such magnitude.  Today, I heard the quip that “the news,” for the first time in quite a while in our country, has actually been the news.  Harvey has brought overwhelmingly bad news overall, of course, but there are also some good news bits, as well, such as reports of the tremendous humanitarian work of the “Cajun Navy.”  I am no news hound, but I can well imagine that, in the aggregate, more news reports this week are comparatively factual and less slanted since Hurricane Harvey hit.

As I move along in the rutty mode of physical life, I am frequently impressed that unseen Kingdom is, or at least should be, a pervasive topic for the Christian believer.  And the kingdom is good news for the believer!  When Jesus arrived on the scene in Judea and Galilee, something new had come.  This was good news—first for the Jew, and also for the gentile.

Earlier this week, I watched a newly produced video by The Bible Project, an endeavor I have come to respect a great deal.  In this brief presentation, they do a good job of summarizing the good news of the Kingdom—or, arguably, the good news that is the Kingdom.  Simply put, God’s Kingdom as announced by John and Jesus was not what most people expected, and many aspects still seem “upside down” to the human mind.  Starting just after the 1:00 mark in the five-minute video, it might seem as though the teachers are hinting eschatologically at an eventual physical throne for Jesus in Jerusalem, but in following the presentation through to the end, I was satisfied with their emphasis on the gospel of the unseen Kingdom.

 

 

Gospel of the Kingdom video

Precious few are the writers or music ensembles or scholars that could claim me as a “groupie,” but The Bible Project has become one.  Please take 5-6 minutes to watch this video when you have time.

 

 

New Book

As a postscript here, on this first day of September, I will add a tiny bit of news I hope you will also think is good:  I am now working on a new book on the Kingdom topic.  Its working title is Two Kingdoms:  Essays, Examinations, and Notes.  I aim to finish Two Kingdoms by the middle of 2018, but time will tell.  In the meantime, I hope, with you, to emphasize the eternal kingdom’s good news.