God and Empire: Jesus Against Rome, Then and Now | John Dominic Crossan

God and Empire: Jesus Against Rome, Then and Now | John Dominic Crossan | Worth several readings

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God and Empire: Je...

	God and Empire: Jesus Against Rome, Then and Now John Dominic Crossan HarperOne, 2007 - 272 pages average customer review:based on 16 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

Religious questions that are matters of survival

In this book Crossan broadens his focus beyond Jesus to the whole surrounding Roman world, and the whole Bible from Genesis to Revelation. And in comparing all this, he exposes a vast gulf between totally different visions for the world, which now compete to decide our future.

On one hand he explores the vision of peace through victory over all enemies, which was the Roman imperial dream, and the dream of all empires including that of America. But as Crossan shows, this dream of ultimate victory is also repeatedly expressed in the Bible.

Against this we have a vision of peace through converting people to justice, which was the dream of Jesus and many other prophets or apostles in the Bible.

And last we have a vision of peace through death and destruction, in which both sinners and the sinful world are destroyed in a paroxysm of divine vengeance. And even this dream is expressed in the Bible, both in the flood of Noah and the Apocalypse of Revelation. Or, as Crossan quotes Charles Jones, "Some day we may blow ourselves up with all the bombs .... But I still believe God's going to be in control. ... If he chooses to use nuclear war, then who am I to argue with that?".

Crossan deals with questions that have grown urgent for the world's survival. These visions of a final solution -- of either exterminating evil or converting sinners to justice, "... are never reconciled anywhere in the biblical tradition. They are together from one end of the book to the other. Indeed, they often coexist in the same book or even the same chapter. So again, are we to take them both and worship a God of both violence and nonviolence, or must we choose between them ...?"

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Worth several readings

Briefly, this is a must read for those who wonder what the present literal/metaphorical Christian fuss is about. It's about violent Christianity versus non-violent Christianity.

Ironically, non-violence is at the core of many moral codifications, Christianity being one of them. Crossan explores the challenge and asks the question. We get to answer it or not.

The First Axial Age, circa 500 BCE, saw the concurrent formation of Socratic philosophy, Judaism (leading to Christianity), Buddhism and Confucianism. This period has been briefly examined by Karl Jaspers in The Way to Wisdom and extensively by Karen Armstrong in The Great Transformation.

Crossan's question as to how we can move from the violence of empire to the non-violence of god may be today's critical question. This is what Bob Funk called The Second Axial Age which is an improvement over the first because it includes everyone, even women and slaves, who were left out the last time.

I have read God and Empire twice with different insights both times. I am about to read it again.

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Divine Caesar vs. Earthly Jesus

In his latest reconsideration of the relations between Judaism and Christianity on the one hand and Roman Imperialism on the other, Dr Crossan treats us to a fascinating account of the parallels as well as the contrasts between the two systems. Did you imagine, for example, that "Son of God" and "Savior of the World" were titles unique to Christian thought? Not a bit of it! Both were given to the Emperor Augustus before Jesus of Nazareth was even born! That is just one example, says Crossan, of the way in which the two competing systems, Roman Peace by Domination and Judaeo-Christian Peace by (Distributive) Justice sometimes found themselves using the same language. The danger has always been that in using the language of earthly success, Judaeo-Christianity would stray into the sphere of power politics ... and so it has - all too often. This book is a must-read for anyone who is sick of political domination by fear and greed and longs for justice and peace through non-violent action. Doesn't that mean you and me?

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Subversive Faith

Crossan warns his readers that we will need some background in his Jesus studies to understand and appreciate this work. His caveat is well taken. My understanding of Jesus studies has come more from Marcus Borg than from Crossan, but I know where he is coming from. I have an appreciation for the Jesus studies, but sometimes I wonder if their conclusions come from a prior conclusion as to what is or is not possible. Having said that, there is much in this work that Christians living under the American empire should take to heart. People who take seriously their citizenship in the Kingdom of God are always a subversive threat to the kingdoms of this age. I especially appreciate Crossan's juxtaposition of the non-violent radicality of the Kingdom of God to the violent normalcy of civilization as it has evolved. The question remains: how can people who are citizens of the now present Kingdom of God live in the now dominant kingdom of this age?

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A provocative, if ideological, interpretation of Jesus's life in the Roman Empire

Crossan's main argument in this book rests on a distinction between civilization/violence and resistance/nonviolence. As he puts it, this is the difference between "peace through victory" and "peace through justice." He sees Jesus as part of a Jewish tradition of resistance to Babylonian, Roman, and other empires. Crossan recognizes violence in some of that tradition but he emphasizes (rightly) that Jesus stands as the fulfillment of the nonviolent strand. Resisting the violence of empire while standing for justice therefore lie at the heart of Jesus's message. Working for justice in the United States today represents the continuation of Jesus's mission.

In providing this interpretation of Jesus in the Jewish tradition, Crossan repeatedly struggles with violence in the Hebrew Bible and in the New Testament book of Revelations. Like others, he sees Revelations as a critique of empires from within the Jewish tradition. He strongly rejects the millenarian interpretation that has become popular in the United States, seeing the end-time violence as a result of civilization's injustices. Christ's only coming, he maintains, has already happened, and Revelations describes the world in which we already live.

Though not fully persuasive, this interpretation is well worth reading. Crossan is certainly correct that many fundamentalists in the U.S. share a lust for violence in the end times that is not at all warranted by the text or by the life of Jesus.

Crossan does not move beyond the biblical texts to consider precivilization societies such as hunter gatherers. Though not based on the institutionalist violence of the state, intersociety relations (wars) were much bloodier per capita among hunter gatherers than modern wars are. As Crossan rightly notes, they were generally more equal than civilization is, though gender inequalities were greater among some hunter-gatherers than in modern civilizations. Any critique of civilization should confront these realities and their implications.

Finally, this book always left me with the impression that Crossan's politics determines his reading of the scriptures and the Christian tradition, instead of letting his studies determine his politics. He is ideological, not eclectic, in his positions, and he often intends to impose his worldview on Jesus rather than doing the reverse. Though I often agree with Crossen, I'm generally suspicious of his reasoning.

Nonetheless, this book provides a provocative and challenging reading of Jesus and the New Testament. If you are open to rethinking your views of the Christian tradition, I recommend reading it.

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reviews: page 1, 2, 3, 4

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