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Christ and Empire: From Paul to Postcolonial Times
by Joerg Rieger
Fortress, Minneapolis, 2007. 334 pp. $20.00. ISBN 978-0-8006-2038-7.
On the theory that pastors should always be reading at least one work that stretches the mind and spirit, this is a “must read.” Joerg Rieger, Professor of Systematic Theology at Perkins School of Theology, Southern Methodist University, has written a nuanced study that explores the ways in which Christology has been and continues to be entangled in the efforts of empire to co-opt it for its own purposes. This volume is significant for what it does not do as well as for what it does. It would have been easy to produce a volume tracing the ways in which Christology has been turned into a servant of empire’s purposes, or conversely, to argue that Christology transcends empire and contains a critique of it. But Rieger does neither.
Instead, in each chapter, Rieger focuses on a major expression of Christology, indicating how it could be used to serve the interests of empire and often did. He then identifies “the Christological surplus” that was not consumed by empire but survived to offer a critique of it and of its excesses. Chapter 1 examines the use of “Lord” by the early church; ch. 2 examines the creeds in light of the notion of the “coequality of the Emperor”; ch. 3 analyzes Anselm’s most famous work, Cur Deus Homo; ch. 4 examines the interrelations between early colonialism and Christology, especially in the work of Bartolome de Las Casas; while ch. 5 examines the entanglements of Christology with later colonialism, focusing on the work of Schleiermacher. Chapter 6 is devoted to a thorough discussion of Gustav Aulen’s influential work, Christus Victor; and ch. 7 discusses, somewhat unexpectedly, “Christology and the Cosmic Christ,” an examination of Matthew Fox’s Christology in a postcolonial setting.
This summary does not begin to do justice to the skill with which Rieger establishes the context for each creed or each thinker and his christological construct. This course of action allows Rieger to show how a common dilemma, the emergence of Christology in the setting of empire, can appear and reappear in such a way that we can learn from the specific character of each encounter. It is not the same old story illustrated seven times but seven distinctive encounters that can enrich our understanding of the uses and abuses of Christology.
Rieger’s emphasis on the power differential between the rulers and the ruled and the way it shapes the discussion forces us to face the political and economic contexts in which christological reflection occurs in our postcolonial and postmodern world even when we would be more inclined either to ignore or deny it. His work is courageous in that he does not let Christology off the hook but still finds that christological surplus that provides a foundation for resisting empire.
During an era when public commentators speak of the American Empire, this work speaks a timely word and issues a significant challenge. Can we in the United States analyze our Christo-logies, both as servants of the American Empire and as the source of critique of that empire? This is not an easy task, as Rieger shows. In similar fashion, this is not an easy read but one I would heartily recommend.
William Herzog
Andover newton theological School
Newton center, massachussets
The Power of the Word: Scripture and the Rhetoric of Empire
by Elisabeth Schüssler Fiorenza
Fortress, Minneapolis, 2007. 280 pp. $29.00. ISBN 978-0-8006-3833-7.
This most recent volume by Elisabeth Schüssler Fiorenza continues her on-going development of an emancipatory-rhetorical paradigm of interpretation by engaging studies of empire and post-colonialism as they are applied to the ancient world and today. Biblical texts are inscribed with the language of both empire, which constructs reality in terms of patterns of kyriarchal domination, and transformation, which constructs reality by appealing to images of emancipation and justice. Schüssler Fiorenza argues for an interpretive strategy that is attentive to “how one reads the social, cultural, and religious markers inscribed in the text” (p. 22) and seeks to “assess ethically and politically the kinds of reality and visions that are generated by texts and interpretations” (p. 111). In doing so, she challenges current studies that valorize Paul as counter-imperial, yet fail to engage critically the ways in which Paul employs imperial language in his constructive task, thereby re-inscribing imperial values on his theological vision. These studies, she argues, perpetuate dualistic thinking by using comparison with an “other” as a means of establishing a coherent unity. Schüssler Fiorenza offers an alternative model through analyses of Revelation, 1 Peter, and language about God in which she illustrates how different meanings can be brought to light as the text is examined through first one lens and then another.
Schüssler Fiorenza writes for those who seek a path between an understanding of the biblical text as “word of God” and as a reflection of human values and systems. There are challenges in the approach she offers. It requires a willingness to re-conceptualize biblical theology as a rhetorical-persuasive task rather than a confessional dogmatic discipline. It also shifts the primary locus of meaning from text to interpreter. This, in turn, places responsibility firmly on the interpreter for the ways in which we construct meaning and account for the ethical consequences of our readings. It also insists on a move away from dualistic thinking that essentializes the “Other,” and calls for an increasingly complex understanding of human identity and relationships. Among the questions this may leave with readers are whether it is possible to speak in terms of “theological coherence” at all and what boundaries would define such coherence. Questions this book offers in return are how far are we willing to engage in examination of the ways we construct that coherence, and to what degree are we willing to open the circle of engagement to include those whose ways of seeing are not our own?
Holly E. Hearon
Christian Theological Seminary
Indianapolis, Indiana
John and Empire: Initial Explorations
by Warren Carter
T & T Clark, New York, 2008. 423 pp. $39.95. ISBN 978-0-567-02840-2.
“Does John’s Gospel have anything to do with the Roman Empire?” (p. 3). Warren Carter’s book John and Empire answers this question with an emphatic “yes.” Carter has been among the recent vanguard of scholars who view texts primarily through the lens of their Roman imperial contexts. Despite a spate of empire studies, however, work on John’s Gospel has been sparse until now. In Carter’s view, the Gospel of John is a “hidden transcript” that assists early Christians in negotiating their imperial context. His thesis is that the Gospel of John exhibits a “rhetoric of distance” that urges its audience toward a way of life more distinct from, and less accommodated to, Roman society.
In the opening chapters, Carter quickly demonstrates why two dominant contemporary approaches to the Fourth Gospel, described as “spiritualized” and “sectarian-synagogal” readings, are inadequate. Both of these approaches fail to account for the imperial realities present in the Gospel’s context.
The following chapters then develop Carter’s thesis. He locates the Gospel in Ephesus in order to evaluate how it might be engaged in negotiating imperial realities in a major Roman city. In ch. 3, Carter proposes that the lives of the early Christians in Ephesus displayed significant accommodation to the Roman Empire. In chs. 4–12, Carter examines the Gospel’s “rhetoric of distance” as it is reflected in the titles used for Jesus, John’s concept of eternal life, and the use of father imagery for God. The Gospel’s presentation of Pilate also develops this “rhetoric of distance.” Whereas most commentators have regarded Pilate as a weak character who bends to the pressure of the religious authorities, Carter persuasively presents Pilate as an adept politician who ultimately manipulates the Jewish leaders into a confession of allegiance to Rome: “We have no king but the emperor” (19:15).
Carter’s demonstration of the way in which the Gospel of John summons its audience to negotiate the imperial context is bold and compelling. The book is lengthy and at times dense, but Johannine scholars and other interested readers will benefit from engagement with it. Carter’s conclusions will not be persuasive to all, but his discussion will surely generate more interest and study in this area. Those who read this book will no longer interpret John’s Gospel without an awareness of the ways in which Roman imperial reality is reflected within its pages.
Art Wright
Union-PSCE
Richmond, VirginiA
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