Sal In review

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The gospel alternative

OR MANY PEOPLE the phrase global justice, in which Jesus, not the inscriptionsas well as in literature.
"Paul and politics" refers to e m p e r o r , reveals t h e t r u e c h a r a c t e r As even the authors admit, the lengthy
nothing m o r e than Romans and will of God. Like Crossan's Jesus, discussions of this evidence may over13 and the c o m m o n conclu- the authentic Paul of the seven gen- w h e l m t h e reader, t h o u g h they a r e
sion that Paul was basically a conserva- uine letters p r e a c h e s "eschatology p u n c t u a t e d with scores of p h o tive supporter of government as a di- and equality now" in contrast t o tographs and personal notes from the
vinely appointed institution. But in the R o m a n h i e r a r c h y a n d domination. authors' travels. These discussions do
last decade or so t h e
provide significant instudy of Paul and his polsights for t h e (often all
itics has undergone a sea
too brief) interpretations
change, r e p r e s e n t e d in
of Paul's letters. For exthe work of diverse
ample, Crossan a n d
scholars, including Neil
Reed rightly suggest that
Elliott, Richard Horsley
the hymn of Philippians
and N. T. Wright.
2:6-11 reveals a "kenotic
Two
assumptions
divinity" that is antithetihave b e c o m e axiomatic
cal t o images of divine
in Pauline studies: that
imperial power, and that
the pervasive R o m a n
the Corinthian letter reimperial cult is an essenveals t h e necessity of a
tial aspect of Pauls concorresponding "kenotic
text a n d that Paul's
community." O n t h e
gospel is inherently both
other hand, their intertheopolitical and counpretations of texts from
terimperial. A third
the disputed letters and
t h e m e , increasingly ex- In Search of Paul: H o w Jesus' Apostle O p p o s e d Rome's
Acts are sometimes less
plicit
among
inter- E m p i r e with God's K i n g d o m .
than persuasive.
p r e t e r s , is that Paul's
By John Dominic Crossan and Jonathan L. Reed. Harper San
Most of t h e conclugospel confronts all im- Francisco, 464 pp., $29.95.
sions a b o u t Paul a n d
perial systems, and espee m p i r e t h a t Crossan
cially the new American Colossians Remixed: Subverting t h e E m p i r e .
a n d R e e d offer have
e m p i r e of global conBy Brian J. Walsh and Sylvia C. Keesmaat. InterVarsity, 256
b e e n p r e s e n t e d elses u m e r i s m a n d military pp., $22.00.
where, and sometimes
might. In Search of Paul
m o r e concisely (for exand Colossians
Remixed snare all (The authors argue that the remain- a m p l e , in Horsley's Paul and Emthree of these assumptions.
ing letters2 Thessalonians, Colos- pire), though not with helpful graphJohn Dominic Crossan, famous for sians, E p h e s i a n s a n d t h e pastoral ics. B u t t w o things s e t this book
his radical and controversial interpre- epistlesare in m a n y ways "anti- apart: negatively, a few t a n g e n t i a l
tations of Jesus, a n d archaeologist Pauline.") Justification, they say, is the a n d idiosyncratic s u b t h e s e s (that
Jonathan R e e d present a radical b u t global establishment of God's nonvio- Paul d e l i b e r a t e l y e n g a g e d in "connot markedly controversial reading of lent distributive justice.
vert poaching" at synagogues by tarPaul. They c o n t e n d that in stark opCrossan a n d R e e d i n t e r p r e t t h e
position to the Roman gospel of peace various letters of Paul in light of the
Reviewed by Michael J. Gorman, dean of
established t h r o u g h piety, w a r a n d imperial cult that held the empire tothe Ecumenical Institute of Theology
global victory, Paul preaches an alter- gether. Imperial devotion is expressed
and professor of New Testament at St.
native gospel of p e a c e established in many ways in Rome's "visual culMary's Seminary and University in
t h r o u g h covenant, nonviolence a n d ture"coinage, statues, buildings and
Baltimore.

COLOSSIANS

CHRISTIAN CENTURY

June28,2005

36

geting primarily God-fearers, for instance), and positively, a willingness

to specifically (though briefly) compare America to Rome and thus to
contrast it with God's kingdom. This
latter interpretive move, however, is
not fully satisfying. Though the authors laud Paul for sharing Jesus'
commitment to God's kingdom, they
appear to see Paul and Jesus not as
unique bearers of God's justice but
as manifestations of a universal principle that can also be seen elsewhere.
The book does not conclude with a
political ecclesiology but with politics more generally.
Nevertheless, throughout the
book the authors write provocatively
about the abnormal "normalcy" of
civilization, built as it so often is on
the twin pillars of hierarchy and
power, and about the gospel's undermining of those pillars. They also
write insightfully about the standard
imperial connections between piety,
war and global "peace." The analogies between Rome and America are
at times startling. For this reason, if
no other, the book should be widely
read.
What Crossan and Reed explicitly
treat only briefly, Brian Walsh and
Sylvia Keesmaat take on directly
throughout Colossians Remixed, and
they do so via a letter that Crossan and
Reed consider anti-Pauline. In an unusual alternative to the commentary
genre, they argue creatively and persuasively that this letter from Paul is
an "explosive and subversive tract"
that undermined imperial realities in
the first century. Colossians, they say,
should once again subvert empire as it
is "remixed," or reread, in the postmodern era by those who live in the
heart of the Pax Americana, the reign
of global consumerism secured by socioeconomic and military structures.
The authors, a husband and wife from
the Christian Reformed tradition who
minister and teach in Toronto, include
themselves in this context, and like
Crossan and Reed they lament that
most people find empire to be normal.
Walsh and Keesmaat demonstrate
that the hymn in Colossians 1:15-20
displays the worldview and master
story of a community called to participate in God's reconciliation of the

world through Christ. Those who are

in Christ embody values that are antithetical to many of the basic values of
empire, whether Roman or American.
They are to reject the postmodern
metanarrative of consumerism and to
"secede" from its culture of greed and
violence, not by abandoning their culture but by living as a people who constitute an alternative to the empire's
practices and who promote gospel
practices within the empire. They

must spread God's salvation and peace

through care for others and for the
earth rather than consumerism,
through acts of compassion and reconciliation rather than military action.
They should read and perform Colossians (and the rest of the Bible) to discern ways in which the Spirit is inspiring "faithful improvisation" on the
text. Walsh and Keesmaat offer numerous concrete suggestions about
such contemporary improvisation.

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In Search of Paul can at times be a

tedious read of archaeological
"texts" and may not be fully theologically satisfying, but Colossians Remixed is a lively, engaging blend of
exegesis, cultural analysis and explicit Christian theological interpretation that is an intriguing blend of
Reformed and Anabaptist thought.
The authors use a variety of literary
forms to achieve this: creative historical reconstructions; imaginary
conversations with their postmodern
audience; and insightful "targums"
(interpretive paraphrases focused
on a contemporary audience) on the
text of Colossians. The book is a
unique, compelling and challenging
read, both intellectually and spiritually. Readers should be prepared to
wade through one or two dense but
rewarding discussions of postmodern theory and to rethink a wide
range of issues.
These two books witness to a growing consensus among theologians and
others that Christian faith and Ameri-

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Roy and Alice Eckardt, Paul van

Buren, Sister Rose Thering and Eva
Fleishner.
These individuals embodied an
uncommon spiritual courage and intellectual daring as they uncovered
the seeds of anti-Judaism scattered
across the Christian tradition and
sought to cultivate theological
ground that would be far more hospitable to creative partnerships.
Their aptitude for self-critical engagement inspired Greenberg to excavate his own tradition in search of
resources with which to advance new
understandings of religious pluralism, and especially of the interplay of
Judaism and Christianity.
The fruit of Greenberg s labors are
here collected in nine essays that are
brimming with insights that ripened
between 1967 and 2004. In fluid prose
that is accessible to a diverse readership, Greenberg not only challenges
For the Sake of Heaven and
Christians to scrutinize and reassess
Earth: The New Encounter Betheir theological assumptions but also
tween Judaism and Christianity.
presses the Jewish community to
By Irving Greenberg. Jewish Pubbreak out of its own insularity. The Inlication Society, 360pp., $20.00pastitute for Christian and Jewish Studperback.
ies has used many of these essays to
OST CHRISTIANS and Jews spark spirited exchanges among reliremain settled in separate gious professionals from a broad
enclaves. They rarely step cross-section of the Jewish and Chrisoutside of their familiar tian communities, but some of Greendomains and risk the confusion that berg's Orthodox colleagues have recomes from a searching encounter acted with hostility to his pioneering
with the stranger next door. Given his efforts, providing a chilling, if underupbringing within a tight-knit Jewish stated, portrait of the personal cost of
Orthodox community and his subse- this theological project.
quent study of the ethical and theologChristians have heralded Jesus as
ical failures of Christians that culmi- the Messiah, and their reading of the
nated in the Holocaust, Rabbi Irving Hebrew Bible leads many of them to
Greenberg had ample reason to bolt wonder why the Jewish people are unhis door and avoid contact with a tradi- able or unwilling to make that affirmation whose bankruptcy is reflected in tion. Jews, on the other hand, have
the fires of Auschwitz.
marveled at the credulity of ChrisThe odyssey that led Greenberg to tians, who are unable or unwilling to
venture into alien territory, where he acknowledge that Jesus does not fit
engaged Christians in a rigorous ex- the messianic job description. Despite
amination of their core affirmations, is Jesus' coming, the world is still
chronicled in the first chapter of this drenched in suffering. Global peace
remarkable book. Greenberg traces and justice remain an elusive
his discoveries of the Christian tradi- prospect. Many Jews live in exile, and
tion and its glories and failings, and he their return home hinges on the recharts his own dramatic reassessment newal of a world in which Israel serves
of the dangers and promises of the as a beacon of covenantal freedom and
Christian-Jewish encounter, which re- responsibility.
As the protagonist in the Paul Newsulted from his transformative friendships with Christian scholars such as man film Cool Hand Luke remarks,
can empire are bound to clash and
that the Christian church must become an alternative, counterimperial
community with a prophetic voice and
a different way of life. The current
American agenda is seen as dangerous
(if not demonic), not divine.
This conclusion is not yet shared by
the average pastor or churchgoer; in
fact, American Christianity still often
assumes the lightness of merging empire with Christian piety. Even progressives may conclude that these
books go too far, either in their indictment of American empire or in their
thesis that Paul wasand that we
should becounterimperial. But if
these four authors are on target, as I
think they are, we can only hope that
many people will read their books and
ask, How shall we now live?

38

^ s
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