From the fictional story of Nympha's trial to a justification of the theology behind that story, Walsh and Keesmaat now turn in Colossians Remixed
Her story is the story of the early Christians in conflict with the empire of Rome.
"The counterimperial vision of cosmic reconciliation in Christ is the vision that has transformed this community into a subversive body politic, counter to the empire" (226).
It is the story of the cross and that means suffering. Israel's hope is the suffering servant (Isa 53); Jesus is the suffering servant; Paul is on the same path of suffering (Col 1:24).
We have to let the Bible subvert even our most cherished interpretive traditions.
Add to Del.icio.us
Add to Technorati
Add to Digg
Add to Newsvine
Add to Facebook
Add to StumbleUpon
Subscribe
Subversive. I need to read Eugene Peterson's book on being subversive as a Christian. (one of those book I have but haven't yet read, at least completely).
The idea of subversive body politic, I think that's powerful. Where is that today, in our evangelical (can't think of the word I want, though it does describe what I want well, but not a common one to me, either) culture?- for lack of that better word.
We're blatant Republican or Democrat, blatant right or left. This is not the way of Jesus, in which the followers are known for what they are, not what they align themselves with as allies.
I had a seminary professor who pointed out there was a movement among Hebrew scholars to remove the suffering servant materials entirely at the time of Jesus. Have you heard of this? Do you agree with this scholarship?
Post a Comment
By submitting these comments, I agree to the beliefnet.com terms of service, rules of conduct and privacy policy (the "agreements"). I understand and agree that any content I post is licensed to beliefnet.com and may be used by beliefnet.com in accordance with the agreements.