Christ and empire... It has been a revelation!

Today we had the joy of spending a few hours with Prof Joerg Rieger from Perkins School of Theology at Southern Methodist University in Dallas Texas. His lectures were entitled Christ and empire.

I have read his book by the same title (well about half of it so far). However, it was great to hear him discuss and flesh out the foundational ideas of this book himself.

In short here's what Joerg spoke about. (Joerg, forgive me if I miss any important points in my VERY limited summary).

1. Our theology has been co-opted by 'Empire' (any totalitarian power that seeks to have absolute control) at various stages in history.

2. 'Empire' is always the narrative of the powerful. In other words, those who have power create a narrative to keep their empire intact. One of the primary ways of doing that is by avioding questions about the sources of empowerment, or by making people think that there are no alternatives. A super illustration of this was when Joerg told us that 'for some of his students the end of the world [by nuclear war, or some other catastrophe] seems more realistic and likely than the end of capitalism'. This is a very telling and real thought! Indeed, I too have often thought that Capitalism has such a hold on the contemporary psyche that we struggle to even consider that there are other solutions and possibilities for our economy. Although with the current global market crisis we may just see the collapse of this system at some stage in the not too distant future.

3. Joerg then explained a few seminal points in history where 'Empire' narratives had been adopted by the Church as 'truth'. These include the adoption of the title 'Lord' for Jesus (the title was originally used only for the Emperor), then later the Constantinian control over the Church and the formulation of the early Church creeds. Next are examples of Scholastic theologians (such as Anselm of Canterbury - the 2nd Bishop of Canterbury who was put in power by the Norman raiders who conquered Britain). Another example was the early development of Liberal Theologies during the height of the Colonial period (for example Friedrich Schleiermacher's theology of German superiority). Finally, of course, we have the contemporary North American imperialism.

An incredible quote was one that Joerg gave from Dick Cheney's 2003 Christmas card (a quote from the American President and Philosopher, Benjamin Franklin) who said If a sparrow can fall to the ground without His notice, then is it possible that an empire could rise without His help? Take a look here to see a copy of the original card: here.

Joerg then went on to discuss ways in which each of these periods also showed great promise and theological opportunity. For example, the divinity of Christ could be used by 'empire' theologians to 'spiritualise' the ministry of Jesus (i.e., like very much of contemporary popular Christianity that suggests that Jesus was not political, and that he only came to 'save souls'). However, the alternative was of course that when the divinity of Christ was affirmed the 'political' nature of the Kingdom of God was affirmed (i.e., Jesus' emphasis on justice, peace, equity, wholeness, and peace gains divine authority as well). Perhaps it was for this reason that Constantine returned to the Arian heresy just before his death!?

Well, please check back in the next few days, we recorded the two lectures and will be editing and posting them here.

All I can say, is READ THE BOOK! It is fantastic!

PS. See Wessel's blog for a bit more about today's lecture (and an Amazon link to Joerg's book).
PPS. Joerg rides a BMW GS1150 like my friend Pete Grassow! So, he must be a great theologian!