Since this is Christmas…

Helen Bond (University of Edinburgh) has written a short article introducing the topics of her recent book ( The Historical Jesus: A Guide for the Perplexed (Guides for the Perplexed) ) titled “Ten Things I Learnt about Jesus by Writing a Book about him” in which, among many issues, she touches on one of the hot topics in certain circles:

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5. Jesus and Empire. Much has been written lately about Jesus’ supposed antagonism towards ‘imperial Rome’ (it’s never simply ‘Rome’); Jesus, we’re told, set himself against imperialism, or, more broadly, the ‘dominating system(s)’ of his day. This is particularly strong in US scholarship and reflects (I assume) a certain degree of American angst regarding its own ‘imperial’ standing in the world. But I have to admit that I don’t really see it in the texts. I wouldn’t want to claim that Jesus was favourably disposed towards the increasingly direct Roman presence in his homeland, or that he regarded political domination (in whatever form it took) as a good thing; doubtless he shared his compatriots’ contempt both for foreign rule itself and for those who profited by it. But I don’t see anti-imperialism as a central theme in his preaching. Jews over the centuries had developed many theological strategies to explain and come to terms with foreign rule, most commonly that God (the ruler of history) was chastising his people for a time before a great final vindication when Israel’s enemies would be swept away and God would clearly reign. In this apocalyptic scenario, there’s no point in setting oneself against empires, because their frailty and false-pride will soon be exposed for all to see. What we have here in scholarship that puts an anti-imperial agenda to the fore in Jesus’ teaching, it seems to me, is the desire for a useable Jesus – someone who will speak to modern day liberal Christians who want to critique their own government’s imperialist practices. I’ve nothing against that, but we shouldn’t call it ‘historical Jesus studies.’ It’s exactly the same with the ‘Jesus as promoter of women’ view – we’d all like a Jesus who champions modern day values, but its not always going to be the case.

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While I think the author is still hung up on referring to “Jesus” as a singular person (as opposed to being a composition of various personalities, as I deem most likely), it’s still a relevant point she makes about writers reading their own cultures’ angst into the “Jesus story”.