Love: A Deadly Threat to Imperial Power
I had a few weeks off from school, which was needed. But a couple weeks in I began to miss it. Now that I’m four days into my new class, my anticipation has been rewarded by being assigned a great textbook. Here’s a sample:
“The message of Jesus was so radical that it challenged all those authorities [political and religious] at once. He did not challenge the Roman occupation like those who tried to meet force with force. That would have meant accepting the Romans’ own conception of power, the only question at issue being who wielded the power. But when he bade the children of the kingdom cultivate righteousness and mercy, poverty and meekness, purity of heart and peace among men, when he taught them to turn the other cheek and go the second mile and requite their enemies by doing them good, when he insisted that the will of God was fully done in the performance of acts of love, he turned accepted canons upside down and posed a more deadly threat to the basis of imperial power than those who offered it armed resistance.” (F. F. Bruce, Paul: Apostle of the Heart Set Free, 57-58)
As I was reading this I thought it was Wink or Hauerwas; I was surprised to see that it was old F.F.
I must say, I was also surprised to see this quote coming from F.F. Bruce. Nevertheless, wonderfully said!
I’m about halfway through the class and 300 pages into Bruce’s text, and I must say that I’m very happy with the text as a whole. It’s opened up a lot of ambiguities in Paul’s theology that I had never noticed before. Helps with the ol’ humility.
I finished my last paper for this class. I had such a great experience studying Paul and his literature, and I think this last paper, though short, is one of my best.