Richard A. Horsley

Although the formation of Jesus' ministry and subsequent Christianity is usually approached from a very spiritual and Christianity-infused standpoint, Horsley's work challenges this approach as too weak and misleading. He instead makes Jesus into a political figure with religious undertones - not that society then had a separation of church and state, or differentiated the two as cleanly as we do. Jesus' message was thoroughly politically motivated, from the phrase *kingdom* of God to his show more death on a cross, an execution worthy only of political rabble rousers.

Therefore what Jesus challenged and promoted change within was not a conflict of Judaism and Christianity (of course) nor even different modes of piety within Judaism. Instead he challenges the power dynamics between groups of the rulers and the ruled. The subtitle's "New World Disorder" makes pretty clear what Horsley thinks Jesus thinks about the power politics of Rome, a corruption-ridden system antithetical to the kingdom of God. His own ministry promotes everything that goes against the power-hungry mentality of the empire: communal and mutually beneficial works instead of the proto-capitalist quest for wealth and glory.

Horsley even devotes a chapter to the ways in which America is the new Rome, which I felt was kind of extraneous, but does drive home the point that Jesus should not merely be approached as a sweet and apolitical nice guy, but rather a revolutionary political leader whose challenges to the system will still be relevant to the politics of the present day. show less

Summary: A biblical study of how God's covenant with Israel, including the New Testament appropriation of that covenant was intended to shape economic life and justice for Israel and "assemblies" in the New Testament era, with application to modern economic life and the "covenant" our government has with its people.

Richard Horsley begins this study with an interesting contention: that the founding documents of the United States articulate a kind of covenant between government and people that show more has not only political but economic implications and obligations around our "life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness." There were frequent references to this in early discourse but a growing disconnect with the growth of giant corporations and multi-national interests in the more recent past and present. With these changes has come an erosion of a "covenant commitment" to economic justice for all.

In this book, Horsley frames an argument for economic justice based on another covenant, that of God with Israel. He begins by contrasting the covenant life of Israel with the imperial civilizations, which were often oppressive of the economic interests of their people. God's covenant with Israel, he demonstrates concerns not just religious life but protects the economic interests of the people with various provisions from gleaning, to debt forgiveness and no-interest loans, to reversion of the land to its original owners in the Jubilee year. In the books of the Prophets, he shows that a significant theme of the prophets were the breaches of economic justice as Israel's kings acted like the kings of surrounding nations and the rich unjustly expanded their holdings at the expense of fellow Israelites.

Horsley then considers the New Testament and finds in the teaching of Jesus extensive material that subverts the Roman domination and priestly oppression under which the Jews lived. In doing so, Jesus appropriates the covenant economics of Israel to this new situation as he calls for mutual sharing and blesses the poor. After considering particularly Mark and Luke, he turns to the communities the Apostle Paul was in touch with, as well as those addressed by the Gospel of Matthew, showing that these "assemblies" were not just liturgical bodies but organized around economic principles of mutual care as a kind of "counter-culture" in a Roman dominated world, albeit one still under Roman rule. His concluding chapter then considers the implications of covenant economics in scripture to how the contemporary church orders its own economic life and engages economic injustices in the broader society.

The value of this work is that it is a biblical study of the economic material in scripture, often overlooked in overly spiritualized and privatized readings of scripture. His challenges of Christians to disengage from the economic captivities of our contemporary society and to stand against economic injustices are welcome and important words.

At the same time, it felt at times that Horsley reduced the teaching of scripture to economics, or at least did not relate this teaching to other themes that might strengthen his case. For example, relating economics to soteriology may emphasize the basis of a "non-zero sum game" approach to economics in the grace of God who gives lavishly and undeservedly to his people. Similar, the lack of a connection of economics to eschatology severs a tie of economics to the just order that will pertain in the new creation, that motivates the pursuit of economic justice now.

I also wonder about both the historicity of the purported covenant in American history, and also the equation of a covenant between a government and its people with a covenant between God and his people. Does this feed into the strain of American exceptionalism that is foreign to a kingdom of people of every nation, tribe and tongue? I don't think this was Horsley's intent, but I could see the material being appropriated in this way.

Horsley writes this book for an adult education context. It is readable and provides good explanations of any technical matters. Each chapter includes questions that may be helpful for both individual reflection and group discussion. The work can definitely open eyes to the economic teaching of scripture, and used by a theologically-informed leader could be useful in helping a group wrestle with what economic faithfulness as followers of Christ might look like.

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Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from the publisher via a pre-publication e-galley through Edelweiss. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. show less

Richard Horsley discusses the complex relationship between (guess) religion and empire going back thousands of years in history. The current secular "separation of church and state" model that requires a privatized religion is really quite foreign to human affairs; more often than not a society's religion played a large part in shaping its cultural identity and values.

So Horsley juxtaposes ancient and modern examples of the ways in which religion and politics interact. The most interesting show more juxtaposition to me was the way he equated our present day Christmas frenzy with Roman emperor worship. Christmas, in its present incarnation, is far removed from most of religion, due to our privatization of the latter, but devotion to capitalism and material goods gets "worshipped," in some sense, instead. Both the Christmas season and emperor worship become totemic religious symbols for their society, building loyalty and encouraging participation by good citizens, and it grows cyclically to strengthen people's devotion to the empire. show less

An interesting look at all the various political, religious, and terrorist groups active in lst century Judea. There some some very nasty characters active in those days in that part of the world, and Jesus associated with quite a few of them. It wasn't coincidental that the Romans put him to death as a political agitator.
What strikes one is how little it all has changed in the intervening two millenia. In the last 150 years, we've seen Jewish terrorists, Islamic terrorists, Christian show more crazies, and confirmed secularists all trying to inhabit that tiny crescent of land we call Palestine. Nothing's changed, only the individuals involved. The hatred, intolerance, ethnic enmity, corruption--it's all the same.
Qoheleth, the Preacher, in the Hebrew Bible, says, "There's nothing new under the sun." Especially not under the Near Eastern sun, which has been beating down on its particular variety of crazies for millenia, with no end in sight.
In that sense, I support, Horsley and Hanson's book is discouraging; it's always been like this; it'll always be like this. For a person whose faith claims are staked in Palestine, that's a daunting thought. show less