God and Empire
Jesus Against Rome, Then and Now

In this book, Crossan broadens his focus beyond Jesus to the whole surrounding Roman world, and to the whole Bible from Genesis to Revelation. And in comparing all this, he exposes a vast gulf between totally different visions for the world, which now compete to decide our future. On one hand he expl......more

Crossan presents an interpretation of history, civilization, and scripture which I found to be thought provoking. Crossan analyzes the nature of civilization and empire and asks if empire is the natural outgrowth of civilization. Crossan argues that we have come to accept as normal "civilization's p......more

Highly recommend this read for those who find themselves in the imperial power of the American empire and in the space of the Christian faith. This is a wise and powerful critique of the machine of the world from the perspective of Jesus, Paul, and John in revelation. We have a choice in which god w......more

Really incredible but too short and written for a popular audience so no referencing. Would love for him to develop these ideas at greater length. That said, what Crossan loses in depth he more than makes up for with his encyclopedic knowledge of scripture (Christian canon and apocrypha as well as o......more

Orthodox readers may be familiar with Fr. Paul Tarazi’s book, The Rise of Scripture, in which he proposes that the Old Testament was written in opposition to the Macedonian conquest of the Middle East by Alexander the Great. In other words, the Old Testament is a nonviolent literary assault against......more