When Paul was writing his letters, including instructions for those who were under the thumb of the government, he was writing as one who knew government persecution. Considering himself a slave of Christ, he wrote instructions to slaves; considering himself a Roman prisoner, he wrote instructions to those under Roman rule; considering himself condemned to death, he wrote instructions to those who suffered.
If Christians should continue to always be a voice of the political outsider challenging the mainstream (so Yoder, Hauerwas), what should they do if they happen to find themselves in a position of political power? This question was driven home for me by something interesting I saw in Caesarea: The inscriptions above have been excavated in ancient tax collection centres from the Byzantine (ie Constantinian) period: Here, adorning the floor, are quotations from the apostle Paul (Romans 13), warning those who enter that if they want to live without fear, they should "do good" in relation to the authorities! The voice of the Roman prisoner has been co-opted by the Roman government as a means of enforcement... I'll let you do the translation, dear reader* - it's quite easy Greek.
*note use of the singular
5 comments:
I'm afraid I haven't enough Greek to figure out the sayings, but I like your blog enough to add a link to it on mine.
I think the photographs make the scriptures you describe much more real. I am always used to thinking more abstractly than literally. Nice work.
I don't remember enough of the upper case letters from Greek classes to be able to read all the words :(
If I were less lazy I'd go get Wenham and look it all up
hi there - thank you for your comments... Hmm here are some clues that help with the Greek:
1) Capital sigmas in this time look very much like our letter C
2) Spelling is sometimes abbreviated
3) In one of the inscriptions there is a letter which looks like a fish standing on its head - this acts as a conflation of omicron and upsilon
4) The longer inscription is word-for-word the same as a verse in Romans 13 in the Nestle-Aland New Testament
I know a little greek, he runs the chip shop around the corner...
Boom Boom.
Seriously though, its a good point but do we always have to be an outsider to challenge the mainstream? What were alluding to by 'so Yoder, Hauerwas', are they books I should look up?
Well that's the interesting question - I think of John Howard Yoder (eg. the books "The Politics of Jesus" or "Body Politics") and Stanley Hauerwas (can't think of anything specific right now) as embodying the view that the church is called to challenge the world as a peaceful but provocative outsider. I find this a very likable view - but I think the question you raise is the same one I feel inclined to ask: Perhaps the Byzantine tax office got it wrong - but what might it mean to get it right?
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