Christendom
David Bosch defined Christendom as "a society in which it is popular to be a Christian, in which the Church is a respected part of society because it does not turn the world upside down."
Steve wrote: "I'm not too sure what Christendom means, but to the extent that the Roman empire became Christian, abandoned places of empire refers to places where there were once Christians, but there are no longer any Christians there."
What is your understanding of 'Christendom'? Is it the same thing as 'empire'? Does it have any significance in the post-colonial conversation?
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Empire
In a recent discussion on God and Empire at Southern Methodist University, Professor Joerg Rieger defined empire as culture plus power. It is not enough to use Richard Niebuhr's language of Christ and Culture, especially when the latter is thought to be somehow benign. When the culture has power we must talk about Christ and empire. Empire always presents itself as the only option. Christian hope says there is another way forward.
culture + power
Nice web-site, Bob. Is LifeSpace involved with Amahoro?
Did you see the recent discussion on 'empire' at Emergent Africa? I like Rieger's definition, but can you unpack his use of the word power? Examples?
Christ and Culture
Hi Bob - great to know you're following what's happening on this site! Will you be coming to Amahoro next year in Rwanda?
I like what you've said about Christ and Culture, and about moving beyond Niebuhr. I've heard that some favour John Howard Yoder's view, but I don't know much about it - can you help?
I like your closing comments too - but wouldn't fundamentalists read that as saying, "Christ presents himself as the only option," - leaving it open for us to equate Christ with Empire?
reply
Hi guys. Sorry to be slow in responding. My tardiness does not signal lack of interest! I appreciate what you all are doing and wish that there was a little less distance between SA and Dallas!
Quick note on LifeSpace--that is the site that Joni Powers and I maintain as part of an ongoing project that also includes a recently-released book by the same title. It is not connected to Amahoro in any formal sense, but you could consider it part of the wider network, as we are involved in Amahoro, ALARM (my employer!), and the emergent conversation. Thank for checking it out.
I don't know if I will be able to make it to Rwanda in May. I would love to, but will be in Sudan in April and in Burundi and Rwanda in July. Another trip in between those two seems like one too many, but we will see. I have too many friends who will be there--some already in Rwanda--for me to ignore the possibility!
As I understand Joerg's description of empire and power, he is not just talking about military force, though that is a prominent example. He is also talking about economic structures and perspectives that become so pervasive they come to exercise undo control. A similar point is made by the authors of Hope in Troubled Times: A New Vision for Confronting Global Crises (Baker, 2007). They speak of idolatry in broad terms, contending that ideals of material progress and prosperity can be seen as idols. I think Rieger would say that those ideals, when so prevalent in a community as to exist unobserved and unquestioned, could be seen as an expression of empire.
When the church shares those ideals, of course, it loses its prophetic, alternative voice. Likewise, when it pretends to be a pure alternative, it fails to see its own complicity with the culture and with self-interest. (That is the problem with fundamentalists who think that they can be in any sense equated with Christ and thereby be the empire, as you note.) So, within Niebuhr's original categories, the "Christ of Culture" and the "Christ Against Culture" are both bad options (perhaps even straw men). The other three options are difficult to manage because his definitions of culture and Christ keep shifting. I think that is partly what Yoder was trying to address, but to be honest, it has been too long since I have read JHY on that topic and I don't have it in front of me. If you want to see the critique, however, check out the chapter by Yoder in Authentic Transformation: A New Vision of Christ and Culture, by Stassen, Gushee, and Yoder.
Sorry for the long post!
Bob
Good quote!
I haven't seen this David Bosch quote before. It is a sad reality in many countries and communities, where churches doesn't protest the oppression of the Empire and accommodate the trivialization of the truth.
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