ResistingTrump with Revelation (1)
Introduction
The Book
The
book of Revelation was likely written in the 90’s a.d. to seven communities of
faith in Asia Minor in the Roman Empire under Emperor Domitian. Written by a Seer
named John (probably not the author of the fourth gospel), it presents itself
as a pastoral letter, a prophetic announcement, and an apocalypse.
-As a pastoral letter Revelation offers practical wisdom for
churches in the crucible of living faithfully amid the most powerful empire on
earth. Here we discover the focus of the book.
-As a prophetic announcement Revelation provides the content
from which the Seer draws his pastoral counsel.
-As an apocalypse (a revelation, the first Greek word of the
document, from which it gets its name) Revelation gives us an x-ray (as it
were) into the character of the empire, the kingdom of which God is the King,
and what it means to participate in God’s Kingdom). From this aspect of the
book we get the necessary perspective from which to hear it content and
counsel.
Pastoral
counsel, prophetic content, and perspective – that’s what we get from this
volatile mixture of genres. As such Revelation addresses our passions
(apocalypse), priorities (prophetic), and practices (pastoral). It brings
heart, head, and hands into an integrated whole. We must respond to it as a
whole, heart, head, and hands.
The Empire
Like
all empires, Rome ruled with an iron fist, for the benefit of the 1%, and with unlimited
pretentions. And Rome, here, means the Emperor. It promulgates a totalizing
ideology to justify its privileged, divinely ordained, place in the order of
things. Michael Kruse writes: “The defining feature of Empire is its totalizing
agenda. Everything and everyone must come under the service of the Empire. That
certainly has implications for how empire relates to those outside its
immediate influence but it equally involves hoe it subjugates those who reside
in the empire.”
These
are all features of the young Trump presidency. They apply in varied measure to
all the expressions of American empire through its history but are being pushed
with great vigor by Trump. Increased military spending, and likely use in the
world, policies put in place to benefit business and the wealthy, unlimited
pretentions (“Make America Great Again”) are evident signs of a beefed up
imperial agenda. Further, Trump has made it clear that America needs a big
change in its view of itself and its place in the world. American
exceptionalism is getting a major makeover!
John
writes primarily to contest the Empire’s ideology shaping the minds and hearts
of Jesus’ people. This ideology was impossible to avoid. Currency,
architecture, proclamations, festivals, and the like served as ubiquitous
reinforcers of the imperial ideology (think “In God We Trust” on our currency).
Their world was steeped in empire, as is ours. And we are assaulted by empire’s
rhetoric, images, and ideology as thoroughly as those first century Christians
in Asia Minor. It is primarily on this level, the apocalyptic, that we need to
hear the Seer’s words to us.
John
counters the ideology of the empire with the Old Testament. Though he seldom
directly cites it, every letter and syllable of Revelation draw breath from it.
One estimate I’ve seen is that there are over 500 allusions to the Old
Testament in the book. That puts us American Christians at a bit of a disadvantage
because we do not know the Old Testament well. Perhaps reading Revelation is a
way to remedy that to an extent. If your Bible has cross-references it would be
good to check out these references and allusions. I’ll comment on some of them
but I don’t have the space to include all of them.
Reading Revelation “Resistically”
One crucial
part of a comprehensive program of resistance to Trump is nurturing our memory of the events and traditions,
especially the biblical, traditions from where we draw and sustain our lives as
God’s people.[1] This
effort to read Revelation “resistically” is part of that program.
I susspect Revelation will turn
out to be more valuable to us Americans than we can imagine. Along with
Dietrich Bonhoeffer I believe Revelation is an essential resource for our
struggle. Perhaps most importantly, John’s visions can help us refuse to
normalize this new expression of imperial ideology. That at least I my hope and
prayer.
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