BS and Monty Python

As I commented earlier, I heard several people this last weekend quote Monty Python's "Life of Brain" movie.  I have no problem with this, in fact I was quite a big Monty Python fan in Jr. High.  But it was ironic that a joke made in that movie became the theme for several discussions on the interplay between Jewish and Christian communities under the Roman Empire in the first century.

In the last couple decades the common stance has been to see the early Christians as anti-imperial.  They sought to create the Kingdom of God as an opposing force to the Kingdom of Caesar.  This was a healthy move for Biblical Studies noting the many ways the biblical writers undermined the culture around them.  This view continues today, a whole slew of books look at the anti-imperial nature of the gospels and Paul's writing.  The question raised in Life of Brain is "What have the Romans ever done for us?"

This is a valid question, the answer that many of these early Bible and empire professors have given is "only a model of what not to do."  As if the Roman Empire only stood as the great antithesis to Christianity.  Which is partially true, the Roman Empire was antithetical towards the Kingdom of God but it also stood as a great model of organized structure, military technology, and sovereign ruling.  All these aspects are drawn out in the New Testament writings, look at John and Paul for many features of Roman understanding.  So, while the New Testament presents a competing kingdom to Roman, it also barrows from Roman life to design, share, and display this kingdom.  I'm looking forward to tracing more of the influences, both good and bad, of Rome on the first Christians.  This will also help us understand the complexities of life today, which is still plagued with the mix of influences from American politics, global economics, and contemporary Christianity, just to name a few.