Come Out My People: God's Call Out of Empire in the Bible and Beyond

"A compelling view of two competing religious visions---one of "creation" and the other of "empire"---that run throughout the Bible." "A remarkable offering for those who care about the interface of power and faith with all the threats and seductions that go with it. . . As I read, I felt overwhelmed, both by the mass of data and by the cunning of interpretation. I could not put it down, and expect to continue to be instructed by it.---Walter Brueggemann" "Howard-Brook undertakes what few dare anymore: an introductory primer for the whole Bible...This book invites disciples to áconnect the dots', in order to recover our ancient, anti-imperial identity, and to embrace a radical faith and practice that are personal and politica."---Ched Myers" "Howard-Brook illuminates how ancient empires exercised control and manipulation of people not simply by political and military means, but also through the religion of empire. Throughout he makes clear that the core message of the God of creation is to call people out of empire, to refuse to cooperate with the forces of destruction and domination today."---Richard Horsley" "Will become a classic for communities that seek first to receive the gracious gift of God's alternative future to Empire."---Jarrod McKenna" "If we who sojourn in America are to be a community that can both name and resist the lure of Empire, we need a story more powerful than the story called America. Wes Howard-Brook knows than the Bible tells such a story. May its story be ours as we're set free from our imperial imaginations to dream with our Creator of a new world here and now."---Jonathan Wilson-Hartgrove.

1119893323
Come Out My People: God's Call Out of Empire in the Bible and Beyond

"A compelling view of two competing religious visions---one of "creation" and the other of "empire"---that run throughout the Bible." "A remarkable offering for those who care about the interface of power and faith with all the threats and seductions that go with it. . . As I read, I felt overwhelmed, both by the mass of data and by the cunning of interpretation. I could not put it down, and expect to continue to be instructed by it.---Walter Brueggemann" "Howard-Brook undertakes what few dare anymore: an introductory primer for the whole Bible...This book invites disciples to áconnect the dots', in order to recover our ancient, anti-imperial identity, and to embrace a radical faith and practice that are personal and politica."---Ched Myers" "Howard-Brook illuminates how ancient empires exercised control and manipulation of people not simply by political and military means, but also through the religion of empire. Throughout he makes clear that the core message of the God of creation is to call people out of empire, to refuse to cooperate with the forces of destruction and domination today."---Richard Horsley" "Will become a classic for communities that seek first to receive the gracious gift of God's alternative future to Empire."---Jarrod McKenna" "If we who sojourn in America are to be a community that can both name and resist the lure of Empire, we need a story more powerful than the story called America. Wes Howard-Brook knows than the Bible tells such a story. May its story be ours as we're set free from our imperial imaginations to dream with our Creator of a new world here and now."---Jonathan Wilson-Hartgrove.

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Come Out My People: God's Call Out of Empire in the Bible and Beyond

Come Out My People: God's Call Out of Empire in the Bible and Beyond

by Wes Howard-Brook
Come Out My People: God's Call Out of Empire in the Bible and Beyond

Come Out My People: God's Call Out of Empire in the Bible and Beyond

by Wes Howard-Brook

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Overview

"A compelling view of two competing religious visions---one of "creation" and the other of "empire"---that run throughout the Bible." "A remarkable offering for those who care about the interface of power and faith with all the threats and seductions that go with it. . . As I read, I felt overwhelmed, both by the mass of data and by the cunning of interpretation. I could not put it down, and expect to continue to be instructed by it.---Walter Brueggemann" "Howard-Brook undertakes what few dare anymore: an introductory primer for the whole Bible...This book invites disciples to áconnect the dots', in order to recover our ancient, anti-imperial identity, and to embrace a radical faith and practice that are personal and politica."---Ched Myers" "Howard-Brook illuminates how ancient empires exercised control and manipulation of people not simply by political and military means, but also through the religion of empire. Throughout he makes clear that the core message of the God of creation is to call people out of empire, to refuse to cooperate with the forces of destruction and domination today."---Richard Horsley" "Will become a classic for communities that seek first to receive the gracious gift of God's alternative future to Empire."---Jarrod McKenna" "If we who sojourn in America are to be a community that can both name and resist the lure of Empire, we need a story more powerful than the story called America. Wes Howard-Brook knows than the Bible tells such a story. May its story be ours as we're set free from our imperial imaginations to dream with our Creator of a new world here and now."---Jonathan Wilson-Hartgrove.


Product Details

ISBN-13: 9781570758928
Publisher: Orbis Books
Publication date: 10/31/2010
Pages: 544
Product dimensions: 6.00(w) x 9.20(h) x 1.20(d)

Table of Contents

Preface

Abbreviations

PART I IN THE BEGINNING

Introduction: "Is God on Our Side?" The Two Religions 3

1 "Then God Said, áLet there be light!'" (Gen. 1) 13

The Bible as Story and as History 13

2 "By the Sweat of Your Face You Shall Eat Bread" (Gen. 2-3) 22

3 "And He Built a City" 30

East of Eden 30

"Am I My Brother's Keeper?" (Gen.4) 33

The Historical Origins of "the City" 36

YHWH's Regret (Gen. 5-9) 43

The Beginning of Empire (Gen. 10-11) 45

4 Making One's Name Great 47

"Let Us Make a Name for Ourselves": The Tower of Babel (Gen. 11) 47

"I Will Make Your Name Great": YHWH's Call to Abram to Come Out of Empire (Gen. 12) 51

5 The Well-Watered Plain of Sodom 55

Turning to Egypt for Food (Gen. 12) 55

Choosing for Oneself (Gen. 13-14) 56

Entertaining Angels ...or Not (Gen. 15-19) 58

6 Fulfilling YHWH's Promises 66

Ishmael "yitzchaqing" (Gen. 21) 67

The Binding of Isaac (Gen. 22) 68

Acquiring a Holding in the Land (Gen. 23) 70

Finding a Wife for Isaac (Gen. 24) 71

Two Nations Are in Your Womb (Gen. 25) 73

Learning to Be a Trickster (Gen. 27-29) 75

Wrestling with God and Humans (Gen. 31-32) 80

7 The Price of Settling Too Soon 83

PART II FROM EXODUS TO EXILE: THE TWO RELIGIONS IN CONFLICT AMID GOD'S PEOPLE

8 Entering the "Exit Story" 93

9 Solomon's Wisdom 98

Dating Solomon 104

Solomon's "Nation Building" 115

Not Dividing the Baby 123

10 Finding the "Way Out" 134

Jeroboam's Rebellion 134

Birthing Israel, the People of YHWH 140

The Revenge of the Shilonites 156

11 Kissing Calves 161

Elijah, "Troubler of Israel" and His Successor, Elisha 161

Amos and Hosea: Calling Israel Back to the Sinai Covenant 165

12 "I Have Found the Book of the Torah in the House of YHWH!" 172

Hezekiah, Isaiah, and Micah Respond to the Threat of Assyria 172

Josiah, the Deuteronomistic History's True Hero 179

Monarchy, according to the Compromise Narrative 187

Role of Moses and Joshua 192

The Destruction of Jerusalem and the End of the Monarchy 197

13 What Was "Israel" before the Monarchy? 199

PART III FROM EXILE TO EASTER: FALLEN JERUSALEM, FALLEN BABYLON

14 The First Fall of Jerusalem: Jeremiah and Ezekiel 215

Jeremiah 215

Ezekiel 225

15 "In the Wilderness, Prepare the Way of YHWH": Envisioning a Way out of Exile 232

"Comfort, O Comfort My People": Second Isaiah's Promise of Release from the Prison of Exile 233

Ezekiel, Part Two: New Jerusalem 239

16 The Struggle over Jerusalem's Restoration 244

Introduction 244

Haggai-Zechariah 247

The Law of Your God and the Law of the King: The Imperially Sponsored Restoration Project of Ezra-Nehemiah 249

Against the Poor 256

"Do Not Let the Foreigner Joined to YHWH say, áYHWH Will Surely Separte Me from His People'": The Dissenting Voice of Third Isaiah 264

Genesis for a New Generation 268

Second Zechariah and the Beginning of Eschatological Hope 271

Leviticus: Cosmos, Temple, and Text in Microcosm 273

Chronicles: David as Patron of the Priesthood and Temple 278

"The Books of Moses" as Persian-supported "law" for Yehud 283

Assessing the Range of Visions for the Restored People of God 285

17 Seeking "Wisdon" under Greek Rule, Part One: The Ptolemaic Empire 287

From Persia to Greece 287

Wisdom from Above: A Brief Overview of "Royal Wisdom 290

Hellenistic Royal Ideology in Ptolemaic egypt 293

"I Will send You the Prophet Elijah": Malachi and the Closure of the Era of Prophecy 296

"All the Earth Was Filled with the Godlessness and Violence that Had Befallen It": Firs Enochs Book of the Wathcers 298

"All is Vapor": Qoheleth's "Pox" on Both Houses 309

18 Seeking "Wisdom" Under Greek Rule, Part Two: The Seleucid Empire 313

The Shift from Ptolemaic to Seleucid Rule of Judea in 200 BCE 313

Royal Wisdom on the Eve of Crisis: The Book of Sirach 315

The Epistle of Enoch: Measruring "Weeks" Until the Coming of God's Reign 318

The Crisis under Antiochus IV Epiphanes 323

The Maccabees: Zealous and Violent Defender of the Temple and of Religious Tradition 325

"And They Began to Open Their Eyes": Enoch's Dream Visions 330

"And I Saw One like a Human Being": The Book of Daniel 335

19 From Greece to Rome: Onging for God's Reign to Come 355

The Hasmonean dynasty: Empire from Within 355

Cosmos and Calendar: Enoch's Astrnomical Book and the Book of Jubilees 359

The Qumran Community: Awaiting the "End of Days" in the Desert 362

The temple Scroll: Envisioning a New Temple and a New King for Israel 366

Psalams of Solomon: Looking for a Messiah to Save Jerusalem 367

The Reign of Herod the Great, Pupppet of Rome 371

Parables of Enoch: Awaiting the Son of Man 372

PART IV FROM EASTER TO THE ESCHATON: JESUS' FULFILLMENT OF THE RELIGION OF CREATION AND DEFEAT OF THE RELIGION OF EMPIRE

20 Enlightenment and Empire: Reading Jesus from the Locus Imperii inthe Light of the Resurrection 383

21 The Gospel of Jesus Christ against the Gospel of Empire 393

22 "The Beginning of the Good News of Jesus Christ": The Gospel of Mark 399

23 "Strive First fo the Kindom of God": Matthew's Gospel 407

24 Proclaiming Jubilee: Luke's Gospel and Acts of the Apostles 418

25 "Savior of the World": The Gospel of John 435

26 "Christ the Power of God and the Wisdom of God": Paul's Counter-imperial Gospel 447

Paul's "Conversion" 451

Forming and Nurturing Communities of the "Called Out" (ekklesiai) 454

Paul's Gospel of the Victory of the Creator God over the Gods of Empire 457

27 "Come Out, My People": The Book of Revelation 466

Conclusion: Hearing and Responding to God's Call: "Come Out, My People!" 473

Bibliography 475

Index 517

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