Seeing the Gospels Again for the Very First Time
Jesus and the Empire of God: Reading the Gospels in the Roman Empire, Warren Carter (Cascade, Eugene, OR, 2021).
Warren Carter boldly marches down a new path with his book, Jesus and the Empire of God. For centuries, Christians have understood the gospels to be like biographies, but with significant differences. For example, unlike most biographies that cover the subject’s life from birth to death, there are many years of Jesus’ life that are excluded from the gospel accounts. Usually biographies are written in order to give the reader a measure of the person—a better understanding of who he or she was. The gospels were written to proclaim Jesus divine.
The result has been that biblical scholars, theologians and parish pastors have limited their studies to the Canon. The gospels have been compared to each other and their differences discussed. Matthew was written to the Jewish Christian community, while Luke was written to the Gentile Christians. On rare occasion it has been noted that the term “Lord” was used by Roman emperors and the implications of Jesus use of the term expounded upon.
Carter takes a different approach to the study of the gospels. He compares the gospels to other ancient biographies—the biographies of emperors and other great Romans. Jesus’ birth in Bethlehem and his upbringing in Nazareth is seen in the light of the origin stories of Caesar Augustus, Claudius and Nero. The miracles stories of Jesus, which Christians have heard over and over, are held up against the signs and wonders performed by great Romans. Even Jesus’ death and resurrection are compared to similar stories, which were circulating around the first century CE, of Roman emperors and other dignitaries.
The result of reading Jesus and the Empire of God is to realize that the gospels were not written in a vacuum. The gospel writers used current literary forms to accomplish their purpose. There are many similarities to the accounts of Jesus’ life and those of other great men. There are also many significant differences. Readers of Carter’s book comes away with a new perspective on Jesus. The gospel stories are given more depth, more flesh, more meaning, and a great understanding of what the gospel writer was attempting to accomplish.
Carter writes in a clear, easy to understand style. His research is not exhaustive, but it is enough to build his argument and add some different colors to traditional pictures of Jesus. I enjoyed this book and I was blessed with several new insights. If you are thinking about adding to your library, I encourage you to give Jesus and the Empire of God serious consideration as a new acquisition.
I received this book free from the author and/or publisher through the Speakeasy blogging book review network. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255.