Reading Revelation Responsibly: Uncivil Worship and Witness: Following the Lamb into the New Creation<\/a><\/em><\/strong> discusses this theopolitics theme throughout his book.<\/p>\n\u201cNearly all interpreters \u2026 recognize that the entire book is a critique and parody of the Roman Empire and of the cult of the emperor\u2026\u201d (40).<\/p>\n
Where do you think Revelation is clarified by this anti-empire reading? How does the gospel itself speak to Revelation as an anti-empire text? Do you see Revelation as theopolitics? What does this reading do to the many ways people read Revelation today?<\/strong><\/p>\nGorman sees six elements of the Roman Empire:<\/p>\n
1. The gods have chosen Rome.
\n2. Rome and its emperor are agents of God\u2019s rule, will, salvation and presence.
\n3. Rome manifests the gods\u2019 blessings \u2026 among those who submit to Rome\u2019s will.
\n4. The rule of the gods of Rome was accomplished through violence, domination, and \u201cpacification.\u201d
\n5. The emperor himself was worthy of praise, devotion, and allegiance.
\n6. The imperial age is the long-awaited golden age.<\/p>\n
Rome is the Babylon of Revelation; Rome is criticized throughout; Revelation is theopolitics.<\/p>\n
So, Gorman asks, what is an Empire? His definition is important and vital:<\/p>\n
An entity that has come to widespread (global or nearly global) dominance
\nthrough deliberate expansion
\nby means of the extreme exercise of some form(s) of power
\nresulting in the creation of colony-like clients of the entity and
\nof enemies who perceive the entity as oppressive.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The Book of Revelation is Theo-Politics, a book about a politics that claims God is king and no one else is, a book that declares that God alone is to be worshiped and no one else, a book that announces that God alone is to be obeyed and no one else. Thus, it is Theo-Politics. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":197,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2683],"tags":[4876,17107],"class_list":["post-12011","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-revelation","tag-michael-gorman","tag-revelation"],"yoast_head":"\n
Converting our Imgination 4<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The Book of Revelation is Theo-Politics, a book about a politics that claims God is king and no one else is, a book that declares that God alone is to be\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2010\/12\/20\/converting-our-imgination-4\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Converting our Imgination 4\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The Book of Revelation is Theo-Politics, a book about a politics that claims God is king and no one else is, a book that declares that God alone is to be\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2010\/12\/20\/converting-our-imgination-4\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Jesus Creed\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2010-12-20T06:08:43+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2010-12-18T01:45:03+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/wp.patheos.com\/community\/jesuscreed\/files\/2010\/11\/Apocalypse1-300x175.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Scot McKnight\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Scot McKnight\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2010\/12\/20\/converting-our-imgination-4\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2010\/12\/20\/converting-our-imgination-4\/\",\"name\":\"Converting our Imgination 4\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2010-12-20T06:08:43+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2010-12-18T01:45:03+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/#\/schema\/person\/5919e847c58ffe6efb5899fb61797252\"},\"description\":\"The Book of Revelation is Theo-Politics, a book about a politics that claims God is king and no one else is, a book that declares that God alone is to be\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2010\/12\/20\/converting-our-imgination-4\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2010\/12\/20\/converting-our-imgination-4\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2010\/12\/20\/converting-our-imgination-4\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Converting our Imgination 4\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/\",\"name\":\"Jesus Creed\",\"description\":\"Scot McKnight on Jesus and orthodox faith in the 21st century\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/#\/schema\/person\/5919e847c58ffe6efb5899fb61797252\",\"name\":\"Scot McKnight\",\"description\":\"Scot McKnight is a recognized authority on the New Testament, early Christianity, and the historical Jesus. McKnight, author of more than fifty books, is the Professor of New Testament at Northern Seminary in Lombard, IL.\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/author\/scotmcknight\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Converting our Imgination 4","description":"The Book of Revelation is Theo-Politics, a book about a politics that claims God is king and no one else is, a book that declares that God alone is to be","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2010\/12\/20\/converting-our-imgination-4\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Converting our Imgination 4","og_description":"The Book of Revelation is Theo-Politics, a book about a politics that claims God is king and no one else is, a book that declares that God alone is to be","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2010\/12\/20\/converting-our-imgination-4\/","og_site_name":"Jesus Creed","article_published_time":"2010-12-20T06:08:43+00:00","article_modified_time":"2010-12-18T01:45:03+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"http:\/\/wp.patheos.com\/community\/jesuscreed\/files\/2010\/11\/Apocalypse1-300x175.jpg"}],"author":"Scot McKnight","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Scot McKnight","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2010\/12\/20\/converting-our-imgination-4\/","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2010\/12\/20\/converting-our-imgination-4\/","name":"Converting our Imgination 4","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/#website"},"datePublished":"2010-12-20T06:08:43+00:00","dateModified":"2010-12-18T01:45:03+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/#\/schema\/person\/5919e847c58ffe6efb5899fb61797252"},"description":"The Book of Revelation is Theo-Politics, a book about a politics that claims God is king and no one else is, a book that declares that God alone is to be","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2010\/12\/20\/converting-our-imgination-4\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2010\/12\/20\/converting-our-imgination-4\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2010\/12\/20\/converting-our-imgination-4\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Converting our Imgination 4"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/","name":"Jesus Creed","description":"Scot McKnight on Jesus and orthodox faith in the 21st century","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/#\/schema\/person\/5919e847c58ffe6efb5899fb61797252","name":"Scot McKnight","description":"Scot McKnight is a recognized authority on the New Testament, early Christianity, and the historical Jesus. McKnight, author of more than fifty books, is the Professor of New Testament at Northern Seminary in Lombard, IL.","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/author\/scotmcknight\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12011","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/197"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12011"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12011\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12011"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12011"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12011"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/wp.patheos.com\/community\/sites\/40\/2010\/11\/Apocalypse1.jpg\" "\\"Apocalypse\\"")
<\/a>Michael Gorman, Reading Revelation Responsibly: Uncivil Worship and Witness: Following the Lamb into the New Creation<\/a><\/em><\/strong> discusses this theopolitics theme throughout his book.<\/p>\n