Converting our Imagination 6<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Yesterday's post concerned whether or not there are parallels between Rome as empire and the USA as empire. Regardless of your thoughts there, Gorman's\" \/>\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\/23\/converting-our-imagination-6\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Converting our Imagination 6\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Yesterday's post concerned whether or not there are parallels between Rome as empire and the USA as empire. Regardless of your thoughts there, Gorman's\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2010\/12\/23\/converting-our-imagination-6\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Jesus Creed\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2010-12-23T06:02:23+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2010-12-20T02:08:58+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=\"1 minute\" \/>\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\/23\/converting-our-imagination-6\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2010\/12\/23\/converting-our-imagination-6\/\",\"name\":\"Converting our Imagination 6\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2010-12-23T06:02:23+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2010-12-20T02:08:58+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/#\/schema\/person\/5919e847c58ffe6efb5899fb61797252\"},\"description\":\"Yesterday's post concerned whether or not there are parallels between Rome as empire and the USA as empire. Regardless of your thoughts there, Gorman's\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2010\/12\/23\/converting-our-imagination-6\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2010\/12\/23\/converting-our-imagination-6\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2010\/12\/23\/converting-our-imagination-6\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Converting our Imagination 6\"}]},{\"@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_head_json":{"title":"Converting our Imagination 6","description":"Yesterday's post concerned whether or not there are parallels between Rome as empire and the USA as empire. Regardless of your thoughts there, Gorman's","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\/23\/converting-our-imagination-6\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Converting our Imagination 6","og_description":"Yesterday's post concerned whether or not there are parallels between Rome as empire and the USA as empire. Regardless of your thoughts there, Gorman's","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2010\/12\/23\/converting-our-imagination-6\/","og_site_name":"Jesus Creed","article_published_time":"2010-12-23T06:02:23+00:00","article_modified_time":"2010-12-20T02:08:58+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":"1 minute"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2010\/12\/23\/converting-our-imagination-6\/","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2010\/12\/23\/converting-our-imagination-6\/","name":"Converting our Imagination 6","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/#website"},"datePublished":"2010-12-23T06:02:23+00:00","dateModified":"2010-12-20T02:08:58+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/#\/schema\/person\/5919e847c58ffe6efb5899fb61797252"},"description":"Yesterday's post concerned whether or not there are parallels between Rome as empire and the USA as empire. Regardless of your thoughts there, Gorman's","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2010\/12\/23\/converting-our-imagination-6\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2010\/12\/23\/converting-our-imagination-6\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2010\/12\/23\/converting-our-imagination-6\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Converting our Imagination 6"}]},{"@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\/12030","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=12030"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12030\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12030"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12030"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12030"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}

{"id":12030,"date":"2010-12-23T00:02:23","date_gmt":"2010-12-23T06:02:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/community\/jesuscreed\/?p=12030"},"modified":"2010-12-19T20:08:58","modified_gmt":"2010-12-20T02:08:58","slug":"converting-our-imagination-6","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2010\/12\/23\/converting-our-imagination-6\/","title":{"rendered":"Converting our Imagination 6"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

$\"\"$ <\/a>As we have been saying, Michael Gorman, Reading Revelation Responsibly: Uncivil Worship and Witness: Following the Lamb into the New Creation<\/a><\/em><\/strong> discusses this theopolitical reading of Revelation.<\/p>\n

So, his point: \u201cRevelation is a manifesto against civil religion and a summons to uncivil worship and witness\u201d (55). I totally agree.<\/p>\n

Christmas, my friend, celebrates the birth of the King, and that birth occurred according to Luke 2 in the midst of a Roman Empire \u2014 and Jesus was the alternative king with an alternative kingdom. He wielded not Caesar\u2019s weapons but \u201cLamb power.\u201d<\/p>\n

Secular power is not sacred.<\/p>\n

Christmas proposes a sacred, non-secular power that is more powerful than the swords of Rome.<\/p>\n

Power, sex and money are symptoms of a sacralized political dream that is undercut by Lamb power.<\/p>\n

So here\u2019s Gorman\u2019s claim: \u201cThe most alluring and dangerous deity in the United States is the omnipresent, syncretistic god of nationalism mixed with Christianity lite\u201d (56).<\/p>\n

The plea of this book is for Christians to resist the charms of civil religion. The Church is called to cease from its participation in idolatries and to give itself to the Lamb.<\/p>\n

Like Star Wars, it leaves us with an alternative: Beast or Lamb?<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"