Globalization. Homelessness. Ecological and economic crisis. Conflicts over sexuality. Violence. These crisis-level issues may seem unique to our times, but Paul's Letter to the Romans has something to say to all of them. Following their successful Colossians Remixed, Sylvia Keesmaat and Brian Walsh unpack the meaning of Romans for its original context and for today. The authors demonstrate how Romans disarms the political, economic, and cultural power of the Roman Empire and how this ancient letter offers hope in today's crisis-laden world. Romans Disarmed helps readers enter the world of ancient Rome and see how Paul's most radical letter transforms the lives of the marginalized then and now. Intentionally avoiding abstract debates about Paul's theology, Keesmaat and Walsh move back and forth between the present and the past as they explore themes of home, economic justice, creation care, the violence of the state, sexuality, and Indigenous reconciliation. They show how Romans engages with the lived reality of those who suffer from injustice, both in the first century and in the midst of our own imperial realities. Reviews and Endorsements: “Sylvia and Brian are two of my favorite Bible scholars. Whether you’re over-churched or under-churched, they stir in you a fresh curiosity for the Bible. This new book is perfect for scholars and new Bible readers alike, and for everyone in between. They rescue one of the most misused books of the Bible from the hands of colonizers and crusaders. And they help us listen with first-century ears to the anti-imperial love story of Romans.”—Shane Claiborne, author, activist, and cofounder of Red Letter Christians “If you want to hear—and experience—Paul’s letter to the Jewish and gentile Christ-followers in Rome as you never have, read this book. And re-read it. Study it in your church circles. Talk about it with your friends. Assign it in your courses. As with their earlier Colossians Remixed, Keesmaat and Walsh have once again interwoven close textual reading of the New Testament (they clearly love the Scriptures!) with its unabashedly Jewish roots and its explosive relationship to the Roman imperial context. Most importantly, they bring the message of Romans into dialogue with our lives today, as we struggle to be faithful to the good news of Messiah Jesus in our own imperial context.”—J. Richard Middleton, professor of biblical worldview and exegesis, Northeastern Seminary at Roberts Wesleyan College “In 1918 Karl Barth published his commentary on Romans, which ignited a profound theological turn. A century later, Keesmaat and Walsh write into the headwinds of Trumpism, deepening social disparity, ecological crisis, and endless war. Building on recent scholarship, this brilliant study engages the original audience, who labored under the shadow of empire, in a way that brings its message to life for similarly struggling North American Christians. The authors employ a robust imagination, an interlocutor, and keen historical literacy to free Romans from its captivity to dogmatic and pietistic interpretations, restoring it to its social context (with all its disturbing parallels to our own). The result is a fresh and committed reading by two of our generation’s best interpreters of Word and world. May it, too, inspire a turning!”—Ched Myers, Bartimaeus Cooperative Ministries Contents: 1. Reading Romans and Disarming Empire 2. Kitchen Walls and Tenement Halls 3. Empire and Broken Worldviews 4. Homeless in Rome 5. Creation and the Defilement of Home 6. Economic Justice and the Kingdom of Life 7. Welcoming the Powerless 8. The Pax Romana and the Gospel of Peace 9. Imperial Sexuality and Covenantal Faithfulness 10. Salvation, Lament, and Hope Indexes About the Authors: Sylvia C. Keesmaat (DPhil, University of Oxford) is adjunct professor of biblical studies at Trinity College and Wycliffe College in Toronto, Ontario, and biblical scholar in residence at St. James Anglican Church in Fenelon Falls. She is the author of Paul and His Story: (Re)Interpreting the Exodus Tradition, editor of The Advent of Justice, and coauthor, with Brian Walsh, of Colossians Remixed: Subverting the Empire. Keesmaat and Walsh live on an off-grid permaculture farm in Cameron, Ontario, with a fluctuating number of animals and people. Brian J. Walsh (PhD, McGill University) serves as a Christian Reformed campus minister at the University of Toronto and is an adjunct professor of theology at Trinity College and Wycliffe College in Toronto, Ontario. He has written numerous books, including Kicking at the Darkness: Bruce Cockburn and the Christian Imagination, The Transforming Vision, and Truth Is Stranger Than It Used to Be. He is the coauthor, with Sylvia Keesmaat, of Colossians Remixed: Subverting the Empire. Walsh and Keesmaat live on a solar-powered permaculture farm in Cameron, Ontario. |