Romans Disarmed: Resisting Empire, Demanding Justice

by Sylvia C. Keesmaat, Brian J. Walsh

Overview

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.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781587432842
Publisher:	Baker Publishing Group
Publication date:	05/21/2019
Pages:	412
Sales rank:	729,197
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 8.90(h) x 1.10(d)

About the Author

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 and editor of The Advent of Justice.

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.

Keesmaat and Walsh are coauthors of Colossians Remixed: Subverting the Empire. They live on a solar-powered permaculture farm in Cameron, Ontario.

Table of Contents

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