Book Review

Paul and the Roman Imperial Order. Edited by Richard A. Horsley. Harrisburg: Trinity Press International, 2004. Pp. ix + 198. $25.00, ISBN 1-56338-421-3.

Book Review originally published in Religious Studies Review 31 (2005): 92.

The papers in this collection continue the work of the Paul and Politics Group of the SBL under the direction of the research agenda of Richard A. Horsley. The contributions generally begin with the assumption, stated by Horsley in the introduction, that "Paul's gospel of Christ was opposed to the Roman Empire" (p. 4), not to Judaism. Adopting this perspective, each paper explores specific, underlying issues in Paul's letters that can be described as anti-imperial, including: Paul's view of nature in Rom 8:18-23 (Robert Jewett); Paul's resistance to "pro-Roman aristocrats" in 1 Thess 2:13-16 (Neil Elliott); Paul's apocalyptic rhetoric in 1 Cor (Rollin A. Ramsaran); Paul's subversion of imperial values of commendation (Efrain Agosta); Paul's underlying resistance to imperial cult (with the use of isa theō) in the hymn of Phil 2:6-11 (Erk M. Heen); and, Paul's implicit critique of the imperial order through his virtue and vice lists (Jennifer Wright Kunst). The book concludes with Simon R. F. Price's brief but well-done survey of the state of the question regarding the nature of Roman imperial rule in the provinces, his area of expertise. The other papers in this collection make some interesting contributions along the way. Yet the underlying assumption that Paul is opposed to empire is in need of argued support, rather than repeated assertions (as in the introduction; e.g. pp. 1, 3, 4, 5) or claims of Paul's implicit subversion of the imperial order (as in the arguments of several papers). The book could have been counterbalanced by at least some contributions that explored other more nuanced possibilities regarding Paul and empire.

Philip A. Harland