Resistance

Review: Rereading Revelation

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Cover image of "Rereading Revelation" by Greg Carey

Rereading Revelation

Rereading Revelation, Greg Carey. Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co. (ISBN: 9780802878120) 2025.

Summary: A thematic exploration of Revelation’s dangerous call and encouragement to resist idolatrous imperial Rome.

We usually consider Revelation as the perplexing book with which we are both fascinated and yet unable to understand. In this work, Greg Carey, a scholar of the New Testament and of eschatological literature, makes a different assertion. He argues that Revelation was, and is, a dangerous book. In its setting, it was a call to the seven churches to resist the idolatrous power of imperial Rome. As he will elaborate, this had to do not merely with worship, but had social, economic, and political implications. He also finds it can be a dangerous book in its use of authoritarian and misogynistic language, as well as in the violence it portrays. While Revelation’s readers are never called to violence, its violent imagery may be used to legitimate violence.

Carey’s approach is not to offer a commentary on the book, nor propose a “system.” Rather, he thematically addresses a number of questions related to Revelation and its call for this dangerous resistance. The first chapter begins with what kind of book this is, apocalyptic, prophetic, or a letter. He contends that it is all three, basically a letter that unveils (apocalypse) the warfare between the Lamb and the beastly power of empire, calling believers to unequivocal loyalty to the Lamb.

That call to loyalty is one of authority, and in Chapter 2, Carey explores how a message that “carries absolute authority and brooks no dissent” cannot help but be seen as authoritarian. On one hand, he notes how John balances authoritarian and egalitarian statement, speaking as a brother. On the other hand, Carey also calls us to recognize those times where moral clarity and humble but unequivocal calling things for what they are is necessary.

Then Chapter 3 takes a step back and explores the Christology and Trinitarian relationships in Revelation. Remember that this preceded the conciliar statements on these matters. Regarding the Trinity, Carey explores references to the three persons yet notes a certain “blurring” in John’s references. However, with regard to Christ, he notes the focus on the Lion Lamb in the text and argues that the bloodied Lamb reflects not his enemies blood but conquest through his own death. Then Carey asks whether Revelation has an eschatology. He contends that it does not in any systematic sense. However, that does not exclude the portrayal of God’s victorious intervention in history nor the realities or resurrection, judgement, and the New Jerusalem.

Chapter 5 returns to the challenging call to the churches to total allegiance. Carey studies John’s use of pathos, of an appeal to emotion to move believers to resolved resistance. He uses direct address, anticipation and surprise, crisis rhetoric, aversion, and emulation in his appeal. In the midst of authoritarianism in our culture and the church, he weighs the ethics of the use of such rhetoric. Then in Chapter 6, he wrestles with the implications of that call given the extremes of wealth and poverty in the Roman empire. Faithfulness could be costly, certainly for the poor, and perhaps even more for the affluent enmeshed in economic relationships. Who had more to lose when absenting oneself from honoring idols of the emperor?

Chapter 7 explores gender and sexuality. One aspect of this chapter was to explore portrayals of women: Jezebel, the Woman clothed with the Sun, the prostitute, and the Bride. He wrestles with readings that find these idealized extremes misogynistic when real women are viewed in light of these. He also dips his toe into “queer” readings, noting some figures be interpreted beyond gender binaries. I found this aspect the least supported by the text.

Chapter 8 goes more deeply into the theme of violence. Again, without sanctioning violence on the part of readers, Carey acknowledges the violent language that many may shy away from and others use to justify violence. He observes the setting of the book amid a violent empire. And he would have us be aware of our longings for vindication against evil. Who of us is free of violence? Finally, Chapter 9 explores what resistance looks like. Beyond eschewing idolatry and violence, resistance on an everyday basis may likely have been faithful endurance and overcoming through faithful testimony, even in death.

Throughout, Carey is cognizant of both the horizon of the text and of contemporary readers, particularly in the United States and the West. He recognizes the misinterpretation of Revelation that endorses authoritarianism, violence, misogyny, and even idolatrous nationalism. He doesn’t dodge or gloss over the elements in John’s text that contribute to such misinterpretation.

At the same time, he draws out the unequivocal call of Revelation to total allegiance to Jesus and that believers overcome through faithful testimony and endurance, even martyrdom. They never overcome through violence. Nor do they overcome through political alliances with imperial power. In all this, Carey helps us wrestle deeply with the text and its implications for our own time.

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Disclosure of Material Connection: I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher for review.

Review: The Church in Dark Times

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Cover image for "The Church in Dark Times" by Mike Cosper

The Church in Dark Times, Mike Cosper. Brazos Press (ISBN: 9781587435737) 2024.

Summary: Understanding and resisting the evil that seduced the evangelical movement, drawing on the work of Hannah Arendt.

Mike Cosper has both experienced and closely studied how leaders and their followers abuse power, embrace ideologies contrary to the gospel, and often act with cruelty toward those who question. He left a church with such a leadership culture. And he chronicled the ministry of Mark Driscoll in the podcast series The Rise and Fall of Mars Hill. In this book, Cosper tries to understand how people of good intention were corrupted. And he articulates “practices of resistance” for those who do not want to repeat this history but resist it.

There are a spate of books that have been written on this topic. What sets Cosper’s book apart is his use of the thinking of Hannah Arendt, the philosopher who studied Hitler’s totalitarianism. However, in opening, he is quick, invoking Godwin’s Law, to deny an attempt to equate churches with Hitler. Nevertheless, the embrace of aspects of a totalitarian and authoritarian vision can inflict great harm. As he notes, “one can fall far short of [Hitler’s] monstrous achievements and still land squarely in hell.”

He begins with Arendt’s treatment of ideology, a story of everything that exchanges the gospel of grace for an iron logic. He uses Driscoll’s masculine ideology as an example, with its sweeping thesis that the church has failed to reach a generation because it lost all the men. To challenge Driscoll was to not be “man enough.” And this opened doors to spiritual abuse. Ideology proposes grandiose visions of changing the world through a particular leader or movement of leaders. An example Cosper gives is Bill Hybels and the Willow Creek movement.

The problem with ideology is that we bend reality and morality to ideological ends. It has meant exchanging the humility of redeemed disciples for the implacability of the fight. Authority is abused to attain spiritual goals. Often, we tend to look for moral monsters as a result. Instead, what we find is a banal form of evil, as Arendt did in studying Eichmann. Very ordinary people give little thought to the evil system they support. Likewise, church leaders often collude and close ranks against dissenters, not out of principle, but simply loyal conformity.

But how might we resist ideology and authority? Cosper turns to a Seattle native of another generation for help. Eugene Peterson never led a big congregation. He eschewed bigness for the pastoring of people. Rather than casting visions, he was more concerned to see how God was already at work in lives. Out of all this, Cosper arrives at three “practices of resistance.” First he encourages solitude and thought. Second he advocates storytelling and culture making–reflecting Dostoevsky’s idea that “beauty will save the world.” Finally he advocates worship that reminds us of the bigger story of God within which we live.

Cosper goes deeper than some in exploring the dynamics of authoritarian and ideologically captive churches. If nothing else, he introduces many to Hannah Arendt as a prophet for our time. The practices he commends make sense for resistance. They may not win the day in the sense of persuading people to repent from subverted ideologically driven churches. Rather, they sustain faithful witness to the gospel. Solitude and thought bring discernment. Storytelling and culture making point to the good, true, and beautiful gospel. And worship reminds us that as communities, we are God’s dwelling places, caught up in God’s cosmic plan to redeem all things. As dark as our times may be, the real destiny is not one of making one country great but extending God’s love to a world for which he died and will one day return to as king.

Cosper speaks unsparingly about the dark times facing evangelical churches within our cultural landscape. But he offers hope from the only sure source Christians have ever known-the risen and returning Christ. Many talk of speaking truth to power. Mike Cosper preaches the gospel of Jesus to every false ideology. What other hope and what other answer can we offer to dark times?

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Disclosure of Material Connection: I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher for review.

Review: Asian American Histories of the United States

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Asian American Histories of the United States, Catherine Ceniza Choy. Boston: Beacon Press, 2022.

Summary: The multiple, interleaved histories of the diverse Asian American peoples who migrated to, built communities in, contributed to, experienced discriminatory acts in the United States.

If you look closely at the title of this book, you will note that it is not a singular history but rather plural “histories.” Asian American peoples have been migrating to the United States from various countries in various waves over the past two hundred years. Catherine Ceniza Choy sets out in this work to sketch the outlines of these multiple stories. Two aspects of that methodology stood out to me in the reading. One was that she followed a reverse chronology, taking more recent key events and migrations first and working back in history to 1869. The other aspect of this work is that it is a people’s history, sketching not just the large contours and key events but the stories of individual persons and families–showing us the hopes, hardships, and particular experience of anti-Asian discrimination at different periods

She considers:

  • 2020. The outbreak of Anti-Asian hatred during the pandemic, blaming those of Asian appearance for the origin and spread of the disease. At the same time, Filipino nurses, a mainstay in many hospital systems, were dying in disproportionate numbers.
  • 1975. The journeys of Vietnamese, Laotian, and Cambodian refugees to the United States at the fall of Saigon. We learn of Ted Ngoy, a Cambodian who became the “donut king.”
  • 1968. The student strike at San Francisco State College and the growth of the Asian American Movement on campuses across the country.
  • 1965. The passage of the Hart-Cellar Act equalizing the numbers of immigration visas for all countries, allowing for expanded immigration from Asian countries, both highly skilled entering the professions as well as less-educated working in businesses like nail salons and restaurants, including the Filipino nurses among which came the author’s parents.
  • 1965. The Delano Grape Strike was part of the birth of the United Farm Workers, led by Filipino American Larry Itliong, often overlooked in the histories that focus on Cesar Chavez.
  • 1953. Permission to adopt transracial children of mixed birth from Korea and Japan, left behind when American soldiers returned home. This history raises the specter of the anti-miscegenation laws preventing inter-racial marriages.
  • 1942. Executive Order 9066 resulting in the forced removal of Japanese Americans in western states, losing property and belongings without due process to be interned in camps. George Takei and many others have told the stories of these camps.
  • 1919. The story of both Korean Americans and Filipino Americans seeking independence from Japan and the United States, respectively. The U.S. would remain silent about Korea due to their own hegemony in the Philippines.
  • 1875. The Page Act, ostensibly passed to keep out prostitutes, was used to keep Chinese women out of the United States, representing various laws that would keep Asians out of the country. This episode also reflects the sexualized stereotypes of Asian women as dragon ladies, lotus blossoms and prostitutes.
  • 1869. The completion of the transcontinental railroad. Chinese workers build much of the Central Pacific Railroad, yet were excluded from the celebratory photographs at Promontory Point and treated hostilely.

As may already be evident, Choy addresses three themes throughout the work: violence, erasure, and resistance. I was aware of both the violence and resistance but Choy makes evident that strategies of erasure are not new, whether it is blocking the publication of photographs, the scrubbing of stories from our history books, or even overshadowing the celebration of the centenary of the gurdwara in Stockton, California with a brutal mass killing at another gurdwara in Oak Creek, Wisconsin. She also makes us aware that perhaps the greatest tragedy is the “othering” of those who have contributed so much as Asian Americans. Choi gives us not only Asian American histories, but also histories of the United States that both confront us with our failures to live up to our highest ideals and the opportunities before us to do so.

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Disclosure of Material Connection: I received a complimentary review copy of this book from the publisher.

Review: The Handmaid’s Tale

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The Handmaid’s Tale, Margaret Atwood. New York: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 1986.

Summary: One woman’s account of life as a “handmaid” in the dystopian society of the Republic of Gilead, an authoritarian religious society organized around the urgent problem of declining birthrates.

Many of you already know the story, either from reading the novel or the TV series or both. In a dystopian future brought on by an eco-disaster or series of disasters, the Republic of Gilead has taken the place of the United States (or at least part of it, at war with other “sects”). It is a world of steeply declining birth rates organized into a religious tyranny centered around the production of children, especially among the power elite. Commanders whose Wives ceased to reproduce were assigned Handmaids whose name became Of+Commander’s first name. This is the story of Offred. She has been trained for this sacred role by the Aunts, a severe group of women who indoctrinated them into the sacred task of child-bearing.

Offred was separated from her husband Luke after their attempt to escape this tyranny. She doesn’t know whether Luke is dead or alive or where her daughter is. Her daughter is the reason she is a Handmaid. She is fertile. Most of her life is lived in her room, or on strictly regulated shopping trips, birth celebrations, and “salvagings” where transgressors are hanged. Once a month is the Celebration, when she lays between the knees of the Wife, (following Genesis 30:1-3), while the Commander has very impersonal intercourse with her in the hope of inseminating her.

Much of the narrative hinges on transgressions, many of which become necessities either because the rigid life, or because the rigidities just don’t work–a house of prostitution where the elite men covertly go, which has become the refuge of Moira, Offred’s rebellious friend who is a survivor, doctors who offer to have sex when the Commanders fail, Wives who arrange surrogates, a Commander who wants to have a real relationship with his Handmaid, and an underground “Mayday” movement helping people escape. Atwood’s narrative explores what happens when tyrannous purity cultures bump up against human nature.

Of course the tyrannous culture has to be maintained, and it does so by “salvagings” that turn lynching into a religious ceremony, not unlike what happened in many parts of the Jim Crow south, with a system of informers, Eyes, as well as any of the people around one. The narrative develops around the choices Offred must make when presented with the demands of the transgressive system, risking life to choose survival for herself, and possibly for her daughter, along with answering to her own longings for intimacy.

As you can see, Atwood raises all kinds of questions for us. Is it possible to employ religion (or a quasi-religion) in the service of a tyranny and its aims? In this narrative, women are both close companions and the arch enemies of other women. What do we make of that? And can this dystopia happen here?

The events of the past year are too close for comfort. We have been threatened with the dissolution of our political and social order. Religion has been coopted for political ends. We are in a country of declining birth rates. We face the possibility of a global eco-disaster that many consider posing an existential threat that warrants drastic action, while others vehemently deny and defy.

Most of all, it seems to me that this is a work of resistance. Some see an illusion in the title to The Canterbury Tales. Many see in these stories subtle resistance to the existing religious and political order, even while on religious pilgrimage. Offred’s tale, a series of daytime narratives punctuated by nights, mostly given to reflection, seems also a tale of resistance, a way of fighting to maintain her identity when her life, indeed her body, is employed against her will to sustain the world order. What I see her is a cautionary tale for us all.

Review: The Nightingale

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The Nightingale

The Nightingale, Kristin Hannah. New York: St. Martin’s Press, 2015.

Summary: The story of two sisters, estranged from each other and their father, a poet and bookseller, broken by World War I and the loss of his wife, as they face the Nazi occupation of France, how each resists this brutal regime, and how they find reconciliation and a kind of healing in the end.

“In love we find out who we want to be.
In war we find out who we are.”

There are some books that keep you up at night because you can’t put them down. This was different. This story kept me up at night after I had laid the book down, drawn into the choices faced by the characters, the brutality they suffered, and the profound grief that comes of love and loss. I’ve read other books with “heavy” content, but rarely have I been touched as I was in reading this book.

The book opens in 1995 in the voice of the aged narrator, having lost her husband and been diagnosed with terminal cancer and attended by Julien, her surgeon son. She opens a trunk, comes across an identity card for Juliette Gervaise. We subsequently learn that the narrator has been invited back to a reunion of passeurs in Paris, those who had smuggled people out of Nazi-occupied France. And this leads to a narrative of the lives of two sisters, estranged from each other, and from a father, Julien Rossignol, who had faced the Germans in an earlier war, and whose life was broken because of it.

The two sisters are Vianne and Isabelle. Vianne, the older, had fallen in love, conceived a child out of wedlock, and married her lover, Antoine, making a home and an idyllic life in rural France. Isabelle, the younger and seemingly more-headstrong, moved from finishing school to finishing school, consigned to them by a widower father, living as a bookseller in Paris, who did not want to be involved in bringing up either of his daughters. Yet Isabelle ends up in Paris with her father, expelled from yet another school, and distant from a sister who seems to want nothing to do with her.

Into all their lives comes the Nazi threat to France. Antoine is called up to military service along with the husband of Vianne’s best friend Rachel de Champlain, a Jewish emigre’ to France. The confidence in their fighting men and the defenses of the Maginot Line are shattered as the Nazis invade and approach Paris. Isabelle flees, trying to get to Vianne’s home, survives the brutal strafing of fleeing civilians, and falls into the company of a radical, Gaetan, one of those dedicated to the French resistance. He wins her heart, then leaves her after they arrive at her sister’s.

For a time, Isabelle stays, in a relationship made more tense by the presence of a German officer, Captain Beck, billeted in Vianne’s home. Secretly, Isabelle is already enlisted in the resistance cause, while Vianne is faced with the quandary of living with an enemy, who yet seems a decent man. She errs in reluctantly giving the names of those who are Jews and communists in the school in which she teaches, including, her friend Rachel’s.

From here, the plot unfolds in a series of heroic, and sometimes tragic, choices against the backdrop of increasing German brutality. Isabelle becomes the Nightingale (her last name is Rossignol, the French for “nightingale”), and with the aid of her father, working for the Germans but secretly aiding the resistance, becomes Juliette Gervaise, smuggling downed pilots over the Pyrenees to freedom until finally captured by the Germans in the last months of the war. Meanwhile, Vianne, under the nose of SS officer Von Richter who has taken the place of deceased Captain Beck, is able to rescue 19 Jewish orphans, including Rachel’s son, paying for her work in the end by the violation of her own body.

The succession of tragic events these women and their father face are the history of the Holocaust, and the terrible banality of evil and brutality of act that characterized Nazism. Sometimes we become inured to so much evil, but this story brought that evil to life in the experiences of Isabelle, and Vianne, and their friends and, particularly, the children, that brought it up close and personal once more, a powerful use of fiction to document the fact of the Nazi horror.

The loves of each, including Julien Rossignol, the father, and the terrible exigencies of war do indeed shape and define their characters, and in ways I cannot reveal without giving away the end, result in the healing of estrangements among them. The narrator’s closing words speak of the triumph of love and goodness in the end:

“Wounds heal.
Love lasts.
We remain.”