(Ir)religiosity

Introduction | Part I | Part II

Now that I’ve got the whole political/(a)political reasoning off my chest I can move into some more metaphors. Again, I’d love to hear from you, if you have an idea don’t hesitate.

I originally envisioned this being two different posts, one on “the democracy of God” and one on “the republic of God.” Then I started pulling together my thoughts and I realized that not only would each of these not make a full post in their own right, but that they were both connected in ways I hadn’t initially realized. I briefly mentioned this last time and I’ll mention it again in a minute. So, anyway I decided to mash them both together in a single post.

Hopefully, if my choice of language accomplishes what I intended, the thought of a “democracy” or “republic” of God seems quite awkward and brash, perhaps even oxymoronic, I dare say brazenly iconclastic. Before you stop reading, let me explain. First, it seems to me that one of the obvious characteristics of Jesus’ teachings is that he frequently uses familiar language or a familiar metaphor in an unfamiliar manner, perhaps even in a contradictory manner that doesn’t quite seem to be complete on its own, but is still very provocative and subversive.

That being said, I’m still somewhat hesitant to use words and images such as “republic,” or “democracy” to describe God’s cosmic undertaking, mainly because they aren’t complete metaphors. They’re good metaphors for a such context and a certain locality, but they can’t really stand by themselves. And that’s why I will keep reiterating that any image or metaphor is always already incomplete. Metaphors need to be local and contextual. They need to be vernacular and visceral. So, don’t take these to be the end all be all. They’re only possibilities. Good possibilities, but only possibilities for a certain context, namely the American context. Obviously it can get much more local than simply “American,” but that is the trajectory I want to work from.

In my last post, I briefly mentioned two main reason why the word “kingdom” would have been very native and politically charged for his 1st century hearers: 1) it (“kingdom”) conjured up the ancient image of the Davidic rule, the golden-age of prosperity and security in the collective consciousness of the 1st century subordinates to the Roman empire; and 2) it referred to the current oppressive and imperial rule of Caesar and his Galilean puppet Herod.

So, I’ve got an image for both reasons. For #1, the republic of God. For Americans, “republic” should instantly conjure up images of the post-War of Independence, pre-Civil War period of history, the “golden-age” similar to the 1st Mediterranean peastants’ reflection and memory of the rule of king David before the exile. A rich period of history, a time of prosperity and success. A sort of sentimental time of history in the collective American consciousness—the way things were in the good old days. That’s why it’s important. It’s familiar and contextual.

For #2, the democracy of God. This language refers to our current situation (aside from the fact that we don’t have a true democracy, let’s just forget about that for the moment). Just as Jesus’ first century hearers would instantly be reminded of the Roman imperial occupation sustained through territorial rulers, so we, as Americans will—when we hear the word democracy–be reminded of our current political situation. The presidency. The nationalism. The flag. The military. The bald eagle. The national anthem. War. Terrorism. All those things. A very familiar image.

Now, I understand that there are obviously some problems here and many of the things that happened during the “republic” period of history and that are taking place in our current period of time are completely antithetical to what God has in mind, however, the language is very vernacular and familiar. Remember, I said that Jesus used familiar language in an unfamiliar and even contradictory manner. Just read the parables. So, with that in mind, I think we could (re)imagine a republic and a democracy of God. But not in the way we would think. We have to use the familiar language in an unfamiliar way. We have turn it inside out and screw it all up. We have to (re)imagine a republic where God is in charge not the white male and a democracy were God is president not George Bush or any other politician.

That’s what Jesus had in mind. That’s the message he proclaimed. What would the world be like were God in charge and not Caesar?

~bh ><>