Uploaded August 2026 | Updated September 2026, 1 week ago
Joerg Rieger and Tripp Fuller go live to take your questions on the first lecture of "Christ and Empire Redivivus"
In Session 1, Joerg made the case that white Christian nationalism isn't a new problem — it's the latest chapter in a 2,000-year history of Christianity and empire propping each other up. He defined empire as a conglomerate of power that seeks to control all of life (politics, economics, culture, religion, right down to your most intimate relationships), and then turned to a surprising place to find resistance: the Apostle Paul.
Some of what we'll be chewing on:
— Why did Paul call Jesus "Lord" and "Savior" when those were Caesar's titles? The conservative read makes Jesus a bigger emperor. The liberal read would have picked a safer title. Paul does neither.
— Two flows of power in conflict: top-down power that rests on the shoulders of the few, and bottom-up power that rests on the many — Mary's Magnificat, the last being first, the workers in the vineyard.
— 1 Corinthians 12 as class struggle: "the eye cannot say to the hand, I have no need of you." Not organic hierarchy, not organic harmony, but the members who seem weakest turning out to be indispensable — a preferential option for those the empire depends on and suppresses.
— And the question underneath all of it: what's the "Christological surplus," and why couldn't the empire ever fully capture Christ?
Bring your questions, your pushback, and your own examples from where you live and work.
Want to join the class?
This is Session 1 of a six-part seminar with Dr. Joerg Rieger (Vanderbilt Divinity School) and Dr. Tripp Fuller. We'll move from Paul through Nicaea and Chalcedon, Anselm and the Norman Conquest, Las Casas and the Spanish Conquest, Schleiermacher and colonial fantasy, all the way to Christian nationalism in the United States today. Full lectures, readings, and live conversation with Joerg for the whole run.
Sign up here: homebrewedclasses.com
More on Joerg's work: religionandjustice.org
#ChristAndEmpire #Theology #ApostlePaul #ChristianNationalism #HomebrewedChristianity #PoliticalTheology
Joerg Rieger and Tripp Fuller go live to take your questions on the first lecture of "Christ and Empire Redivivus"
In Session 1, Joerg made the case that white Christian nationalism isn't a new problem — it's the latest chapter in a 2,000-year history of Christianity and empire propping each other up. He defined empire as a conglomerate of power that seeks to control all of life (politics, economics, culture, religion, right down to your most intimate relationships), and then turned to a surprising place to find resistance: the Apostle Paul.
Some of what we'll be chewing on:
— Why did Paul call Jesus "Lord" and "Savior" when those were Caesar's titles? The conservative read makes Jesus a bigger emperor. The liberal read would have picked a safer title. Paul does neither.
— Two flows of power in conflict: top-down power that rests on the shoulders of the few, and bottom-up power that rests on the many — Mary's Magnificat, the last being first, the workers in the vineyard.
— 1 Corinthians 12 as class struggle: "the eye cannot say to the hand, I have no need of you." Not organic hierarchy, not organic harmony, but the members who seem weakest turning out to be indispensable — a preferential option for those the empire depends on and suppresses.
— And the question underneath all of it: what's the "Christological surplus," and why couldn't the empire ever fully capture Christ?
Bring your questions, your pushback, and your own examples from where you live and work.
Want to join the class?
This is Session 1 of a six-part seminar with Dr. Joerg Rieger (Vanderbilt Divinity School) and Dr. Tripp Fuller. We'll move from Paul through Nicaea and Chalcedon, Anselm and the Norman Conquest, Las Casas and the Spanish Conquest, Schleiermacher and colonial fantasy, all the way to Christian nationalism in the United States today. Full lectures, readings, and live conversation with Joerg for the whole run.
Sign up here: homebrewedclasses.com
More on Joerg's work: religionandjustice.org
#ChristAndEmpire #Theology #ApostlePaul #ChristianNationalism #HomebrewedChristianity #PoliticalTheology
