As I looked through my stuff, there are lot of interesting things that might as well go here on ispeculate.net. When taking a class about Urban Ministry in Detroit, I attended few lectures by Dr. James W. (Jim) Perkinson. Dr. Perkinson was in his lectures focused on the reading of the Bible as a response to the Empire.
The first thing I wrote down while listening to him was the notion that the word Gospel, was used mainly to describe celebration in connection to the Emperor. Using it for the life of Christ in Mark, is therefore an automatic threat to the powers in charge.
All structural powers are based on reciprocity, the one who is in debt, is somewhat dependent on the one who loans. The notion of grace, is another threat to the system.
Dr. Perkinson claimed that Jesus was not a threat as a theologian, but as “a community organizer.” A person that opened people’s eyes to the injustice and the systematic inequality. During Dr. Perkinson’s lectures I heard Mk 12.41-44 interpreted in connection to the verses that comes before it. It is not a celebratory text, using the poor widow as an example, but an attempt to describe Jesus’s sadness over the fact that the widow is tricked into giving away everything to the people in power.
Dr. Perkinson’s reading of the Sacred text is extensively important in a church, protected and even promoted by the state, as is the case in Iceland. A church that is an important link in keeping the status quo, promoting the powers at hand, is in real danger of crucifying Christ all over again. Dr. Perkinson asks the same about the educational system.
The Gospel of Jesus Christ is not necessarily good news for those that are comfortable in the system as is.
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