Building a little on yesterday’s post about non-violence and the story of the cross, here’s a bit from Jürgen Moltmann that embodies a similar theology of the cross:
“Like the kingdom of Christ, the kingdom of Constantine began with a cross; but it was not the cross of Golgotha. It was the dream cross that promised him ‘In hoc signo vinces’-‘in this cross you will conquer’. With Constantine’s victory over Maxentius in 312, the martyr cross of Christ became a sign of imperial victory.”[1]
The question I’m wrestling with today is whether or not there is a Christian hermeneutic sufficient to keep us from giving such gospel-undermining interpretations of even the very images of the gospel that we’re invoking. Is there a way to tell and interpret the story of what makes us Christians that can keep us from baptizing a Constantinian settlement, from sending people on crusades, from biblically undergirding institutions such as slavery?
Does Paul’s narrative soteriology offer us a way forward? I think it does.
[1] Jürgen Moltmann, The Coming of God: Christian Eschatology (trans. Margaret Kohl, Minneapolis: Fortress, 1996), 162.
Daniel,
You raise a very good question, and one which I have been thinking about for some time as well. Especially in an American context this is a question we need to deal with, but usually avoid in churches. It seems that the main thing associated with the cross of Christ is “freedom.” “For freedom, Christ has set us free.” Well, the USA is the champion of freedom–God’s freedom. This seems to be one line of thinking in churches where the military of the United States is sanctioned by God, even sent in the name of Jesus Christ. This is a very deeply rooted view of things, and its appropriateness is very difficult to deal with and discuss. It seems at least with this line of thought that the meaning of “freedom” needs to be addressed, since it seems to be a big hermeneutical lens for uunderstanding what the good news of Jesus Christ is about.
Kyle
I agree, Kyle. This is not too far removed from our earlier “authenticity” discussion. What are we freed for and how do we know? For Paul, the answer clearly goes back to, “What are we freed by”. The cross of Christ becomes determinative for assessing faithful Christian action.