Friday, April 4 & Saturday, April 5, 2008
Union Theological Seminary

A consultation of roundtable discussions and plenaries convened by the New Testament Department at Union Theological Seminary in the City of New York. The Roman Empire as social, political, and religious context for the study of the New Testament has gained much traction in recent years. This consultation sought to move beyond simply noticing the resonance between New Testament texts and Roman imperial contexts, reflecting the most current innovations in this field of research and teaching.

Although the Poverty Initiative was involved throughout the consultation, we specifically participated in the following sessions on Saturday, 5 April 2008:

9:00-10:20 a.m.: Working Group Session II
Reimagining the New Testament’s Deployment as Scripture—Poverty as Case Study
Each working group will consider the intersections of their group topic with economic injustice and poverty by encountering and fostering critical conversation with members of poor people’s organizations.

1:30-2:50 p.m.: Afternoon Plenary
Resistant Readings: From Theories to Practice
Three concurrent sessions on ways the New Testament and Early Christianity are used to enforce and affirm patterns of domination and subordination, as well as some strategies for transformative re-reading. Sessions will include:

1. Jesus' Last Week and MLK's Last Year: Implications for the Poor Organizing Today
   Room 207
   Poverty Initiative at Union Theological Seminary
   Willie Baptist, Scholar in Residence, Poverty Initiative
   Liz Theoharis, Coordinator, Poverty Initiative
   
   This session will explore connections between ancient and contemporary struggles for economic justice, drawing on resources such as Marcus Borg and John Dominic Crossan's recent book The Last Week: What the Gospels Really Teach about Jesus' Final Days in Jerusalem, Martin Luther King's writings on the Poor People's Campaign, and the experiences of poor people building a social movement to end poverty today.
   
   
2. Paul and the Philosophers – Nietzsche, Gramsci, Badiou
   Room AD30
   Jan Rehmann, Union Theological Seminary and Free University of Berlin
   Neil Elliott, Fortress Press
   Brigitte Kahl, Union Theological Seminary
   
   Beginning with Friedrich Nietzsche’s image of Paul as a dangerous subversive intellectual, this presentation will identify Pauline resistance in terms of Antonio Gramsci’s concepts of “hegemony” and “passive revolution.” Paul’s resonance with contemporary philosophy will also be explored, with special attention to how Alain Badiou’s understanding of Paul’s Christ vision as an “event” misses the apocalyptic coordinates in Romans, which can be more adequately grasped with the help of Frederic Jameson’s concepts of ideological constraint and closure.
   
   
3. Canon and Empire
   Bonhoeffer Room
   Celene Lillie, Union Theological Seminary
   Hal Taussig, Union Theological Seminary
   
   How do canon and empire reinforce one another? In the ancient world lists of books that one should or should not read seem to matter less, at times, than creedal statements—especially as an expression of imperial authority. But today, contemporary functions of canon tend to anachronistically reinforce, whether intentionally or not, notions of “imperial” authority onto these lists—or the List—which deeply affects modes of textual interpretation. This session will explore these issues as a way to think about both ancient and contemporary resistance reading strategies.

For a complete schedule visit the consultations' official site