Nick Routledge@nick_routledge
Reply to @JonEgan14

@JonEgan14 @johnmilbank3 Messianic political reality, in a nutshell. N. O. Brown: "The real fight is not the political fight, but to put an end to politics. From politics to metapolitics."

Quoted or linked post

Nick Routledge@nick_routledge · 26 Jun 2024

@BrianZahnd Once the Powers and Church moved _in_, we became Kingdom-blind. We could have an unquestionably authentic religious experience of rebirth yet remain possessed by exactly what Jesus came to end, the "idolatrous spells cast over people" (Wink) by "the demonic complex" (Whiteley).

With the conversion of the emperor Constantine, however, the Roman Empire took over from the church the role of God's providential agent in the world. Once Christianity became the religion of the empire, notes theologian J. Denny Weaver, its success was linked to the success of the empire and preservation of the empire became the decisive criterion for ethical behavior. The Christus Victor theology feli out of favor, not because of intrinsic inadequacies, but because it was subversive to the church’s role as state religion. The church no longer saw the demonic as lodged in the empire, but in the empire’s enemies. Because society was now regarded as Christian, atonement became a highly individual transaction between the believer and God. The idea that the work of Christ involves the radical critique of society was largely abandoned. - Walter Wink, The Powers That Be: Theology for a New Millennium
Image description

Original X alt text

With the conversion of the emperor Constantine, however, the Roman Empire took over from the church the role of God's providential agent in the world. Once Christianity became the religion of the empire, notes theologian J. Denny Weaver, its success was linked to the success of the empire and preservation of the empire became the decisive criterion for ethical behavior. The Christus Victor theology feli out of favor, not because of intrinsic inadequacies, but because it was subversive to the church’s role as state religion. The church no longer saw the demonic as lodged in the empire, but in the empire’s enemies. Because society was now regarded as Christian, atonement became a highly individual transaction between the believer and God. The idea that the work of Christ involves the radical critique of society was largely abandoned. - Walter Wink, The Powers That Be: Theology for a New Millennium

Copy of tweet here: Perhaps it's timely to ask to what degree all of us have been 'NPC-ed' by the peak deception of a monolithic caricature of reality-in-actuality, and the immense array of epistemologies and institutions its all-pervasive optics exclusively represent, validate and secure? @nick_routledge and @johnrobb 2/ Then again, a culturally-constructed Spectacle passing for substantive reality is hardly news; nor, for that matter, is the dark sorcery of veiled powers commanding us to be fooled by appearances - ravenous wolves disguised as angels of light. There is another way, of course.
Image description

Original X alt text

Copy of tweet here: Perhaps it's timely to ask to what degree all of us have been 'NPC-ed' by the peak deception of a monolithic caricature of reality-in-actuality, and the immense array of epistemologies and institutions its all-pervasive optics exclusively represent, validate and secure? @nick_routledge and @johnrobb 2/ Then again, a culturally-constructed Spectacle passing for substantive reality is hardly news; nor, for that matter, is the dark sorcery of veiled powers commanding us to be fooled by appearances - ravenous wolves disguised as angels of light. There is another way, of course.

View this post’s context →

Context in the archive

Quoted by@RDGStout Salve! My childhood (nine years of Latin) was spent avidly walking Roman ruins. Yes, to hell with all Caesars and kings. To hell with Constantinian concessions. "Exit the mental moonlight, exit lex, Rex and principium, exit the whole Shebang, Exeunt omnes." -Wallace Stevens