You Shall Not Bow Down and Serve Them: The Political Economic Projects of Jesus and Paul by Richard A. Horsley

Abstract

Reviewed by: You Shall Not Bow Down and Serve Them: The Political Economic Projects of Jesus and Paul by Richard A. Horsley Clair Mesick richard a. horsley, You Shall Not Bow Down and Serve Them: The Political Economic Projects of Jesus and Paul (Eugene, OR: Cascade, 2021). Pp. 236. $29. In You Shall Not Bow Down and Serve Them, Richard Horsley argues that Jesus and Paul have been misunderstood as merely "religious" figures. Instead, both are deeply embedded in their economic and political contexts and work toward the creation of an alternative economic model in opposition to Roman oppression. The book is divided into four parts: an introduction on methodology; analysis of Jesus's mission; analysis of Paul's project; and, finally, several chapters sketching out what both can offer a modern era dominated by global capitalism. Horsley's introduction is methodological, identifying and deconstructing assumptions that have governed much of the field of biblical studies. For instance, while biblical studies has operated with a post-French-Revolution division of religion, politics, and economics, H. argues that the biblical texts themselves contain no distinction among the three. Likewise, H. breaks down "print-cultural" assumptions, clarifying that biblical "texts" were received more through oral communication and performance than the dissemination of physical writings. H. follows this introduction with a chapter that surveys the biblical corpus on justice: some texts call for radical economic justice (Amos, Isaiah); many merely call for reforming existing economic structures (Deuteronomy); and a few even provide divine justification for exploitative economic systems (2 Samuel). Horsley dedicates the next four chapters to Jesus. His key argument—starting from the requests in the Lord's Prayer to "give us this day our daily bread" and "forgive our debts"—is that Jesus's proclamation of the kingdom of God is about economic subsistence through mutual aid rather than religious wisdom or apocalyptic prediction. H. situates Jesus's proclamation within a background of exploitation, taxation, and economic pressures on the Jewish people under priestly and political leaders (chap. 3). In that light, Jesus's ministry appears less a matter of an otherworldly kingdom of God than a renewal of the covenant community through social-economic solidarity (chap. 4). Likewise, Jesus's rejection of the priestly leaders, scribes, and Pharisees ought to be understood not as opposition to Judaism but as a condemnation of the temple-state's exploitation and economic extraction from the people (chap. 5). The sixth through eighth chapters treat Paul's alternative communities in the Roman Empire. In one of the most incisive chapters of the book, H. argues that both economic and sociological studies of the NT have been riddled with methodological problems (chap. 6). Economic scholarship has imported capitalist assumptions into its study of the Roman Empire, but H. makes the case that ancient Rome was no true market economy but rather a [End Page 358] political economy ruled by the demands and coercion of the empire. Likewise, prior sociological research—influenced by anti-Marxist sociological models in the 1970s—presented Roman society as a coherent system in which different socioeconomic roles and occupations all fit into a cohesive whole. The reality, however, was far more governed by inequality, poverty, and the exploitation of the many by an extremely wealthy few. Building on this foundation, H.'s next chapters present the early Christ movement as an alternative to the domination and exploitation of the Roman imperial order, turning first to Acts (chap, 7) and then to economic solidarity in the letters of Paul (chap, 8). Horsley's final section addresses contemporary implications. This section frames global capitalism as a new form of empire, the Bible as a tool of empire, and the field of biblical studies as complicit in empire (chap. 9). H. contrasts this with the biblical texts themselves. He traces the critique of empire and the call to political-economic-religious solidarity through the Hebrew Bible (chap. 10) and NT (chap. 11) and concludes in the latter half of chap. 11 with a call to create alternative communities in resistance to the empire of global capitalism. Not all will agree with the interpretive decisions that H. makes. One example is the use of Acts...