A relação política entre o Evangelho de Jesus e a figura de César (i.e. Império Romano) é um tema muito explorado pela academia anglo-americana dentro da Teologia Paulina. Seria uma tentativa de ver não somente as implicações espirituais do Evangelho, mas também o seu contexto e influência política. Um dos principais teólogos que desenvolvem essa linha de pensamento é Richard Hosley, cuja obra principal é “Paul and Empire: Religion and Power in Roman Imperial Society“.
N. T. Wright, no ensaio “Paul’s Gospel and Cesar’s Empire*”, diz que a resposta ao imperialismo de César foi/é um “imperialismo” do único de verdadeiro Senhor, Jesus de Nazaré:
If Paul’s answer to Cesar’s empire is the empire of Jesus, what does that say about this new empire, living under the rule of its new Lord? It implies a high and strong ecclesiology in which the scattered and often muddled cells of women, men, and children loyal to Jesus as Lord from colonial outposts of the empire that is to be: subversive little groups when seen from Cesar’s point of view, but when seen Jewishly and advance foretaste of the tome when the earth shall be filled with the glory of the God of Abraham and the nations will join Israel in singing God’s praises (cf. Rm 15.7-13). From this point of view, therefore, this counter-empire can never be merely critical, never merely subversive. It claims to be the reality of which Cesar’s empire is the parody; it claims to be the modeling the genuine humanness, not least the justice and peace, and the unity across traditional racial and cultural barriers, of which Cesar’s empire boasted. If this claim is not to collapse one more into dualism, into a rejection of every human aspiration and value, it will be apparent that there will be a large degree of overlap. ‘Shun what is evil; cling to what is good’. There will be affirmation as well as rejection, collaboration as well as critique. To collaborate without compromise, to criticize without dualism – this is the delicate path that Jesus’ counter empire had to learn to tread.
O Evangelho redefine em torno de Cristo essa palavra tão carregada de ideologia: IMPERIALISMO.
* WRIGHT, N. T., Pauline Perspectives. Essays on Paul. 1978-2013. Fortress Press, Minneapolis, 2013, pg. 189-190
Reflexiones 