Wrestling with Imperial Christianity – Book Review
Wrestling with Imperial Christianity. Biblical Anti-Domination and Anti-Imperial Strategies for Liberation, Justice and Peace in our Fallen World, by Mukti Barton, February 2025. Darton, Longman and Todd, ISBN 9781915412805, 352 pages. RRP £16.99 (paperback)
The title of this book is not lacking in ambition, and it was with some trepidation that I started reading it, wondering at the outset whether it was promising too much. But I enjoyed this work by Mukti Barton much more than I expected and the main reason for that was the attention to detail that is given to unpicking familiar stories and offering readings that are not only illuminating but also open new understandings. This is not the typical approach of biblical exegesis, (which is characterised as dog-and bone exegesis maybe a little unfairly; I have gnawed at a few bones too in my time) but the rather the liberation hermeneutic developed first in the work of Gustavo Gutierrez. The hope is that such a hermeneutic would free us from “Euro-American, dominant, mainstream, traditional hegemonic Christianity.” So she considers the Bible to be a talking book, asking us a central question, who do you trust, God or Mammon?
Mukti Barton begins at the beginning with the opening chapters of Genesis and the appearance of Mammon in the guise of the serpent, there to disrupt the balance and beauty of God’s creation. Our desire to be like God is the first step toward self-deification and mammonic domination. It is a path which leads us to death and destruction, which we see clearly played out in the world in which we live of rampant inequalities, environmental destruction and persistent wars between nations.
There are many revealing moments in the book. I especially enjoyed revisiting the Book of Ruth, long a favourite of mine, as Barton finds new takes on familiar stories and makes an interesting case for the importance of chesed/hesed (defined as loyal, steadfast, committed love) both in the book of Ruth and throughout the Bible. In the Book of Ruth, “God’s wisdom / word was made flesh and in the gospels Jesus the word/wisdom is made flesh in the rubble of history”. In the discussion of the temptation narratives, I liked the point that the difference between the kingdom of the world and the kingdom of God is slight, and the question is how the respective kingdoms are made. Philippians 2.6-11 is important in understanding the wisdom / Jesus path.
Reading the book made me pay attention to details and contexts, whether in the books considered from the Hebrew Scriptures or from Gospel narratives and the Acts and Epistles and for that I was grateful.
Did the book fulfil the promise of the title? I am not sure (what one book could?) but the book ends “even if only a few people find new biblical insights that empower them to resist oppression and injustices in our world to save it from mammonic annihilation, I will consider my book a success.”
By the time I had got to reading that, I for one could certainly say the book is a success.
Jonathan Morris
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