Kingdom of Bureaucracy

Cari lettori,
le attività del nuovo blog (la reincarnazione del vecchio Ta Biblia) cominciano con l'annuncio della pubblicazione del mio nuovo libro: Kingdom of Bureaucracy: the Political Theology of Village Scribes in the Sayings Gospel Q. Alla fine del post potete trovare una piccola presentazione dei contenuti e links alla pagina dell'editore Peeters e all'indice del volume.
Saluti a tutti i passanti.

Dear readers,
the activities of this new blog (the reincarnation of the old Ta Biblia) start with the announcement of the publication of my new book: Kingdom of Bureaucracy: the Political Theology of Village Scribes in the Sayings Gospel Q. At the bottom of the post one can find a short presentation of the contents and links to the webpage of the publishing house Peeters and to the index of the volume.
Best wishes to all passersby.

The Sayings Gospel Q was composed in the central decades of the first century CE by Galilean villagers who had acquired knowledge of Greek mostly through their involvement with the public administration. The present book analyzes the text of Q in order to rediscover the terminological and ideological traces of the activity of these sub-elite scribes in the Sayings Gospel. Given the bureaucratic positions occupied by the members of this group, the peculiar use of the phrase Basileia tou Theou carries a specific significance for its theological political implications. On the basis of Giorgio Agamben’s recent revision of the category of political theology, the attitude of Q on divine kingship is understood as an instance of sub-elite negotiation of social and political positions vis-à-vis the expansion of Roman imperial hegemony in the eastern Mediterranean. In this context the author(s) of Q envisage apocalyptic scenarios in which divine kingship replaces human rulers and native sub-elite bureaucrats can share in the exercise of cosmic government.
Bibliotheca Ephemeridum Theologicarum Lovaniensium 274; Leuven: Peeters 2015

Peeters
Index