Colossians Remixed: Subverting the Empire

Trinity Journal, Spring 2006 by Beach, Lee

Brian J. Walsh and Sylvia C. Keesmaat. Colossians Remixed: Subverting the Empire. Downers Grove: InterVarsity, 2004. 233 pp. $22.00.

This venturesome book offers a bold attempt to position Paul's Epistle to the Colossians as a text uniquely suited to postmodern readers. The authors, inspired by the "allergic reaction to Paul's kind of rhetoric" (p. 116) that sometimes takes place among people living in contemporary Western culture, engage their task in an aggressive and comprehensive manner. In their view the church in the West is deeply embedded in an empire of individualistic consumerism, fueled by global capitalism, and ruled by strict economic and militaristic control. This contemporary setting can be compared with the ancient Roman Empire, where centralized power once in the hands of the Emperor now resides in the offices of the World Bank and the IMF. The book is ultimately an "exercise in hermeneutics" (p. 226), and the authors employ a hermeneutic that stresses the need to hear the NT with OT ears and to see the biblical story as living in the face of empire.

The book consists of two sections, Truth Remixed and Praxis Remixed. The author's foray into the territory of "truth" may be uncomfortable for more conservative readers, yet in an honest attempt at reconciling the dictates of Colossians with the concerns of postmodern readers they propose a "dialectical approach" to truth which contrasts the "binary opposition between 'truth' and 'suspicion'" (p. 107). Rather than seeing these as irreconcilable, they are posited as conversation partners which function as necessary mechanisms for enlightenment. Further, the "truth" of Colossians is not found in its rhetorical claims but in the fruit that it bears in the life of a community who embraces it.

In the section Praxis Remixed the authors argue for the need for an alternative worldview and an ethic that challenges the prevailing mentality of corporate culture. They condemn the current cultural accommodation of the North American church and stress an ethic of succession that leads Christians to see themselves as distinct, part of the living expression of God's story created to express the riches of Christ to the world. The authors make a thorough and cogent case for their reading of Colossians. At times they may be accused of stretching the text to make their point, even admitting at one point that their argument may be slightly oblique, but is in the text if "you have ears to hear." This suggests that it demands a certain vantage point in order to see the text as they want the reader to see it (although this is true for most exegetical positions). Also, their hermeneutical approach relies heavily on setting the Colossian teaching in its ancient context, critiquing the legitimacy of ancient approaches, and reinterpreting them in light of more contemporary norms. The book is a thoroughly engaging study of the biblical text. Various creative methods such as story, Targum, and conversation help to effectively present the authors' commentary on the text.

The idea of "remixing" is a musical term used to give new life to an old song. This book is a definite attempt to "remix" the Colossian treatise and give it a fresh voice in today's North American church. Teachers and preachers interested in wrestling with how the gospel can radically connect with emerging generations of churched and unchurched people will find much to think about in the pages of Colossians Remixed. While the approach and conclusions of the authors may not make everyone feel comfortable, their voice is worth listening to, not only because it may well stimulate one's thinking, but because it represents a genuine attempt at postmodern biblical studies. To ignore it is to ignore an emerging voice of the future.

Lee Beach

McMaster Divinity College