Yesterday Jessica Mast (a student at FPU) and I presented the workshop “Ephesians & U2: Breaking Down Dividing Walls” in conjunction with Fresno Pacific University’s Building a Culture of Peace Week. Here are some highlights.
We started with a corporate and silent reading of our anchor text for the week, Ephesians 2:11-22. During open discussion we identified many important themes in this passage: “Gentiles” and “Jews,” “aliens and strangers,” “far off” and “brought near,” “peace” and “hostility,” “one new humanity,” “one body,” “those who were far off” and “those who were near,” “citizens,” and a whole string of building metaphors – household, foundation, cornerstone, structure, holy temple, dwelling place for God.
After an initial reading we began to explore the context of the Ephesian believers. Essential to understanding this church’s situation is the understanding of the Temple of Artemis, one of the seven wonders of the ancient world.
The massive Temple of Artemis was built on 100 columns in the sixth-century B.C. and was the site of worship for the “virgin goddess.” Artemis, the daughter of Zeus and the twin sister to Apollo, was known as the fertility goddess and a huntress. Sculptures from the period show Artemis with multiple breasts, a sign of her creative and fertile power. The Romans knew her by the name Diana. The importance of this site as a social, political and religious framework cannot be underestimated.
The small band of believers known as “The Way” huddled together in a house church virtually under the shadow of the Temple of Artemis. In Acts 19, Paul infuriates the artisans in Ephesus because he is drawing converts to The Way. The consequences are paramount: the disruption of economic and religious patterns. Demetrius rallies a mob against Paul and the city is soon chanting, “Great is Artemis of Ephesus!” Imagine living as strangers and aliens in this context. These believers are truly living on the margins of society.
Now Paul’s language in Ephesians begins to make sense. He is calling the believers, both Jews and Greeks, to unite together through the cross of Jesus Christ. There are many things they disagree on, but it is essential to band together as a “new humanity” in light of the “principalities and powers” they face. This new peace that comes through reconciliation of the cross is not the Pax Romana of the ruling class; this is a new framework for looking at the world. Though they live in the shadow of the Temple of Artemis, they are being brought together on the foundation and cornerstone of Christ, joined together as a “holy temple,” a “dwelling place for God.” This can only happen because Christ has broken down the dividing wall and replaced the hostility with peace.
Next, we made a shift to ask, “What are the dividing walls that continue to separate us?” and, “What is the shadow that we live under today?” After some open discussion we focused specifically on two areas: dividing walls in the Christian family and dividing walls in the global family.
Jessica shared that the Christian family has been divided by politics, especially in this election season. Is one candidate more Christian than the other? That depends on who you talk to. Can a person be considered more Christian than another by voting for a certain candidate? Or, is it possible that Christians across party lines should be united together and concerned with issues that transcend political parties. Example: both parties continue to bolster the ongoing ever-escalating patterns of consumption and debt as a way of American promise and prosperity. We live in the shadow of the temple of consumerism and greed. How might we as believers unite and speak to these “principalities and powers?” Not likely to happen….
Onto to U2. The band grew up in the violence and conflict of an Ireland that was torn apart by theological/political factions. Bono’s father was a Catholic and his mother was a Protestant; this gave him and his band mates a unique vantage point. Growing up in the shadow the temple of religiosity caused them to doubt and question the institution of religion. Bono has often said that in his country religion was used as a hammer to beat one another on the head. The violence was everywhere: Catholics against Protestants; South against North; IRA against Unionists. The 30 year period known as "The Troubles" nearly led to full scale civil war in Ireland. After a quick discussion of this denominational sectarianism we watched the band’s video of “Please.” It’s a passionate plea to come out of a posture of religiosity ("get up off your knees") and join together to stand against violence and segregation. Watch the video and ask, “Who is kneeling and who is standing?” “Who are the people with power and who are the ones without?” “Where does religious imagery show up?” Needed: dividing walls to come down within the Christian family.
We shifted the discussion to understanding the dividing walls within the global family. Jessica presented a case study that hits very close to home: last week in New York City in conjunction with the United Nations summit, Mennonite Central Committee (MCC) hosted a dinner conversationwith Iranian President Ahmadenijad. The dinner included Christian, Muslim and Jewish leaders and scholars. MCC has taken an enormous amount a criticism for hosting this event. (I’ll do another post on this specifically.) The question in our workshop: Are there lines that should not be crossed with regard to international relations or is this a dividing wall that should come down. (While the two presidential candidates share a remarkably common framework for leading the United States, this is a point of sharp difference between Obama and McCain.)
From there we talked about Abraham, Isaac and Ishmael, and the dialog (or lack of it) between Christians, Jews and Muslims. If you are a fan of U2 you probably know where this lead:
We scanned the lyrics of “Love and Peace or Else” and “Sunday, Bloody Sunday” and discussed Bono’s chant, “Jesus, Jew, Muhammad it’s true, all sons of Abraham.” What would it mean to tear down the walls that separate the global family? What would it mean to proclaim peace to those who are “far off” and those who are “near?” What would it mean to join in peace against a common “principality” or “power?” What would it mean to be a peacemaker and shout “No more! Wipe the tears away!” (He wept….)
Blessed are the peacemakers. Blessed are those who both weep and wipe.
Tim,
I wish I could have listened in on this presentation! First of all, I am quite interested in the cult of Artemis and how that has connections with how Paul contextualized his letter. (Also, about 25 years later when John writes to the Churches in Asia [Ephesus area], studying the similar issues raised by the imperial cult has been interesting; check this message out: http://www.willowcreek.com/servicebuilder/vid.asp?URL=JesusandDomitianM062603_1&type=message).
Second, I have seen the 'dividing wall' in the Christian family in the area of politics. It is not as though my family and friends have disowned me or anything like that, but rather I am the one with the "crazy" views. As for the global question, that is one that I am wrestling with as a priveledged white middle class American. How should we address the issues of 'the other' across the globe? How might we and 'the other' find that we can be united? Also, sounds like MCC is engaging these things head on!
Third, any time you can bring U2 and theology together... you have my attention. I recently viewed the interview between Bono and Bill Hybels. It was quite insightful.
All of that to say that I wish I could have been there and that I am thankful for an innovative and slightly "controversial" voice in the MB world. You are making room for us younger folks to think freely and re-imagine the "Way" of Jesus!
PS -- Love to know what books or resources you used for research... Especially first century Ephesus stuff!
Posted by: Kurt | October 03, 2008 at 09:47 AM
OOOPS! The link messed up... Here it is again if you are interested in hearing Rob Bell give a talk on Ephesus when John writes Revelation: http://www.willowcreek.com/servicebuilder/vid.asp?URL=JesusandDomitianM062603_1&type=message
Posted by: Kurt | October 03, 2008 at 09:50 AM
Thanks for the comment Kurt. I always amazed (but shouldn’t be) to hear about the very real dividing walls that separate biological family members especially at election time. Elections seem to bring out the worst side of Christians on both sides of the isle. We continue to mistakenly think that we can legislate morality and, in turn, the heart. The whole process is highly coercive. It is essential that Christians remain involved in politics (at least at the voting level), but we have to remember that we’re not electing Jesus. If we were, he’d just be crucified again (yup, even in America).
Regarding the Ephesians work on Artemis, that comes from my own study. Unfortunately, most commentaries continue to interpret Ephesians as a kind of guidebook for moral conduct. These authors hardly mention Artemis if at all. Of course, NT Wright moves us in the right direction here. Read Colossians Remixed: Subverting the Empire by Walsh and Keesmaat for a similar contextual discussion of the letter to the Colossians.
Posted by: Tim | October 03, 2008 at 10:43 AM
Colossians Remixed is in my top 5 favorite books! Thanks!
Posted by: Kurt | October 04, 2008 at 11:31 PM