Colossians Remixed: Subverting the Empire

Have we really heard the message of Colossians? Is this New Testament book just another religious text whose pretext is an ideological grab for dominating power? Reading Colossians in context, ancient and contemporary, can perhapsgive us new ears to hear.

In this innovative and refreshing book Brian J. Walsh and Sylvia C. Keesmaat explain our own sociocultural context to then help us get into the world of the New Testament and get a sense of the power of the gospel asit addressed those who lived in Colossae two thousand years ago. Their reading presents us with a radical challenge from the apostle Paul for today.

Drawing together biblical scholarship with a passion for authentic lives that embody the gospel, this groundbreaking interpretation of Colossians provides us with tools to subvert the empire of our own context in a way that acknowledges the transforming power of Jesus Christ.

Brian J. Walsh serves as the Christian Reformed Church chaplain to the University of Toronto. With Richard J. Middleton, he wrote The Transforming Vision and Truth Is Stranger Than It Used to Be (both IVP). He is also the authorof Langdon Gilkey (University Press of America, 1992) and Subversive Christianity (Alta Vista College Press, 1994).

Sylvia C. Keesmaat is adjunct professor of biblical studies and hermeneutics at the Institute for Christian Studies in Toronto. She wrote two articles for the IVP Women's Bible Commentary, and she wrote the book Paul and His Story (Sheffield, 1999). She is also editor of The Advent of Justice (Dordt College Press, 1994).