Empire Baptized

 Book of the Year, Reform Magazine (UK) "Wes Howard-Brook has performed a great service with Empire Baptized. He explains how the transition in Christianity from Jesus's way of peace to the coercive ways of Christendom happened. An enormously enlightening account that helps us better understand our present dilemmas".- Ted Grimsrud, author of The Good War That Wasn't--And Why It Matters: The Moral Legacy of World War II; Senior Professor of Peace Theology, Eastern Mennonite University In “Come Out, My People,” Wes Howard-Brook outlined an ambitious interpretation of the Bible as a struggle between two competing religious visions: a “religion of empire” and a “religion of creation” embraced by the prophets and Jesus. Here, through a study of the early “church fathers,” he shows how Christianity in effect opted for the religion of empire. This was reflected not just in accommodation to the Roman Empire after Constantine, but through the spiritualization of Jesus’ prophetic message. The c