The Executed God

by Taylor, Mark Lewis

• ISBN13: 9780800632830
• ISBN10: 0800632834
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2001-05-01
• Publisher: Augsburg Fortress Pub

Summary

The number of U.S. inmates has tripled since 1980, to more than 2 million people. Prison Industry growth includes the construction of 26 federal and 96 state prisons since1996 alone, and it employs 523,000 people. This book describes and explains the dimensions and abuses in our system, including capital punishment, and fosters compassionate and effective Christian response. According to Taylor, "Remembering the executed Jesus is crucial to mobilizing effective response to 'lockdown America today".

Author Biography

Mark Lewis Taylor is Professor of Theology and Culture at Princeton theological Seminary.

Table of Contents

Preface	xi
Introduction: The Executed God	1	(1)
The Crucified God	1	(2)
From Crucified to Executed	3	(1)
Jesus of Nazareth and the Executed God	4	(3)
The Executed God and the Death of Our Gods	7	(8)
Arguing for a Theatrics of Counterterror: Way of the Cross, Way of the Book	15	(3)
Part One: The Theatrics of Terror
Lockdown America: A Theater of Terror	18	(30)
Out of the Mouths of Babes and...	18	(1)
Gulag America	19	(2)
Theatrics of Terror: Six Dimensions	21	(20)
Conclusion: Lockdown America as Threat to All	41	(7)
Theatrics and Sacrifice in the U.S.-Led Imperium	48	(22)
Gulag America's Calculated Effect	49	(1)
Production, Punishment, and the Sacrificial Myth	50	(4)
A Strengthened Elite Class in America: An Untold Story	54	(2)
The Punishment System and Controlling Surplus Populations	56	(3)
How Terrorizing Punishment Serves the Economically Powerful	59	(3)
From Gulag America to Pax Americana	62	(3)
Conclusion: Surplus and Sacrifice in the U.S.-Led Imperium	65	(5)
Part Two: A Theatrics of Counterterror
Way of the Cross as Adversarial Politics	70	(29)
The Galilean Jesus	71	(5)
Jesus and the Soldiers of Empire	76	(2)
How Adversarial Was Jesus' Politics?	78	(1)
The Anti-Imperial Paul: Imprisoned and Executed by Rome	79	(11)
Mark's Gospel: A Drama of Anti-Imperial Resistance	90	(7)
Conclusion: Being Adversarial: Christians at the Crossroads	97	(2)
Stealing the Show: Way of the Cross as Dramatic Action	99	(28)
How the Executed Jesus Stole the Show	101	(4)
Sacrificing the Poor: Theatrical Spectacles of Fear and Fascination	105	(4)
Dramatic Action: Bodies on the Line, Worlds Created	109	(10)
Stealing the Show in Lockdown America: A Triumph of God	119	(5)
Wider Power and Lockdown America	124	(3)
Way of the Cross as Building Peoples' Movements	127	(28)
Jesus and Peoples' Movements	128	(2)
The Jesus Movements: Those Impious Galileans	130	(4)
Impious Galileans Today?	134	(3)
Dismantling the Police Function As We Know It	137	(5)
No More Prisons!	142	(6)
The Death of the Death Penalty	148	(6)
Conclusion: People on the Move with an Executed God	154	(1)
Epilogue: Christian Living: Toward a Fullness of Rebellion	155	(9)
Rebellion and Revelation	156	(1)
Rebellion Today and the Rising of the Executed God	157	(7)
Notes	164	(28)
For Further Reading: A Select Bibliography	192	(6)
Acknowledgments	198	(4)
Index	202