Eclipsing Empire is a 12-session series on Paul, Rome, and the Kingdom of God.
Eclipsing Empire is a 12-session series on Paul, Rome, and the Kingdom of God.
Join preeminent New Testament scholars Marcus Borg and John Dominic Crossan on location in Turkey as they trace the Apostle Paul's footsteps throughout the Roman Empire. This 12-session DVD and web-based study explores fresh insights into Paul's message of the Kingdom of God, its challenge to Roman imperial theology, and the apostle's radical relevance for today.
Participant Guide written by John Dominic Crossan.
Filmed in High-Definition across Turkey, Greece, and Italy. Purchase of Eclipsing Empire includes a one-year license to use the downloadable participant and leader guides. At the end of the first year, the license to use the written materials can be renewed annually for $50.00. Please see policy page for additional information.
Program Price - $295.00 USD plus shipping/handling. (10% less with TCPC code)
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As with the series, "Living the Question", the twelve sessions of "Eclipsing Empire" utilize scenes from the Middle East, in this case the regions of Paul's travels. In March 2006 Marcus Borg, John Dominic Crossan and crew filmed the remains of ancient temples, shops and other structures from the period of Augustus Caesar. The ancient ruins of temples were very interesting, but I found the scenes of monasteries cut out of shear cliffs in what is now near Ankara, Turkey the most absolutely incredible videos of all. And all of the visual material blends perfectly with the narration by Borg and Crossan. One of the fascinating scenes is of the tour group and the surrounding countryside during the total eclipse, which occurred during the March 2006 tour. This eclipse is chosen as the central idea of the twelve sessions, telling of how the lives and works of both Jesus and Paul helped bring about the Eclipse of the Roman Empire. Crossan acknowledges that for some progressive Christians Jesus has been called the "appealing one" and Paul the "appalling one" While both he and Borg understand the reasons for the "downgrading" of Paul in the minds of some New Testament scholars, they make the point in this DVD series that Jesus and Paul were very close together in their commitment to replace the loyalty to the empire of Caesar with the commitment to the Kingdom of God. One basic difference between the two is that Augustus Caesar, who claimed that he was God, Son of God, Redeemer, Savior, etc., had brought peace through Victory, whereas both Jesus and Paul claim that peace only comes from Justice, and that loyalty and obedience to the True God could ever bring that about. The point is made that both Jesus and Paul were Jews, were Pharisees, and were both persecuted and eventually martyred.Being one of those "progressive Christians" who had become disenchanted by Paul, I must say I was given a more appreciative view of his life and work through the series. Because Paul is so important in the beginnings and long term nature of the Christian faith, this series will give the viewer an important and appreciated understanding of who and what he was. I found myself more willing to "forgive" Paul for his part in shaping (or misshaping) the role of Jesus and his teachings and mission. My "problem" with Paul has been that in his zeal to promote "his" image of the "Risen Christ", which he claims came to him from a divine vision given by God, (a claim I do not accept) he has substituted his own self-created icon for the genuine person of Jesus, the itinerant preacher. Where Jesus served to point his followers to God, Paul, in effect, said that one could not know, see, or follow God accept through the belief/faith in "Christ" as the embodiment of God. I do not believe Jesus wished to pose as the only and necessary pathway to God.But as I stated before, I was led to a greater appreciation of Paul as one who, with Jesus, preached the necessity of bringing about peace through justice, and that meant the acknowledgement of the full equality of all the peoples of the earth, with special attention paid to the uplifting of the poor and the oppressed.