The Stone that the Builders Rejected

Work, Empire, and the Two Faces of the Bible

Authors

  • Marika Rose Durham University

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.1558/post.v7i3.28301

Keywords:

Christianity, capitalism, Protestant work ethic, Marxism, RIOT bible, radical

Abstract

This paper interrogates the liberationist vision of Sandford’s ‘Luxury Communist Jesus’, the reactionary Jesus of Myles’ ‘Opiate of Christ’ and the imperialist chronologies of Wan’s ‘Reflections on Empire’ in relation to broader questions concerning the ambiguities of scriptural hermeneutics and the complex relationship of Christianity to capitalism.

Author Biography

  • Marika Rose, Durham University

    Marika Rose is a Research Fellow at the CODEC Research Centre for Digital Theology, Durham University. She is reviews editor of the journal “Theology and Sexuality”. She recently completed a PhD thesis on the relationship between the Christian apophatic tradition and contemporary continental philosophy, particularly the work of Slavoj Žižek. Her current project focuses on angels, cyborgs, and the theology of work.

References

Ahmed, Sara. 2008. “’Liberal Multiculturalism is the Hegemony – It’s an Empirical Fact’ - a response to Slavoj Žižek.” darkmatter: in the ruins of imperial culture. 19 February. http://www.darkmatter101.org/site/2008/02/19/‘liberal multiculturalism-is-the-hegemony-–-its-an-empirical-fact’-a-response-to-slavoj-zizek.

Bloch, Ernst. 2009 [1968]. Atheism in Christianity: The Religion of the Exodus and the Kingdom, translated by J T Swann. London: Verso.

Deleuze, Gilles. 1992. “Postscript on the Societies of Control.” October 59: 3–7.

Federici, Silvia. 2009. Caliban and the Witch: Women, the Body and Primitive Accumulation. New York: Autonomedia.

Lorey, Isabel. 2015. State of Insecurity: Government of the Precarious. London: Verso.

mcm-cmc. 2015. “Fully automated luxury communism: a utopian critique.” libcom. 14 June. https://libcom.org/blog/fully-automated-luxury-communism-utopian-critique-14062015.

Marx, Karl. 1863. Theories of Surplus-Value. https://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1863/theories-surplus-value/, Chapter 24.

Toscano, Alberto. nd. “Rethinking Marx and Religion.” Marxismes au XXIe siècle: l’esprit & la lettre, http://www.marxau21.fr/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=5:rethinking-marx-and-religion&catid=65:religion&Itemid=88.

Weeks, Kathi. 2011. The Problem with Work: Feminism, Marxism, Antiwork Politics, and Postwork Imaginaries. Durham, NC: Duke University Press. http://dx.doi.org/10.1215/9780822394723

Published

2016-01-20

Issue

Section

Special Issue Articles

How to Cite

Rose, M. (2016). The Stone that the Builders Rejected: Work, Empire, and the Two Faces of the Bible. Postscripts: The Journal of Sacred Texts, Cultural Histories, and Contemporary Contexts, 7(3), 305-310. https://doi.org/10.1558/post.v7i3.28301