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Third Space; Third Voice
Contesting Christian Space
In chapter 16 of Acts, Luke recounts how, compelled by his dream of a man from Macedonia who pleads for assistance, Paul travels to Philippi, âa leading city of the district of Macedonia and a Roman colonyâ (Acts 16:12). This last detail is especially significant for our understanding of his ministry, and of Christian identity in principle. Philippi (now a UNESCO World Heritage site) had been the location in 42 bce of the last two battles of the Roman Civil War, pitting as many as 200,000 combatants against each other. By defeating Marcus Brutus and Gaius Cassius, the forces of Marcus Antonius and Gaius Octavius avenged the assassination of Octaviusâs adoptive father, Julius Caesar, and brought the revolt of the Eastern provinces to an end. Their triumph set in motion the events that would establish the Roman Empire and inaugurate a long period of relative calm known as the Pax Romana. Little more than a decade after the battle, Octavius himself would be given the title Caesar Divi Filius Augustus: âCaesar Augustus, Divine Son.â In honor of this pivotal victory, the adjacent settlement was refounded as a prosperous Roman colonyâColonia Victrix Philippensium (âColony of the Conquering Philippiansâ), later Colonia Augusta Iulia Philippensis (âColony of the Philippian Julius Augustusâ)âwith retired soldiers forming the core of its society and civic structure. A wealth of surviving inscriptions and archaeological remains provide ample evidence of the cityâs thoroughly Roman character.
Entering Philippi from the east along the Via Egnatia, Paul and his companions would have passed through the Neapolis Gate, a propylaea or monumental portico bristling with imperial imagery and statues of Roman deities. Given the commemorative character of the colony as a whole and the conventions of Augustan civic architecture in particular, there can be little doubt that this would have been a triumphal arch, intended to symbolize the theological as well as military supremacy of Rome. Stephen Johnson notes that âcity walls and gates were always res sacrae, under public ownership and the tutelage of the gods. They were thus, particularly in the earlier periods, as much civic monuments as functional passageways and might be expected therefore to have been highly ornamented.â In this case, ornamentation intentionally signaled ideology. As Sze-kar Wan observes, âThis was Romeâs favorite colonial strategy: inscribing an imperial discourse on the colonized space.â
For any Roman city, the encircling walls were not merely defensive, but liminal: they marked the boundaries of consecration and colonial domain. Accordingly, to enter Philippi, passing through an arched gateway guarded by the figures of tutelary deities, was to cross a threshold into sacred spaceâinto the realm and dominion of the Roman pantheon. That Paul would have been fully alert to the theological challenge that this implied cannot be in doubt (cf. Acts 17:16). Indeed, it helps to explain his bold assertion in Phil 3:20 that for the followers of Jesus, âour place of citizenship is in heaven.â The apostleâs choice of vocabulary is telling, although the word he uses (ÏολίÏΔÏ
Όα, appearing only here in the New Testament) can have a range of meanings. It can refer to a government department, a constitution or state, to citizenship, or (as with the large Jewish population of Alexandria) to a âcolonyâ of foreigners accorded âspecific political rights.â First Peter 2:9 describes believers as âa chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation [áŒÎžÎœÎżÏ], Godâs own people,â on the one hand, yet as âforeigners and exilesâ (2:11â12 NIV; cf. 1:1) among the Gentiles, on the other. Conversely, in Ephesians, those who were formerly âforeigners and strangersâ (2:19 NIV) are now said to be âfellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of Godâ (2:20 RSV; cf. 2:12). But where Ephesians and 1 Peter (which also counsels submission to Rome) each describe the church in language denoting citizenship and political affiliation, Paulâs claim in Phil 3:20 is more precise.
Notwithstanding overlapping theological identities and the incorporation of non-Roman deities under the broader aegis of Roman religion, to walk through Philippiâs Neapolis Gate would be to pass from the primary domain of Thracian or Macedonian gods into the overarching dominion of Roma, the personification and protectress of Rome. To be baptized into Christ, by contrast, and to be made mystically one with him, was to become a citizen of the âkingdom of Godâ (1 Thess 2:12, etc.). This is a directly contrary claim, not an overlapping one. It is all the more remarkable since Paul himself is clearly in custody (and thus under the tangible jurisdiction of Rome) at the time of writing, perhaps detained by the elite Praetorian Guard (Phil 1:13). That he is not alone in having to negotiate the competing claims of Christ and Empire is evident from the fact that he sends greetings from fellow believers in the âhousehold of Caesarâ (Phil 4:22). Indeed, in this regard Paulâs situation is similar to that of the congregants whom he addresses. To join the tiny fellowship of Philippian believers, likely in a private house or villa, would have involved not one but two sets of competing theological claims: where Roman deities had initially conquered or absorbed the native gods of Macedonia, Christ now supplanted them all. The place where these converts meet for worship is therefore sacred space within sacred space, a sanctuary consecrat...