Amidst the "black lives important" protests that erupted in the United States and affected many countries, US President Donald Trump walked a short distance from the White House to St. John's Episcopal Church in Washington on Monday, June 1, and stood outside while he was raising the Bible. high above.
The situation appeared controversial for a number of reasons. Tear gas was fired at peaceful demonstrators to pave the way for the American president, and it appeared that Trump's behavior was a response inconsistent with the status quo, according to a joint article of Christian scholars academics Jeremiah Cogan and Candida Moss.
Trump's use of the Bible in the political arena early this month highlights a long history of using sacred texts to legalize state authority, as the Bible has been used consistently as a symbol of political power, and refers such practices to a long history dating back to the late Roman Empire that was considered - Ironically - to the Bible as a symbol of resistance to authoritarian power.
The scriptures are material and symbolic
Although Christians were concerned with the content and content of their sacred books from the beginning, the use of a physical copy of Christian scriptures as a symbolic act began in a period when Christians faced legislative pressure, marginalization, and violence; Researchers believe that historical evidence indicates that Christians' interest in copying and defending their (tangible) sacred books was in response to the hostilities of Roman emperors who persecuted Christians before the conversion of the Empire's religion.
In the year 249 AD - in light of the challenges facing his legitimacy - Emperor Traianus Decius issued a decree that each individual in the empire should make a sacrifice to the Roman gods as a form of proof of loyalty to the state, and everyone who made a sacrifice was provided with a written testimony signed by a Roman judge as proof of participation and evidence Tangible loyalty.
And preserved copies of these testimonies prove - as Roman historian James Rives notes - that the decree did not specifically target Christians, yet he affected them in unique ways, and many of them were killed in what was known as the era of the persecution of Decius.
During this period, as a reaction to Roman commands that people bear certificates of loyalty to the state, Christians began to raise their scriptures as a material manifestation of the belief they believed in. Just as individuals who sacrificed loyalty to the emperor were expected to bear their testimonies, Christians carried the Gospels as a symbol of loyalty to a deity other than the Roman gods, and the Gospels became a Christian identity.
A symbol of power resistance
Many Christians considered their scriptures to be a special force that reflects divine presence and power. By the early fourth century, Bible books or folded pieces bearing texts on papyrus or parchment were used as amulets to stave off evil or to bring healing, as many archaeological evidence appears, especially in ancient Egypt, and before Christians wore crosses around their necks, they wore texts The sacred, according to the article of Jeremiah Cogan and Candida for the Conversion website.
In 303 AD, on the twentieth anniversary of his rule, Emperor Diocletian - who began his years of rule with religious tolerance before completely changing his policy - issued his "first decree" against Christians. Among other things, the decree required the destruction of Christian books. However, a number of Christians throughout the empire defied the imperial order, preferring death over the delivery of their books.
Thus, the Christian religious book became a symbol of resistance to imperial authority. In one of the accounts, a group of Christians from the small town of Abetina in North Africa (located in present-day Tunisia) defied the imperial decree, and this refusal to hand over copies of the Bible was a confirmation of the city's Christians of loyalty to God and not to Rome.
Law and religious text
By naming the books of the Bible as "the law", the Christians of the fourth century AD intended to point out their true loyalty, and they meant that they followed the law of Christ and not the orders of the Tsar, and thus the conflict between the divine law and the imperial decree was represented by material books.
To preserve material copies of the Bible, the handing over of the Scriptures to the staff of Rome to destroy them was seen as an abandonment of Christianity; It was viewed as a physical symbol of divine authority and as a response to political repression and power violence. And in North Africa in particular, some Christians have refused to hand over books for destruction and have refused to see whoever did that as their religious leaders.
While the symbolism of the Bible was formed from this date as a symbol of resistance, the Gospels are preserved in modern times to consolidate legal authority, sworn in and public ceremonies, and the huge difference between the symbolism of the Bible appears as a form of political resistance, especially with regard to the history and pattern of resistance developed by disenfranchised North African Christians And the weak, before now turned into a weapon against blacks by the most powerful man in the world, says the authors.