A completely normal human system

This year for Holy Week, the annual Christian ritual marking of events around Jesus's execution, my book group is reading The Last Week: What the Gospels Really Teach About Jesus's Final Days in Jerusalem by Marcus J. Borg and John Dominic Crossan. The two scholars set the story, as told by the evangelist Mark, "against the background of Jewish high-priestly collaboration with Roman imperial control." Credible history of first century Palestine, secular as well as religious, affirms that a Jesus existed. Just what he said and did is more up for grabs, but it is possible to describe the context in which whatever happened, happened.

Because this is basically a political blog, I thought to share what Borg and Crossan assert about Jesus' political context:

The phrase "domination system" is shorthand for the most common form of social system -- a way of organizing a society -- in ancient and premodern times, that is, in preindustrial agrarian societies. It names a social system marked by three major features:

1) Political oppression. In such societies the many were ruled by the few, the powerful and wealthy elites: the monarchy, nobility, aristocracy, and their associates. Ordinary people had no voice in the shaping of the society.

2) Economic exploitation. a high percentage of the society's wealth, which came primarily from agricultural production in preindustrial societies, went into the coffers of the wealthy and powerful -- between one half and two thirds of it. How did they manage to do this? By the way they set the system up, through the structures and laws about land ownership, taxation, indenture of labor through debt, and so forth.

3) Religious legitimation. In ancient societies, these systems were legitimized, or justified, with religious language. The people were told the king ruled by divine right, the king was the Son of God, the social order reflected the will of God, and the powers that be were ordained by God. Of course, religion sometimes became the source of protest against these claims. But in most premodern societies known to us, religion has been used to legitimate the place of the wealthy and powerful in the social order over which they preside.

There is nothing unusual about this form of society. Monarchical and aristocratic rule by the wealthy few began about five thousand years ago and was the most common form of social system in the ancient world. With various permutations, it persisted through the medieval and early modern periods until the democratic revolutions of the last few hundred years. And one could make a good case that in somewhat different form it remains with us today.

In this sense "domination systems" are normal, not abnormal, and thus can be called the "normalcy of civilization." Thus we will use both phrases to name the socio-economic-political order in which ancient Israel, Jesus, and early Christianity lived. "Domination system" calls attention to its central dynamic: the political and economic domination of the many by the few and the use of religious claims to justify it. The religious version is that God has set society up this way; the secular version is that "this is the way things are" and the best they can be for everybody. "Normalcy of civilization" calls attention to how common it is. There is nothing unusual or abnormal about this state of affairs. It is what most commonly happens.

If domination is the norm for human social organization, no wonder we have to struggle so hard. We will struggle to invent, nurture, and protect polities built instead to aim for justice, compassion, and truth. Our efforts will be imperfect and incomplete. That, too, is just the way it is.