Jesus and Empire

The article Jesus and Empire, by Richard Horsley, is extremely interesting yet with my "American" mindset find his stance of America as the New Rome to be a bit of a stretch. Horsely indentifies the fact that, "The Romans determined the conditions of life in Galilee". One would be hard pressed to say that the United States' presence in Israel and the Middle East is non existant. However, I believe that the United States does not wish to conquer Israel and the Middle East even though many have argued that Jerusalem not be under the control of Israel or Palestine yet should be established purely as a 'Christian State'. While Horsley is accurate in the comparison that the U.S., like Rome, wishes to have the Middle East and Israel share the same political ideology, it is only to a certain extent. Comparing the U.S.' control or presence in the Middle East yet alone Jerusalem to that of Julius Caesar and wishing to appoint representatives to govern the area such as Herod is where Horsely over extends himself. I found Horsely's greatest strength to be shown through portraying historical events and creating a sense of how things really were during the time of Jesus. Overall I found the article to be very interesting yet a bit of a stretch given my "American mindset".