The Emperor's God: Imperial Misunderstandings of Christianity [ペーパーバック]

I found The Emperor's God - Imperial Misunderstandings of Christianity a stimulating and absorbing book. What author Mike Rivage-Seul has in his sights is "bogus theology" advanced in the service of empires, ranging from that of Solomon in the 10th c BCE to that of George W Bush.
This bogus theology is based on the idea that God is punitive, despotic and arbitrary, a law-making God demanding unquestioning obedience above all.
One of the clearest examples of the use of this bogus theology, argues Rivage-Seul, was by the Roman emperor Constantine, who adopted Christianity in 313 and proceded to extend his empire based on the claim of having seen a vision of the Cross with the inscription "in this sign you shall conquer." The most recent example is the invocation of God's authority for the invasion of Iraq and the so-called war against terror.
But, as Rivage-Seul points out, the image of the punitive, despotic God is found in the Hebrew Scriptures, alongside an alternate and incompatible image of a God of mercy, forgiveness and compassion, a God who liberates the oppressed and stands with the marginalized. Rivage-Seul argues convincingly that for at least a thousand years before the Christian era these two images competed for dominance in the minds of the Israelite people. Jesus came down decisively on the side of the compassionate God. Despite this, the punitive God-image is the one which appears to dominate, even among many of the most fervent followers of Jesus.
In some of the most striking chapters of the book, Rivage-Seul suggests that the final editors of the early books of the bible presented their material in such a way as to give precedence to the punitive God image. His analysis of the story of Adam and Eve in Genesis 3 and of the Abraham-Isaac story in Gen 22 are particularly impressive.
The book proceeds by a dissection of 19 "misunderstandings" - about fundamentalism, about the bible, about the church and about contemporary issues. The last chapter is a reflection on the relationship between activism and spirituality. Rivage-Seul presents a moving account of his own journey from what he calls Catholic fundamentalism to his present position, where activism is seen to flow organically from a deep interior life. This interior life recognizes the "divine spark" within us, challenges us to be aware of it in others and in all of creation, and to act in accordance with this awareness.