Abundantly Suspicious: A Feminist Killjoy Bears Witness to 1 Thessalonians 4:1-12
Originally delivered at Luther College Chapel, December 5, 2018
I have really enjoyed and appreciated this semester’s chapel reflections on “Abundantly.” Each has, in different ways, help me think of the multifaceted meanings of abundance, where we can find it beyond and apart from material success, how we can see it in the world around us, in nature, in friends and supportive community, in diversity, in the wonder and fragility of human bodies, and even in critique.
“...we read suspiciously because we are committed to justice. We read suspiciously because far too often benign biblical texts are, in fact, out to get us. And sometimes, so is abundance.”
But I have to confess that I’ve also been troubled by this theme. Despite finding inspiration, hope, and challenge in each reflection around it, as we approach finals, I still have a nagging suspicion about this term: abundantly, abundant, abundance.
My suspicion comes naturally: I’m a feminist biblical scholar trained to read ancient texts with a hermeneutic of suspicion. And while some label us “killjoys” because of this suspicion, we read suspiciously because we are committed to liberation and egalitarianism: we are committed to justice. We read suspiciously because far too often benign biblical texts are, in fact, out to get us. And sometimes, so is abundance.
I see this especially when I read 1 Thess 4:1-12. “Abound more and more” (NKJV); “[please God] more and more” (NRSV); be even better (my translation). Paul uses the same term at the end of the passage: he tells the Thessalonians they’ve been loving toward one another, and he urges them to “do so more and more” – again to be even better, to be abundant in philadelphia.
The Greek word translated in these “abundant” ways is perisseuō, a verb that means to exceed, to be numerically greater than; to abound. But it all depends on context. In first-century texts, we see examples of this word being used in neutral ways: fifty is literally more “abundant” than forty-nine. We also see it used positively: reason and self-control exceed in good people; cities abound in greatness and power.
Paul’s use of perisseuō is similarly positive: by comparison, you—the folks gathered in Thessalonikē’s Christ-assembly—are already exceeding in acting in ways that please God, you are already exceedingly loving one another. Now: exceed even that. Be even better. ABOUND ABUNDANTLY. There’s nothing inherently wrong on the surface…Would that it were so simple. There are problems with uses of abundantly—today and in Paul’s letters. I want to highlight two:
“We are fine with an abundance of things with which we are already comfortable, and we are quick to condemn any abundance that overflows too much: abundance suddenly becomes excess. ”
Problem One: It is important to note that the actions and behaviors in which Paul encourages abundance—which he claims please God, are God’s values—all of them are very Roman values. Everything he says to increase, to do even better: these are things elite Romans valued, things Roman rulers encouraged their good subjects to do: “live quietly,” “mind your own affairs,” “work hard,” “behave respectably.” If I were to update this abundance for today, I’d have to encourage you: “mind your own business” “focus on your studies” “don’t ruffle feathers” “don’t protest.”
Problem Two: What really bothers me about the idea of abundance is that it relies on comparison. It requires an other. It is contextual: if you can be abundantly good; then you can also be excessively evil. Thus, just as the Greek word has positive and neutral meanings, it often is used negatively: bad people are luxurious to excess; they eat too much, they drink too much, they have too much sex. They abound in deviance, in passion, in lust…
And this is why I hesitate about celebrating “abundance”—we usually celebrate the qualities we are prone to like. We encourage ourselves to be abundant, to be even better at claiming these things. Too often we are fine with abundance of things with which we are already comfortable, and we are quick to condemn as evil any abundance that overflows too much: abundance suddenly becomes excess.
Like I said, sometimes I suspect that abundance is out to get us:
When those who have been silenced and marginalized begin to abound in confidence, they are excessively prideful;
When protestors speak out against injustice, they are too angry and violent-seeming; they do not use the “proper” means;
When queer folks exceed our hetero- and even homo-normative containers of monogamous, marriage-oriented, nothing-too-crazy sex (or talk about queerness in the wrong space), we are excessively queer, too deviant. We abound in lustful passion and cannot properly control our bodies, as Paul puts it…
And suddenly we can see why we need to bear witness to Paul’s encouragement to “be even better”, to be abundantly abundant—this sandwiches his comments about sex in 4:3-8: “control your own body in holiness and honor, not in lustful passion like the Gentiles who do not know God…” The issues with translating these verses are abundant in and of themselves—but the NRSV gives the basic gist. The main translation issue I want to correct is this term “Gentiles”—after all, Paul’s audience is all Gentile in Thessalonikē—it’s better here to go back to the Greek: ἔθνη (pronounced eth-nay, meaning “nations”). This is the word that forms the root of the English “ethnicity.” In Rome, these nations—the ἔθνη—were all of the other nations and peoples—i.e., not Romans—conquered by and/or subject to Roman rule.
And Rome said very similar things to what Paul says about these nations in terms of their sexual practices: they did not have the good self-control that Rome’s rulers did. Their excess made them unfit to be privileged in Roman society. Paul repeats these ideas to shape how his community abounds: be even better Romans subjects—avoid causing a stir, control your bodies, don’t have too much sex—don’t have any of the “wrong kinds” of sex…
“I don’t think we can talk about abundantly without attending to its flipside, without bearing witness to its harmful uses and harmful effects.”
Thus, though 1 Thess 4:1-2 and 9-12 might give us some positive ways to live abundantly— abound in pleasing God, in love for another—abundance comes at the expense of bodies often labeled as excessive—doing abundantly the wrong way. In Paul’s first century, it is those already on the margins, the conquered, the silent, the queer, the ethnic other whose abundant existence gets deemed wrongly excessive.
The same applies today: Too many people, myself included, bear the scars of trying to live abundantly, only to discover our abundance is called excessive, deviant, and wrong by dominant definitions of how to live abundantly. Therefore, alongside all the learning and appreciation I have those who have eloquently claimed ways to think abundantly in our lives, I worry about being too joyful about abundance.
I don’t think we can talk about abundantly without attending to its flipside, without bearing witness to its harmful uses and harmful effects. And so I bear witness as and to the killjoy: a reader of texts and worlds who believes that there is nothing wrong with seeming abundantly negative, abundantly critical, and abundantly suspicious—and though it may appear abundantly hopeless, I find hope as and in the killjoy: we bear witness to the seemingly hopeless because we hope, in remembering, for abundant change.
Like what you read?
This piece reflects on ideas in my essay on 1 Thess 4-5, in this new volume of queer readings.
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For Further Reading (pieces in my mind while writing):
Sarah Ahmed. Living a Feminist Life. Durham: Duke University Press, 2017.
James N. Hoke. “Be Even Better Subjects, Worthy of Rehabilitation: Homonationalism and 1 Thessalonians 4-5.” In Bodies on the Verge: Queering Pauline Epistles edited by Joseph A. Marchal. Semeia Studies. Atlanta: Society of Biblical Literature Press, forthcoming 2019.
Elisabeth Schüssler Fiorenza. Wisdom Ways: Introducing Feminist Biblical Interpretation. Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 2001.
Sarah Perry. Melmoth. New York: Harper Collins, 2018.