𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗔𝗥𝗧 𝗢𝗙 𝗦𝗘𝗟𝗙-𝗚𝗢𝗩𝗘𝗥𝗡𝗔𝗡𝗖𝗘

 “𝙋𝙧𝙖𝙘𝙩𝙞𝙘𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝘼𝙧𝙩 𝙤𝙛 𝙎𝙚𝙡𝙛-𝙂𝙤𝙫𝙚𝙧𝙣𝙖𝙣𝙘𝙚 𝙧𝙚𝙣𝙙𝙚𝙧𝙨 𝙖𝙡𝙡 𝙤𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙧 𝙜𝙤𝙫𝙚𝙧𝙣𝙢𝙚𝙣𝙩𝙨 𝙞𝙧𝙧𝙚𝙡𝙚𝙫𝙖𝙣𝙩.” Dennis Brown, September 13, 2025

 “𝙇𝙞𝙫𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙬𝙞𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙣 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙨𝙩𝙖𝙩𝙚 𝙢𝙚𝙖𝙣𝙩, 𝙫𝙞𝙧𝙩𝙪𝙖𝙡𝙡𝙮 𝙗𝙮 𝙙𝙚𝙛𝙞𝙣𝙞𝙩𝙞𝙤𝙣, 𝙩𝙖𝙭𝙚𝙨, 𝙘𝙤𝙣𝙨𝙘𝙧𝙞𝙥𝙩𝙞𝙤𝙣, 𝙘𝙤𝙧𝙫é𝙚 𝙡𝙖𝙗𝙤𝙧… 𝙖𝙣𝙙, 𝙛𝙤𝙧 𝙢𝙤𝙨𝙩, 𝙖 𝙘𝙤𝙣𝙙𝙞𝙩𝙞𝙤𝙣 𝙤𝙛 𝙨𝙚𝙧𝙫𝙞𝙩𝙪𝙙𝙚.” James C Scott, The Art of Not Being Governed

 “𝙏𝙝𝙚𝙨𝙚 (𝘼𝙨𝙞𝙖𝙣) 𝙥𝙤𝙥𝙪𝙡𝙖𝙩𝙞𝙤𝙣𝙨 𝙛𝙡𝙚𝙙 𝙞𝙣𝙩𝙤 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙝𝙞𝙡𝙡𝙨 𝙤𝙫𝙚𝙧 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙘𝙤𝙪𝙧𝙨𝙚 𝙤𝙛 𝙩𝙬𝙤 𝙢𝙞𝙡𝙡𝙚𝙣𝙣𝙞𝙖…𝙩𝙤 𝙖𝙫𝙤𝙞𝙙 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙞𝙢𝙥𝙤𝙨𝙞𝙩𝙞𝙤𝙣 𝙤𝙛 𝙨𝙡𝙖𝙫𝙚𝙧𝙮, 𝙞𝙣𝙙𝙚𝙣𝙩𝙪𝙧𝙚𝙙 𝙡𝙖𝙗𝙤𝙧, 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙩𝙖𝙭𝙚𝙨 𝙗𝙮 𝙚𝙭𝙥𝙖𝙣𝙙𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙨𝙩𝙖𝙩𝙚𝙨. 𝙏𝙝𝙚𝙧𝙚 𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙮 𝙚𝙫𝙤𝙡𝙫𝙚𝙙 𝙡𝙖𝙣𝙜𝙪𝙖𝙜𝙚𝙨, 𝙚𝙘𝙤𝙣𝙤𝙢𝙞𝙚𝙨, 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙬𝙖𝙮𝙨 𝙤𝙛 𝙡𝙞𝙛𝙚 𝙙𝙚𝙨𝙞𝙜𝙣𝙚𝙙 𝙩𝙤 𝙠𝙚𝙚𝙥 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙨𝙩𝙖𝙩𝙚 𝙖𝙩 𝙗𝙖𝙮.” James C Scott, The Art of Not Being Governed

 Four of James C. Scott’s books: 𝘞𝘦𝘢𝘱𝘰𝘯𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘞𝘦𝘢𝘬; 𝘚𝘦𝘦𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘓𝘪𝘬𝘦 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘚𝘵𝘢𝘵𝘦; 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘈𝘳𝘵 𝘰𝘧 𝘕𝘰𝘵 𝘉𝘦𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘎𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘯𝘦𝘥; 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘈𝘨𝘢𝘪𝘯𝘴𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘎𝘳𝘢𝘪𝘯, offer two central themes that are relevant for our discussion. First, the state needs to know who their citizens are and where they live. States impose legibility (censuses [ledgers], boundaries [cities, states], standardized laws and agricultural practices) to make populations governable and taxable. Cereal grains (wheat, barley, rice, millet) have special properties that made them easy to document, tax and collect for administration. Grains grow above ground (easy to track), ripen at predictable times (tax collectors know when to arrive and to collect), is easy to count, store and redistribute to soldiers, workers, and slaves. Above all, it ties people to fixed fields, villages, and irrigation systems - sedentary populations are far easier to monitor (through census), conscript (for civil projects and the military), and tax than mobile ones. The institution of the state is the beginning of what the New Testament calls the Principalities and Powers, or what we would call today Institutionalism and Domination.

 Second, until the modern era, more people fled the state than came to it. People fled to preserve autonomy, avoid oppression, and stay out of reach of taxation, conscription, forced labor, and epidemic disease. The entire way of life of people apart from the state—social structures, livelihoods, and oral traditions—emerges as a strategic adaptation designed to evade state institutions and dominance and survive outside formal governance. As a result, preindustrial states relied on propaganda, military force and bureaucracy to “grow” their cities and states. The early Christians lifestyle appears to line up well with Scott’s description of people who have perfected the 𝗔𝗿𝘁 𝗼𝗳 𝗡𝗼𝘁 𝗕𝗲𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗚𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗿𝗻𝗲𝗱. One primary difference from James C. Scott’s works is they appeared to do so in the midst of the state.

 The early Christians often described themselves as “sojourners and exiles” (1 Peter 2:11) or as those whose “citizenship is in heaven” (Philippians 3:20). Politically, this meant refusing Rome’s central claim: that Caesar was lord and ultimate source of loyalty. This rhetoric of transcendent allegiance undermined the empire’s demand for political loyalty and weakened the ideological grip of the state. It reframed identity around a non-territorial, non-taxable “polis of heaven.”

 The early Christians also described their community as a “new creation” (2 Cor 5:7) and a “holy nation” (I Peter 2:9). This community did not exist within the old categories of Jew, Greek, Roman, slave, free, male or female (Galatians 3:28), but as a body where Christ himself (and not the Roman Emperor) was the unifying center. To call this community a “holy nation” (1 Peter 2:9) meant claiming a national identity without land, armies, or emperor— 𝗮𝗻 𝗮𝗹𝘁𝗲𝗿𝗻𝗮𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗲 𝗽𝗼𝗹𝗶𝘁𝘆 grounded in worship and mutual care rather than in Roman law or military might.

 Christians rejected oath-taking. (cf. Matthew 5:34–37). This practice removed them from key state mechanisms of legibility and control (oaths were instruments for binding subjects to military, legal, and civic duties). By insisting that ultimate allegiance was owed to God alone, they disrupted Rome’s conscription of both bodies and consciences.

 Acts 2:44–45 and Acts 4:32–35 describe believers who “had all things in common,” even selling property to provide for those in need.  This pooling of resources meant that wealth did not flow through the usual state channels (temple taxes, rents, tribute). In short, the church created a parallel economy that was partially insulated from state extraction. Support was organized horizontally (among believers) rather than vertically (toward imperial elite).

 Sedentarism and taxable fields made populations visible and legible to states (via tax records and site visits). By detaching from property and embedding themselves in mobile, supportive networks, Christians became less “legible” to the state while at the same time becoming less desirable to the state as subjects; “𝘎𝘰𝘥 𝘤𝘩𝘰𝘴𝘦 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘪𝘴 𝘭𝘰𝘸 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘥𝘦𝘴𝘱𝘪𝘴𝘦𝘥 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘭𝘥, 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘯𝘰𝘵, 𝘵𝘰 𝘣𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘰 𝘯𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘢𝘳𝘦, 𝘴𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘯𝘰 𝘩𝘶𝘮𝘢𝘯 𝘣𝘦𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘮𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘣𝘰𝘢𝘴𝘵 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘱𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘎𝘰𝘥”. (1 Corinthians 1:28-29).

 Throughout history peoples used social organization, ideology, and subsistence choices as deliberate strategies of state evasion. The early church can be read similarly: its communal care, refusal of emperor worship, alternative identity, and property-liquidating practices functioned as a collective form of resistance to the state’s demands for taxes, conscripts, and ritualized loyalty. In effect, Christianity created a self-governing counter-cultural community that the Roman state struggled to identify, incorporate, discipline, or tax effectively (I Cor. 1:18 – 36).