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Let us pray. Baruchhata Adonai, Eloheinu Malek haulam . Shahikeu Waamu Wahianu. Lasman Haze, blessed are you, our Lord God, sovereign of the universe who has granted us life, sustained us and enabled

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us to reach his of this occasion. Amen. I Yeah Let us pray. Eternal God, we worship and adore you. We thank you for your grace upon our teacher, colleague, friend, and

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brother in Christ, Gregory Cua. And his ministry . As we celebrate his inauguration and installation in the Ruth A. Campbell Chair of Biblical studies as full professor. Eternal God, we worship and adore you

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. We thank you for your grace upon us all as you redeemed us by grace and raised us up with Christ and seated us with Him in the heavenly places, in heavenly chairs in Christ Jesus, who

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is the head far above all rule and authority and power and dominion and above every name that is named , not only in this age, but also in the age to come. To the one seated on

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the throne and to the lamb, be blessing and honor and glory and might forever and ever. It honor our God we worship and adore you. Fill us with your spirit that we may celebrate your glory

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through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. Mr. President, Whereas the board of trustees of Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary has appointed the Reverend Doctor Gregory Lee Cuellar to the rank of professor, upon your recommendation and

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the recommendation of his peers, it is my joy to present him for inauguration on this 26th day of February 2025. The Reverend Doctor Gregory Lee Quar is professor of Hebrew Bible at Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary.

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An international Latino biblical scholar, his work traverses disciplinary and institutional borderlands engaging decolonial theory, migration studies, and museum studies. His scholarship interrogates the colonial legacies of biblical interpretation with a particular focus on race,

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empire. And the lived experiences of marginalized communities, his activist commitment to disciplinary interference has led him to explore pressing global issues such as migration and the Bible , national museums and orientalism, immigration detention and religion

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and post-colonial trauma in biblical poetry. Doctor Cuar is the author of Resacralizing the Other at the US-Mexico Border , a Borderland Hermeneutic by Routledge and Empire The British Museum and the Making of the Biblical scholar in the

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19th century Archival Criticism. His latest research extends into postcolonial trauma studies further cementing his role as a leading voice in critical biblical scholarship. His recent article The Effectual Potentials of religious Care Spaces in Immigration detention was

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published in Religion, Migration and World Making in the Borderlands and was supported by a Louisville Institute project grant . A 3 time grant fellow of the Hispanic Theological Initiative, Doctor Cuellar has been a visiting scholar at

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the Center on Migration Policy and Society and the Center for Criminology at the University of Oxford. He has presented his research at Premier academic conferences across Mexico, Spain, and the United States as co-founder of Arte

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de Lagrimas refugee artwork project, he amplifies the voices of displaced communities through artistic expression, advocating for the transformative power. of visual narratives in social justice work . Doctor Cuea's work promotes critical and ethical engagement with

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global justice concerns, challenging conventional epistemologies, and reimagining the intersections of sacred texts, history, and contemporary studies. Mr. President, colleagues and friends, I present to you the Reverend Doctor Gregory Lee Cuya

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. Doctor Gregory Cuellar, as you are inaugurated as a tenure full professor at Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary. I will ask you to join those who before you stood at this threshold in their professional journey and affirm

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the vows that you are about to take. So I ask you, Doctor Gregory Cuellar. Do you trust in Jesus Christ, your savior, acknowledge him , Lord of all and head of the church,

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and through him believe in one God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit? Do you accept the scripture of the Old and New Testaments to be by the Holy Spirit, the unique and authoritative witness to Jesus

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Christ in the church universal and God's word for you ? Do you affirm and support the doctrinal standards and church order of the Presbyterian Church USA as they are consistent with the word of God in scripture? And

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finally, as you study and teach in this institution of the Presbyterian Church USA you pledge to maintain the best standards of academic integrity, assume pastoral oversight of those committed to your church, demonstrate a spirit of

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collegiality and seek the peace, unity and purity of the church. By expressing these vows publicly, you have accepted this new responsibility in service to this institution , the church, and the people it ministers to

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. May God continue to bless you with wisdom and with a spirit of service. Congratulations. Let us pray. God of peace of the marginalized God of our weary years and our bursts of joy, God

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who has brought us thus far on the way, we pray for Gregory Cue as he takes his chair . We celebrate his endowment as the first Latino to hold a chair at Austin Seminary and in so doing

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, we also remember those who have come before him , especially those scholars of color who put down the trail marking so that we can be here today. We acknowledge their sacrifice and their dedication as we do

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those of Gregory and his family. The road has not been easy or smooth or even sensical. It's been downright tiring at points, but we are here and we thank you and we celebrate Gregory for this

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achievement. We ask for your blessing on Gregory and his family as he continues to do the work for which we have called him and endowed him. We ask that you give him wisdom and discernment. We

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ask that Gregory use the chair to do as he has always done, but now with more courage, more confidence, more conviction, may continue to push us to be better, be braver, to remember

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and to advocate for the refugee, the migrant, and the asylum seeker. In Jesus' name we pray amen. Gregory, first off, congratulations on this beautiful day in Austin, on this near perfect springlike

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day, this seminary is formally celebrating its trust in you, it's value of your teaching, scholarship, and Christian discipleship. And I believe like this day heralds sunnier and more pleasant weather ahead, the best

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is yet to come for Gregory Cuellar. You have taught me much since the day that we first met , a day that I will never forget. On that day in June 2002 in Sanerman, Puerto Rico

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, you were in graduate school and I had just completed my first year teaching here at Austin Seminary. You took the time to meet with a group of non-Hispanic faculty who were learning about challenges, opportunities and

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issues in Hispanic theological education. I remember your words vividly. You told us about your family's deep roots in the Texas Mexico borderlands. You noted how over many generations your family did not cross the border.

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Instead the border crossed your family as national borders shifted . You told us stories about challenges you had faced as a Latino and predominantly white theological schools. You offered suggestions for how we as faculty could make a

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difference in the classroom and in our scholarship as we thought sought to expand access to theological education so that our seminaries might better reflect the reign of God I took your words home with me. They stay with

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me to this day. And I believe your words have helped make me a better teacher and scholar. And then later on that same day, I saw another side of you. My colleague Steve Reed and

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I went to a salsa bar in that town. And there in that convivial space we shared a cerveza . Laughter and good conversation with you and an Austin seminary student, Adan Morena. That evening, to

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be honest, may have been the highlight of my time in Puerto Rico, a bit of a fiesta , and who knew that 10 years later we would become colleagues teaching at the same seminary. Those two

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sides of you that I witnessed that day are critical to who you are. As I learned in the classroom, you are serious. This is often the first thing that strangers notice about you. You take

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your teaching, scholarship, mentoring and leadership seriously. Your research focuses on matters of life and death. Immigration, the carceral system, the trauma of forced migration, the biblical plea for justice, human lives

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depend on this kind of research. And you show us that we can't understand the Hebrew Bible apart from the way in which it is a product of forced migration, longing for a home and a reflection of

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immigrant experiences this seriousness makes you a gift to this seminary. But you are also joyous, and I learned this in the salsa bar, you have a keen sense of humor that one quickly discovers the more

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one talks with you. You're endlessly curious about other cultures you love to travel. You open yourself to new experiences and new horizons. There is delight in your daily living with your family. The 5 women

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Did you get that 5? Who have shaped your life in countless ways, the women who call you husband and dad you see life as a gift and the time that we have together is grace. So

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my charge to you is simple. First, keep being Gregory Quar. Maintain your remarkable breadth of scholarship . You open our eyes to fresh readings of scripture , the pressing injustices of our carceral system, even

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the purpose and history of museums also keep mentoring students the ways in which you've shaped students callings to ministry are many. You have encouraged some to pursue further graduate study. And you have helped all students to

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recognize that pastors are also scholars and activists, and this gives hope to the church. Keep teaching creatively . You have changed introductory Hebrew from a subject that students dreaded. Into an experience of wonder and even

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delight. So keep doing that. And finally, be mindful of the next generation. Your junior colleagues on this faculty, they need your advocacy, wisdom and example. I believe that the seminary's current faculty

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is the strongest in its history that strength will only continue if senior faculty take the time to advocate for our colleagues, and in all of this show forth the seriousness and the joy that makes you a unique

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child of God. Congratulations, Gregory. I look forward to many more years as your colleague and many more sunny spring days. A reading from Jeremiah 22 verses 1 through 5. Hear now the word of

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the Lord. Thus says the Lord, go down to the house of the king of Judah and speak there is word. And say, hear the word of the Lord, O king of Judah, sitting

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on the throne of David, you and your servants and your people who enter these gates. Thus says the Lord, Act with justice and righteousness and deliver from the hand of the oppressor anyone who has been

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robbed. And do no wrong or violence to the alien, the orphan, the widow, or shed innocent blood in this place, for you will indeed obey this word. Then through the gates of this

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house ri for kings who sit on the throne of David riding in chariots and on horses and they and their servants and their people. If you will not heed these words, I swear by myself, says

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the Lord, that this house shall become a desolation , the word of the Lord. Good afternoon. Thank you all for being here on this truly special occasion. First and foremost, I give thanks to

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God for the grace and guidance that has brought me to this point. It is through God's blessings that I am here today honored to be installed in the Ruth A. Campbell Chair of Biblical studies as a

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full professor and to join my distinguished colleague Professor Louis R. Donaldson, who previously held this chair. First and foremost, I would like to express my profound gratitude to Mr. Ena Scott Jocelyn, Mrs

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. Virginia Campbell Jocelyn, and Ms. Ruth A . Campbell for their extraordinary generosity in establishing this chair . Your vision and commitment to advancing the study of the Bible have created an enduring legacy that will benefit

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generations of scholars and students. To President Reverend Doctor Jose Ramon Irizarry and Dean Reverend Doctor Margaret Aymer, thank you for your trust and support. Your leadership fosters an environment where theological education thrives, and I

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am deeply grateful for the opportunity to contribute to this beloved community. To my faculty colleagues, your inspiration , collaboration, and unwavering commitment to our shared mission have been a constant source of strength. I am

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fortunate to work alongside such brilliant and dedicated scholars. To my students, past and present, thank you for challenging me, inspiring me and reminding me why the study of the Bible matters, your curiosity and

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passion are the heart of everything we do. To my family, especially to my wife Nomi Cuar, thank you for your love. Your patience, sorry . Uh, throughout this journey, none of this

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would have been possible without you. I also owe a profound debt uh to my mentors, uh, Doctor Fernando Segovia and Doctor Daisy Machado, whose wisdom and encouragement have been instrumental in my development as a

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scholar. Your guidance has shaped not only my work but also my understanding of what it means to be a teacher and a thinker. It is a privilege to hold this chair and con and to contribute to

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the legacy of biblical studies at Austin Seminary. I'm deeply humbled uh by the responsibility and inspired by the possibilities that lie ahead. I trust that with God's guidance I will continue to serve this institution, our

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students, and our shared mission with integrity and faith . And now to what is, I was told to lecture, uh, not so much of a sermon. And this lecture. Comes from a larger

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project, uh, that, um, deals with migration studies and, and Western biblical interpretation. And so this will eventually be published, hopefully, um , this year. At its core, empire is

00:25:33.430 - 00:25:52.180

a devouring force of human generated power that siphons, extracts, and subdues the life forces of lands, bodies, flora and fauna to aggrandize itself. To achieve this, empire requires the allegiance of a large

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collective to engage in systemic and militant forms of violence against a designated other. This organizing of a mass collective to dominate the other employs a language, a discourse, a body of ideas that enraptures and possesses

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their imagination. Here the ideology of empire seeks to cultivate a conquering impulse in its loyal masses which they in turn are expected to exercise over the places people and property deemed inferior. In this way, the

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ideology of empire births the practice of empire which reproduces the ideology and then it's practice setting in motion unending cycles of imperial violence across human history. What gives Empire its longevity is the ample supply of antecedent versions

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of itself. In other words, the more empires colonized, the more they colonize cyclical predecessor and then successor. By means of a postcolonial critique, the chronic violence endemic to empire can be understood as exploitative

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colonization, which, as Franz Fanon describes, quote , is content with extracting natural resources and exporting them to the metropolitan industries, thereby enabling a specific sector to grow relatively wealthy while the rest of the colony

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continues or rather sinks into under underdevelopment and poverty, end quote. By its very nature, colonization manifests as a plundering violence against other people, their possessions , and their lands from ancient times to the present

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, this extracting project remains an essential feature of empire building. With colonization as first a depossessing dispossessing praxis , it's imperial expression simply raises the threshold of plunder to a level that coincides with the avaricious ambitions of

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imperial power. Such a system of extraction even takes precedence over auxiliary projects of civilizing the cultural and religious identities of the conquered people. As in plantation economies or slave economies, European colonizers often preferred extermination over

00:28:18.210 - 00:28:37.440

affiliation with their conquered people in this way, the absence of social integration following imperial conquest points less to the empire's cultural tolerance than a devaluation of the colonized people as subjects unworthy of civilizing. In his critique

00:28:37.440 - 00:28:55.600

of exploitative colonization, Achile Mabimbe describes how the colonized native is reduced to quote an objective thing matter, explaining that quote the colonized belongs to the universe of immediate things, useful things when needed, things that

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can be molded and are mortal, futile and superfluous if need be, end quote. And while empires reduced their human worth to mere utility, the colonized across time still managed to leave behind archival fragments of

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their humanity as revealed in the Hebrew Bible. In the prophetic literature of the Hebrew Bible empire is an ever present idea that is rooted that was rooted in lived experiences for the prophets, it is not only

00:29:25.750 - 00:29:41.300

that empire building will occur but that this genre of human made power has already happened. To take this further, empire represents a definitive force of colonizing violence in the prophetic critique, so much so that the

00:29:41.300 - 00:29:57.100

prophets were sure of its rhetorical power to incite fear . While the term empire is not explicitly used in prophetic literature, it is conceptualized through eponyms like Egypt , Syria, and Babylon, as well as through

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gory depictions of territorial domination and forced migration. Alternatively , the prophets also register empire in their discourse of post siege trauma, thereby discerning what I call an empire trauma nexus. Here the prophetic discourse concerning empire

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is expressed through a range of affective expressions involving suffering , pain, and loss. In this way, Empire appears in the profits as an atmosphere of violent activity that gives rise to lament. And yet just

00:30:33.840 - 00:30:49.080

as Empire represented more than a single event, the conquered proved to be more than pure victims, for through lament they bear witness to an agential capacity to speak out in the face of total domination. To

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begin, this paper maps the depicted nature of empire in prophetic discourse by examining scenes of imperial violence at the conquest stage, particularly those involving the ravaging of food supply and human bodies. Indeed, in the

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interstices of a retributive theology and poetic imagination, the prophets seek to restore a sense of moral agency and a people seduced by the tentacles of empire. While in the prophetic critique, imperial seduction is often described

00:31:22.850 - 00:31:42.160

through gendered metaphors of female infidelity and pro promiscuity, the real life violence of empire is portrayed with a visceral literalness. As declared messengers of God, the prophets were clear about why empire occurs. To put

00:31:42.160 - 00:32:01.140

it succinctly, Israel has disobeyed God's commandments, and as a result, God used empire to punish Israel rather than debate the intricacies of this retributive theology in responding to Israel's moral failure, this section focuses on

00:32:01.140 - 00:32:16.260

what the prophets reveal about the nature of empire. Although attributed to the God of Israel, the prophets do not deny the human agents involved in empire building . For what they tell us about Empire is that

00:32:16.260 - 00:32:34.000

it unfolds primarily on Earth between humans. As such , there is a fleshly and bloody materiality to empire as in torn bodies, toppled cities, and torched landscapes. In many ways, the earthliness and humanness

00:32:34.000 - 00:32:50.130

of empire appear in prophetic discourse as an available reality that the God of Israel readily enlists for purposes of divine punishment. In Isaiah 5:26, it is the neo- Assyrian Empire that the God of Israel summons,

00:32:50.250 - 00:33:05.450

quote, He will raise a signal for a nation far away and whilst uh and and whistle for people at the ends of the earth, here they come swiftly, speedily, end quote. Human beings constituted

00:33:05.450 - 00:33:21.440

this ancient empire as verse 27 and 28 indicate, wherever there are humans, they create and possess things such as line cloth, sandal thong, arrows, bows, and wheels. Together these objects of empire

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, the apparel, weaponry, and horse led transport were intended to facilitate human acts of violence or in the affective words of Isaiah 5:30 only darkness and distress . In Jeremiah 2040, the empire of divine choice

00:33:37.570 - 00:33:51.850

is the neo-Babylonian, quote, and I will give all Judah in the hand of the king of Babylon . He shall carry them captive to Babylon and shall kill them with the sword. Like its predecessor,

00:33:52.020 - 00:34:07.880

this ancient. The empire was human led and it too is described as having weapons for killing other humans . In Jeremiah 2217, the king is named King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon, and quote, he shall strike

00:34:07.880 - 00:34:22.630

them down with the edge of the sword. The empire had people to handcraft things like the edge of a sword as well as people who were trained to kill with the sword. In Jeremiah 32:24, the

00:34:22.630 - 00:34:37.280

prophet pleads with the God of Israel to see other weapons of empire. See the siege ramps have been cast up against the city to take it, and the city faced with sword, famine and pestilence have

00:34:37.280 - 00:34:53.180

been given into the hands of the Chaldeans who are fighting against it. Here the weapons associated with the neo-Babylonian Empire are both diverse and abundant throughout prophetic literature , we discovered the nature of empire through inventories of

00:34:53.180 - 00:35:08.650

armory. These weapons appear as ready-made objects fully assembled on Earth and used by humans against other humans. As such, the prophet's lists of arrows, bows , siege ramps, and swords lead us to imagine

00:35:08.650 - 00:35:23.720

a vast human workforce to design, craft, mold , shape, polish, and sharpen these lethal objects . Drawing on Sarah Ahmed's theory that use offers a way of telling stories about things, the story of

00:35:23.720 - 00:35:40.480

the sword's use as described by Ezekiel can be discerned from the actions that render it battle ready, such as sharpening and polishing it. As detailed in Ezekiel 219 to 10, a sword, ev, a

00:35:40.480 - 00:36:00.580

sword is sharpened. It is also polished. It is sharpened for slaughter, le lema and. Making the sword ready for use after each use involves a pattern of use that shapes the user of the sword

00:36:00.580 - 00:36:17.830

toward a particular way of being. This parsing of use follows Ahmed's notion that quote use is a relation as well as an activity that often points beyond something even when use is about something. Consider how the

00:36:17.830 - 00:36:32.760

word Jeev is closely described in verse 11. The sword is given to be polished, to be grasped in the hand. It is sharpened. The sword is polished to be placed in the slayer's hand.

00:36:34.310 - 00:36:47.910

Beard hreg. The repeated activities of polishing and sharpening the sword tell the story of why it is brought into existence. In other words, the sword exists not to be blunt and dull but rather sharp and

00:36:47.910 - 00:37:05.330

polished, which in turn corresponds to its intended function , quote, to be placed in the hand of a killer. Though a sharp and polished sword indicates what the sword is for, it still requires a

00:37:05.330 - 00:37:19.730

specific kind of user to fulfill its intended purpose. Using Amet's theory, this sword signals an assignment or duty to its user, which is to kill. To fulfill this duty not only executes the proper use

00:37:19.730 - 00:37:31.850

of the sword but also realizes the intentions of those who brought it into existence. If doling the sword by killing is one aspect of its proper use, the sword is only made usable again when it is

00:37:31.850 - 00:37:49.780

sharpened and polished, as Ame keenly argues, quote , a consideration of use allows us to show how a world can be shaped by what seems to be the smallest thing. From the sword that Ezekiel describes

00:37:49.860 - 00:38:05.740

, the world that emerges is shaped by a value system that prioritizes the production of death verses 14 to 15. The sharp point and polished edge of the sword makes this work easy for its user, so

00:38:05.740 - 00:38:22.920

much so that use becomes a habit and habit becomes an identity, the slayer's hand. And yet who or what would want such a world, one where the easy production of death is a worthwhile investment of

00:38:22.920 - 00:38:37.650

time and resources. Advancing to verse 18, Ezekiel assigns the sword to the king of Babylon, the figurehead of Empire, though written as a singular nounev , the king's sword represents a collective military force in

00:38:37.650 - 00:38:52.200

this way, the Babylonian king's sword. There is a unity of intended purpose which as verse 20 states involved killing people and other lands quote mark out the road for the sword to come to Raba of the

00:38:52.200 - 00:39:07.910

Ammonites or to Judah or to a Jerusalem, the fortified. The links between weapons like the sword and empire in prophetic discourse not only reveal a collective intended purpose to kill with ease other humans from other places

00:39:07.910 - 00:39:23.440

but also a collective habit to accomplish this purpose. It is worth noting that Ahmed's logic of. The more a path is used, the more a path is used applies well in this context of empire.

00:39:24.050 - 00:39:38.960

Hence building on Ezekiel's description of the sword, a clear pattern emerges. The more the sword of empire is used, the more empire is kept alive. And yet a sharp and polished sword was not the

00:39:38.960 - 00:39:52.630

Babylonian king's only weapon, for as verse 22 describes , he had other human made objects in his arsenal into his right hand comes the lot for Jerusalem to set battering rams, to call out for slaughter,

00:39:52.880 - 00:40:09.140

for raising the battle cry, to set battering rams against the gates to cast up ramps to build siege towers ultimately the. Repeated inventories of weaponry and prophetic discourse attend to the material investment of empire. Here

00:40:09.140 - 00:40:25.540

the profits map what empire is by listing the objects it produces and uses to thrive swords, arrows, bows, chariots, spears, and siege ramps also point to the empire's large scale investment in a collective

00:40:25.540 - 00:40:42.610

purpose to create mass death zones. This is the prophetic logic about empire. It is not simply a single event, but rather the normalization of a killing habit among its people. In an imperial habit,

00:40:42.790 - 00:40:59.860

if an imperial habit can be distilled from the weapons that the prophets associate with empire, what do their depictions of death reveal about imperial power? Though embedded in a theological tradition of divine causality, the prophets

00:40:59.860 - 00:41:16.270

subtly reveal a readiness capacity of empire to produce death and destruction. Prophetic discourse takes for granted that the empire chosen by the god of Israel has independently done what is necessary to become an empire. But Be

00:41:16.270 - 00:41:31.470

it the Assyrian, Babylonian, or Persian Empire, its proclivity for violence is regarded as a certainty. In this way, the empire is simply there in the prophets, fully assembled, accomplished, and always

00:41:31.470 - 00:41:52.360

ready to advance. But what specifically determines the empire's readiness and prophetic discourse as evidenced by the prophet's lists of imperial weapons, it is the empire's mastery in producing death that validates its efficacy. While weapons facilitate

00:41:52.360 - 00:42:08.680

a world of death, such a readiness also requires a killing mindset or what Mabimbe calls a genocidal drive . As he describes this drive is quote a threat that every colonial system is ready to wield when its

00:42:08.680 - 00:42:25.310

survival is at stake. Spill as much blood as possible, shatter piece by piece the worlds of the colonized, and transform them into an undifferentiated pile of ruins of bodies torn to shreds of forever broken lives

00:42:25.310 - 00:42:45.100

and uninhabitable place. The performing in performing its death drive on conquered peoples, the empire extracts the life force from those it kills. Such an extraction is a colonizing act, reducing what once was alive to

00:42:45.100 - 00:43:00.860

an inert thing of nothingness. As illustrated in Isaiah 10:6, the prophet presents the neo- Assyrian Empire as ready upon divine command, quote, to take spoil and seize plunder and to tread them down like the

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mire of the streets. Here the trampled are the conquered dead and are likened to something akin to the worn down ground of a public thoroughfare queerhus. In Jeremiah 5:16, the unleashing of arrows, thereby rendering

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the quiver empty, embodies the neo-Babylonian empire's death drive . Their quiver is like an open tomb. All of them are mighty warriors. In verse 17, the empire's readiness to inflict deadly destruction is just.

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Described in terms of eating aal quote they shall eat up your harvest and your food they shall eat up your sons and your daughters. They shall eat up your flocks and your herds. They shall eat up

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your vines and your fig trees. They shall destroy with a sword your fortified cities in which you trust . Among the things deemed edible are the bodies of conquered relatives. They are not people or subjects but

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consumable objects that sustain the empire, as Mabimbe astutely reveals of Western imperial violence and domination in Africa, an insight applicable here, quote, the colonized could only be envisaged as the property and thing of power

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. He she was a tool subordinated to the one who fashioned and who could now use and alter him her at will as as such, he she belonged to the sphere of objects. They could be destroyed

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as 1 may kill an animal, cut it up , cook it, and if need be, eat it. Throughout Jeremiah, the drive of the neo-Babylonian Empire to kill yields an atmosphere of what the prophet

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describes as sword, famine and pestilence. Barev Baraavuvadaver . And again in Jeremiah 32:24, the context is the Babylonian's conquest of Jerusalem, and the prophet depicts this scene, a city faced with sword, famine

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and pestilence, where the empire's death drive invests in lethal weaponry to sustain an imperial habit it attests to its style of power by cultivating an atmosphere of death and psychic suffering. From building up its arsenal to

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deploying it, the empire's death drive leaves excess ruin in the places it conquers. This atmosphere of violence is described in Ezekiel 23:24 as all encompassing, quote , They shall set themselves against you on every side

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with buckler, shield, and helmet. The grotesque also plays a defining role as verse 25 depicts, quote, they shall cut off your nose and your ears and your survivors shall fall by the sword.

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They shall seize your sons and your daughters and your survivors shall be devoured by fire. Similarly, Hosea 13:16 provides these gory details of the neo- Assyrian Empire inflicting brutal violence on Samaria's most vulnerable. They shall

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fall by the sword, the little ones shall be dashed in pieces and their pregnant women ripped open. While such brutality gives outward expression to imperial power, it also assumes a way of seeing the world that

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reduces the conquered and conquerable to the realm of non-being . Where the empire advances, so does its violent atmosphere of death. In Ezekiel 26:10-12, the prophet shifts focus from the neo-Babylonian empire's conquest of Jerusalem to

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its siege of tire. Verse 10 depicts the deployment of an overwhelming cavalry force. His horses shall be so many that their dust shall cover you. This results in widespread death as described in verse 11,

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quote, the hooves of his horse, he shall trample all your streets. He shall put your people to sword and your strong pillars shall fall to the ground. With lives extinguished, the empire moves on

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to extraction of wealth in verse 12, quote, They will plunder your riches and loot your merchandise. They shall break down your walls and destroy your fine houses, your stones, timber, and soil,

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they shall cast into the water. Running through Ezekiel's predictions is an ontology of violence intrinsic to empire building . Here the empire reveals an insatiable drive to colonize the environment by first destroying it. As Mabimbe puts

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it, quote, to colonize is to put to work the two-faceted movement of destroying and creating, creating and destroying, creating destruction and destroying creation, creating to create and destroying to destroy this power to destroy

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and create rests on the notion that empire recognizes no limits. Fittingly, the prophets evoke flood imagery to capture the empire's fluidity and ease in conquest. Isaiah 8:7-8 compares the Neo-Assyrian Empire to the mighty floodwaters of

00:48:43.850 - 00:48:59.360

a river. In boundless fashion this empire will rise above all its channels and overflow all its banks. Its goal is mass destruction, quote, It will sweep on into Judah as a flood and pouring over

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it will reach up to the neck and its outspread wings will fill the breath of your land, O Emmanuel. A similar flood image appears in Jeremiah 4:472 to describe the neo-Babylonian Empire's conquest of the Philistines.

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Sea waters are rising out of the north and shall become an overflowing torrent. They shall overflow the land and all that fills it, the city and those who live in it. In the end, what

00:49:30.760 - 00:49:50.270

is empire in prophetic literature? Beyond these texts redaction history and theological commitments, they map a constitutive nature of empire that begins with a drive to subjugate, annihilate and exhaust the environments of people deemed inferior as

00:49:50.270 - 00:50:09.200

Habakkuk 15 describes Empire is fierce and impetuous, marching through the breath of the earth to seize dwellings not their own. And in verse 9 they all come for violence with faces pressing forward. They gather captives

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like sand. Perhaps Nahum 2:13 encapsulates Empire best in its critique of Nineveh, the neo-Syrian imperial sinner, ah, city of bloodshed, utterly deceitful, full of booty, no end to the plunder. In

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conclusion, Prophetic discourse serves as a pedagogical function. By mapping. The contours of empire and teaching us to identify its foundational elements, this framework allows us to discern recurring patterns in empire building enabling us to

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anticipate its manifestations both historically and in the present. When social systems prioritize investment in weaponry and militarism, they foster an imperial habit, a cultural, a culture of unchecked consumption and destruction that perpetuates cycles of

00:51:21.310 - 00:51:45.770

violence. Central to this dynamic are the dehumanization of individuals and a preoccupation with the grotesque features that persist across time and demand our critical attention. Prophetic voices compel us to confront urgent questions where does Empire reside

00:51:45.770 - 00:52:35.010

today and how does it continue to shape our world ? Thank you. The Ruth A. Campbell Chair of Biblical Studies was established by the board of trustees of Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary at their regularly scheduled May

00:52:35.010 - 00:52:52.380

meeting in 2004. The chair was made possible by generous bequest from Ruth A. Campbell and her sister Virginia Jocelyn. Ruth and Virginia were lifelong members of First Presbyterian Church in Corpus Christi, Texas, and

00:52:52.380 - 00:53:09.180

their family's financial support for the seminary developed over the course of 30 years and 3 seminary presidents. In a letter dated January 3. 1978, President Maxwell of Austin Seminary wrote to Mr. and Mrs.

00:53:09.190 - 00:53:29.750

Joslyn that the most critical need for an institution of theological education is to attract and maintain a first rate faculty. Combined, the estates of Ruth A. Campbell and Virginia Jocelyn provided capital support for the construction

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of the McCord Center, an endowed scholarship for students with demonstrated financial need. An endowment for unrestricted support for seminary operations and the reason we are gathered today an endowment in support of instruction. The Ruth A

00:53:46.650 - 00:54:01.680

. Campbell Chair of Biblical studies. We give thanks . We give thanks to God for the faithful generosity of Mr. Ennis Scott Jocelyn, Mrs. Virginia Jocelyn, and Ms. Ruth A. Campbell.

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May we remember this family with resolute gratitude. Amen . Can you please stand there? I cannot go to the next part of this, uh, ceremony without mentioning that I was in attendance to the same

00:54:30.680 - 00:54:52.580

meeting 10 years ago at the Inter-American University in San Herman, Puerto Rico, and I was not invited to the salsa bar and cerveza. But let's move on. The long standing tradition of awarding a faculty

00:54:52.580 - 00:55:12.550

chair to a scholar in higher education. Centers on the idea that the person with the best knowledge in a discipline of study sits at the cathedral. At the chair from which all good and authoritative learning emerges

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. That is why this ceremony not only symbolizes a professional recognition. But also one in which we bestow upon the person that is newly shared, a chair . An actual chair. So that this material artifact

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, this visible sign may serve as a constant reminder of why this chair came into being, what it means to the field of study it represents. The importance of that field in the formation of students and

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church leaders and what it means to those who made it possible. And for all those reasons we are more than pleased that the first occupant of the Ruth Campbell chair as newly constituted of biblical studies will be

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the Reverend Doctor Gregory Lee Queer. For whom we will join our minds and hearts in prayers at this moment. And in the Presbyterian tradition when a person is installed into a new call, we invite the

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elders to come forward and lay hands to praise. I will ask the full professors, senior faculty to come forward, Doctor Jensen, Doctor Rigby, Doctor Greenway, Doctor Lord, Dr. Aymer, come

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here. I. Please join me in prayer. But of wisdom giver of all good things. Who by the Holy Spirit have called and appointed teachers to serve your church. Mercifully behold this your servant Gregory

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, now call to the work and ministry entrusted to the carrier of this chair. And replenish him with the truth conveyed by the scripture and adorned with the humility in interpreting the sacred text that both by word

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and deed he may faithfully continue to serve you to the glory of your name and the deification and some teaching of the church. This we ask in testimony of our commitment to the gospel of Jesus Christ,

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our Savior, who lives and reigns with you, oh God, and the Holy Spirit now and to the end of times. Amen. Gregory and nombre de la junta de directorres del seminario previterianologico de Austin

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ecoloida que maidodada paracereto nombramientos the claro oy febrero ventice del do mil venticinco quetu Gregory cullar Tomasel puerto in la catedra root er Campbell and audio biblios Felicidades i puede tomatoila you may say. Yeah. Just the

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Please join me. Did in your bulletin. Eternal God, the Creator and preserver of all things, we beseech you to bestow upon this seminary your manyfold gifts of grace, your truth to those who teach

00:59:32.330 - 00:59:51.290

, your joy to those who learn, your wisdom to those who administer, your laws to those who hold its mission and its work and trust. By these gracious influences of your spirit, find all who

00:59:51.290 - 00:00:00.000

bear the name of Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary into the company of those who know your steadfast love. Amen . Yeah I Yeah Yeah in my That's the question Why Here Working For justice right I uh. What

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we Not be about to work. other among others