Anti-Imperial Subtexts in Paul 311 bedded text”) which is by no means self-evident. These are manifestly different textual phenomena. Clearly, more work is needed. Among other necessary measures, I would argue that Popper’s criterion of falsifiability (25) should be rigorously applied to anti- imperial readings of Paul. Proponents of such readings must delineate the circumstances under which terms used both by Paul and Rome should not be viewed as anti-imperial in their force. A cross check of the data in other sources would also be useful. Does the use of the terms in question by other Jewish writers (Philo, for example) reveal that they are inherently anti-imperial? Do other Jewish writers who are more amenable to Rome (Josephus comes immediately to mind) avoid them for precisely that reason? I suspect that the answer in both cases is no. 4. Anti-Imperial Exegesis of Pauline Texts: a Brief Assessment Lack of methodological rigor has led to identification of some unlikely Pauline passages as subversive in their intent. Walsh and Keesmaat argue, for instance, that Paul’s metaphorical statement that both his Gospel (Col 1,6) and the Colossians’ faith (Col 1,10) are “bearing fruit and increasing” is subversive because it denies that Rome is the source of fruitful abundance (26). Richard DeMaris has recently posited that water baptism in Corinth was a subversive symbol that functioned as “a response to Roman hegemonic control of water”(27). Such readings seem more indebted to a predetermination that Paul letters must be full of subversive content rather than to a careful sifting of the evidence. It would, however, be foolish to disregard the possibility that subversive subtexts are present elsewhere in Paul. Three passages, in particular, have been the subject of intense post-colonial scrutiny and seem worthy of more serious consideration. The first two are found in 1 Thessalonians, the one letter that even some skeptics view as amenable to anti-imperial readings of Paul (28). (25) Cf. K. POPPER, “Falsifikationismus oder Konventionalismus”, Karl Popper Lesebuch. Ausgewählte Texte zu Erkenntnistheorie, Philosophie der Naturwissenschaften, Metaphysik, Sozialphilosophie (ed. D. MILLER) (UTB 2000; Tübingen 1997) 127-134. (26) Cf. B. WALSH – S. KEESMAAT, Colossians Remixed. Subverting the Empire (Downers Grove, IL 2004) 70. (27) R.E. DEMARIS, The New Testament in Its Ritual World (London 2008) 50. (28) Cf. M.W. PAHL, Paul, the Gospel and Empire. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the Evangelical Theological Society, Providence, Nov. 19, 2008.