A free six-week online course

The Christ Empire Couldn't Keep

A free six-week online course tracing the holy alliances, imperial creeds, and stubborn resistance that have shaped Christianity — from Rome to right now.

✓ Free to join · 6 weeks with Joerg Rieger & Tripp Fuller
✓ Thursdays at 1pm ET starting August 27th

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No cost to enroll. Replays included. Give later only if you're able.

Join theologian Joerg Rieger and Tripp Fuller for six weeks of honest history and unexpected hope — and meet the Jesus that power has been trying, and failing, to capture for two thousand years.

Why This,
Why Now

We tend to treat today's fusion of faith and power as a shocking glitch — a strange, recent perversion of a gospel that was always about humility and the poor. But the alliance of throne and altar is not a bug that appeared last election cycle. It is one of the oldest stories in the Christian tradition.

For nearly 2,000 years, empires and Christianity have propped each other up, trading legitimacy for reach and reach for legitimacy. Rome did it. The councils did it. Conquistadors did it. And it is happening again right now.

Here's the good news hiding inside the bad news: empire has never once managed to capture Christ completely. In every era, at the very moment power thought it had domesticated the gospel, something in it slipped the leash — a surplus that refused to serve the throne.

This isn't a class about despair, and it isn't nostalgia. It's clarity — and hope with its eyes open.

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What You Get

Everything you need to move through the whole 2,000-year argument — lectures, live conversation, a shared book, and a real community — for free.

6 Pre-Recorded Lectures

Joerg Rieger walks through one era of the Christ-and-empire story each week, drawn from his landmark book Christ and Empire: From Paul to Postcolonial Times.

6 Live Q&A Conversations

Bring your questions and think out loud with Joerg and Tripp, live each Thursday (replays if you can't make it).

Read the Book Together

We move through Christ and Empire: From Paul to Postcolonial Times one era at a time, at a pace you can actually keep.

A Real Community

Join fellow pastors, seminarians, and curious troublemakers in the class group, with all replays on the Resource Page for at least a year.

The 6-Week Journey

Six weeks, six eras, one long argument between empire and the Christ it could never quite keep. Each week pairs a lecture from Joerg with a live Q&A hosted by Tripp, and a reading from Christ and Empire.

Rome already had a Lord, a Son of God, and a Savior — his name was Caesar. So what was the early church doing when it handed every one of those titles to a crucified laborer? (Reading: Ch. 1)
The great creeds were hammered out at the height of Roman power, with emperors footing the bill. Did the empire capture Christ — or smuggle in a reversal it never intended? (Reading: Ch. 2)
Anselm's account of why God became human was written in the shadow of the Norman Conquest, in a world of lords and debts. There's an imperial God-Man here — and a resisting one. (Reading: Ch. 3)
The conquistadors carried a Christ of conquest. Las Casas turned him inside out, finding Jesus among the very peoples the empire was destroying. (Reading: Ch. 4)
Here's the twist progressives don't expect: even the modern, liberal theology many of us call home carries the fingerprints of empire — and a surplus that still resists. (Reading: Ch. 5)
We bring the whole 2,000-year argument home, reading American Christian nationalism as the newest chapter — and asking where the resisting Christ shows up now. (Reading: Chs. 6 & 7)

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Meet Your Hosts

Editorial circular headshot of Dr. Joerg Rieger, lead theologian

Dr. Joerg Rieger

Dr. Joerg Rieger is one of the most influential political and liberation theologians working today. He is the Distinguished Professor of Theology, holds the Cal Turner Chancellor's Chair in Wesleyan Studies at Vanderbilt University, directs the Wendland-Cook Program in Religion and Justice, and is the author of more than two dozen books — including our primary text, Christ and Empire.

Editorial circular headshot of Dr. Tripp Fuller, podcast host and teacher

Dr. Tripp Fuller

Dr. Tripp Fuller is the founder and host of the Homebrewed Christianity Podcast and has led online theology courses for more than 20,000 students — making him one of the most trusted voices in bringing serious theology to a wider table. He's Visiting Professor of Theology & Culture at Luther Seminary.

What People Say About HBC Classes

Grad-school level classes with incredible teachers in a fun, accessible and engaging online experience for even an exhausted working pastor/parent to participate in and enjoy!
— Rachel Haxtema, Associate Pastor, Keystone UCC
As a minister these classes and conversations have enriched how I read and engage with our sacred texts, as well as the community I help shepherd.
— Will Rose, Parish Pastor, Chapel Hill, NC

Live sessions begin Thursday, August 27th. Enroll now!

It's free to join, and everything is recorded — so you lose nothing by claiming your spot today.

29
Days
21
Hours
08
Minutes
02
Seconds
Free to enroll All replays included No credit card required

ENTER YOUR EMAIL TO JOIN THE CLASS

No cost to enroll. Give later only if you're able.

Frequently Asked Questions

Yes. Enrolling costs nothing. After you sign up you'll see an optional invitation to support the class — give what you're able, including nothing. Everyone gets full access either way.
No problem — it's fully asynchronous. Every lecture and live Q&A is recorded and posted to the Resource Page, available for at least a year.
Yes — grab Joerg’s Christ and Empire: From Paul to Postcolonial Times before we begin. Joerg will present the big ideas in the lectures, but we would love to read it together over the six weeks. Order by mid-August so you have it for Week 1. 
Thursday, August 27, 2026, at 1pm ET / 10am PT — then weekly through October 1.