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In this book, Stephanie Buckhanon Crowder reexamines the role of Simon of Cyrene during the crucifixion as presented in the Gospel of Luke. Engaging in cultural studies as an interpretive base, Crowder maintains that because Simon was forced or conscripted to carry the cross, his actions cannot be interpreted as those of a disciple who voluntarily followed Jesus. Further, since the gospel writer Luke was under duress and could not openly record such activity, he engaged in a rhetoric of subversion in order to protect himself. Luke's literature thus bespeaks of his own socio-cultural and socio-political environment under the Roman Empire.
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"'Simon of Cyrene: A Case of Roman Conscription is a striking example of cultural studies at work. Operating from the social location of the contemporary African American reader, Dr. Crowder explores the implications of Simon of Cyrene's African heritage in both the first and twenty-first centuries. Simon, like the evangelist Luke, is dramatic. Her reading not only reiterates Jesus' alliance with the oppressed; it demonstrates just as forcefully how the plan of God draws the oppressed into transformative alliance with Jesus." (Brian K. Blount, Associate Professor of New Testament Princeton Theological Seminary)
