Thomas died somewhere along the southwest coast of India. According to an ancient text called Acts of Thomas, King Misdeus, a local ruler, blew his stack when Thomas converted his Queen, his son, and his sister-in-law to the Way of Jesus.
In response, Misdeus ordered four soldiers to drag Thomas outside the city to a nearby hill. There, they executed the Apostle with spears. This is what Empires—even tiny, local Empires—do to people who threaten the established dominance hierarchy.
Students of nature use the term “dominance hierarchy” to describe the social structure that emerges among animals like lobsters or wolves or chickens. Maybe you’ve used the phrase “pecking order.” Well, that’s an example of a dominance hierarchy.
If you throw some feed into a chicken yard, you’ll see the biggest, strongest chicken eat first. An inner circle follows next. Finally, a bedraggled, wary bunch will scurry to and fro to collect whatever remains.
That last group looks …
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