I read this from Sylvia Keesmaat and Brian Walsh, with Radio Riel playing in the background:

Throughout Romans, Paul offers a gospel of peace not through imperial conquest but through messianic suffering. And we have seen that this comes to its most eloquent expression in Romans 8, where God’s response to the suffering community is not revenge on their enemies but rather a relentless solidarity in their suffering in the groaning of the Spirit (8:26) and in the death of the Son (8:32). Moreover, in Romans 8:37 this solidarity results in the community being “more than conquerors.” The whole dynamic of this passage rejects the traditional categories about who is victim and who is conquered. The Messiah who died and was raised is the one in the position of authority at the right hand of God, and those who suffer are those who are not conquered but are more than, indeed above, the conquerors. Paul is rejecting the imperial categories of victory, categories beloved by both Israel and Rome,

(Here let me interject, “categories beloved by Israel and Rome” because they are loved by humans in general.)

and is replacing them with the path of suffering love. The way to respond to the violence of the empire is to bear it and, in that bearing, to reveal that one is part of the family of Jesus (8:17, 29) and therefore one of those who cannot be separated from God’s love. It is such love, such “relentless solidarity,” that enables the Roman Christians to bear the suffering that they experience at the hands of their persecutors.
     In this light it is not surprising that the Christian community in Rome is to “live peaceably with all” (12:18) and “not repay anyone evil for evil” (12:17). In this way the community will “not be conquered by evil, but conquer evil with good” (12:21 . . .), and peace will be the result. Again, Paul subverts the language of the conqueror by robbing it of its violent force. The Pax Romana was considered by Rome to be one of its greatest achievements. Roman peace, however, was secured by the violent oppression of its enemies and the brutal suppression of those who resisted its rule. This contrast is heightened by Paul’s use of the verb “to conquer” in 12:21. Language of conquering the enemy was used in association with Victoria, the goddess of Victory. For the Romans, peace came only through Victory. For Paul, however, evil was overcome not by military victory; it was, rather, disarmed when conquered by good.

While I was reading that Radio Riel ran their usual sponsor announcement for NeoVictoria. I didn’t catch all the wording, but I did find this on NeoVictoria’s website, and it is close, if not the same:

So many races exist: faeries, demons and clockwerk constructs (powered by gears and magic), humans, vampires, werebeasts and celestials. All held against the ravages of time by magic, intrigue and human ingenuity.

I don’t know enough about the NeoVictoria world (either the world within, the story, the avatars, and the play, or the world of the players, who they are, and how NeoVictoria fits in their whole lives) to know just what is included in “magic, intrigue and human ingenuity,” but probably it is quite different from either Roman oppression or Christian love of enemy (and Victoria is the British Queen, not the Roman goddess). Still, it was a fun juxtaposition, and “the path of suffering love” (and resurrection) may as well be magic if viewed from any ordinary human perspective. It is not, there being no trickery involved, but, like I say, it’s a fun thought.

• Sylvia C. Keesmaat and Brian J. Walsh, Romans Disarmed: Resisting Empire, Demanding Justice (Brazos, 2019). 
• Radio Riel (radioriel.org) runs seven streams of music and beats the pants off any AM or FM I know about. Most of its sponsors, including NeoVictoria, are in Second Life, where Radio Riel began. No more information here, so as to limit my responsibility for introducing anyone to those worlds, where good, evil, and banality work side-by-side.
• The British Queen and the Roman goddess: given what was happening at the time of the former, perhaps they were one and the same.