Jesus for President, a review for atheists; Part 2: God’s story April 1, 2008
Posted by Zack in Pennsylvania | 3 commentsLast week, I introduced the co-author of Jesus for President, Shane Claiborne, who is a phenomenon with no equivalent outside of the born again Christian subculture. He openly and unambiguously opposes capitalism and “empire,” and because the source of his politics is the Bible he has an exploding audience in the American evangelical church—especially the white, upper-middleclass church.
Shane’s first book, Irresistible Revolution is being read at this moment by probably thousands of little bible study groups around the country. Jesus for President, written with Chris Haw, is already a best seller. Both books are part of a greater mass audience theological trickle-down of 2,000-year-old themes that have been making a come back among Christian intellectuals for sometime.
Jesus for President, is a walk through the Bible using an approach that some call Narrative Theology. From Genesis to Revelation, they apply “God’s story” to present-day life under capitalism and the American empire. Today, I want to give you some samples of how they actually do it (page scans below!). My goal is not to convert you, but to show how, if you use your imagination, you might see some sense, beauty and power in this story as they see it.
One of my biggest surprises in getting to know Bible believin’ Christians is that they are able to keep their eyes wide open while diving into the ancient texts of the Bible head first. They are asking the hard questions and finding poetic answers though serious scholarly study. Jesus for President is one of the most accessible examples available for non-believers to see how they do it.
In the Bible, God gets angry. He wipes out cities, nations and even the entire human race once. He steps in to save his favorites sometimes, and other times tempts or tortures them just to see what they’ll do. And even if you were to write off all the smiting, giants and 900 year old men as “Old Testament myths” (as a lot of liberal Christians do), the fundamental plot line still seems crazy. As Julia Sweeney says:
Why would a god create people so imperfect then blame them for their own imperfections? Then send his son to be murdered by those imperfect people to make up for how imperfect those people were — and how imperfect they were inevitably going to be. I mean what a crazy idea!
How in the world do modern Christians who believe in a “kind, unchanging and all-powerful god” think they can answer that?
The answer—sort of—is that they don’t. “It’s a mystery!” they say. Their starting point is a leap of faith that God is up to something in the world that is beyond our comprehension. Even though God could fix humanity with the snap of a finger, he doesn’t want that kind of relationship with us. And that’s what makes it potentially beautiful: God desires a relationship with humanity—and desires that it should be interesting. Isn’t that wild? I’ve even heard some preachers say that God created us to be a companion to him. It doesn’t mean God never interacts with or intervenes in humanity. On the contrary—what kind of relationship would that be? The Bible, as read by Claiborne and Haw, is the story of a God who never gives up on humanity, no matter how bad we screw things up down here. Yet it is the story of a God who gives us our independence and expects a lot of us.
That is why, in my experience, many Christians are more “humanist” than people who call themselves “secular humanists.” Secular humanists do not believe that humans have a special place in the grand scheme of the universe; Christians do.
Here’s one place, from the first few pages, where Shane & Chris sum it up:
[Note: the markings (except for a couple check marks in the margins and one scribble further below) are part of the original text. The book is designed like this on every page throughout!]
Many of you will be thinking (and commenting below), “What kind of idiots believe these old stories are actually true!?” There are a couple of things to say about that. I don’t know what Shane & Chris personally believe regarding the absolute historical accuracy of the whole Bible. But, for many, deep study of the Bible has caused them to let go of the idea that everything in the Bible accurately represents real history. At the same time, they continue to commit to the Bible as a text that is held communally to be “true” and the sole source of authority.
Is it crazy to do that with a 5,000 year old book of cobbled-together stories and poems? Yes. But, is it any less crazy to believe that the law of supply and demand actually regulates the economy, that anti-depressants actually work, or that human history has been a steady march in the direction of progress? Sure, we can supply all kinds of stories and examples to back up that kind of a worldview. But few will have much grounding in anything that can truly be called fact. More importantly though: those mainstream truths are handed down authoritatively to us by economist priests, doctor priests and academic priests. It is very difficult for a lay person to confidently question a psychiatrists’ diagnosis, isn’t it?
For Christians like Shane and Chris, on the other hand, truth in the Bible is a communal act, not a set of facts. Every individual in their own community, as in the whole body of the church, is understood to have equal right and inherent ability to wrestle with scripture to produce truth. That doesn’t mean everyone can come up with their own truth; that’s individualism, not communalism. Scary? Uncomfortable? Yes. But it’s communitarian, not authoritarian.
I hope I’ve brought at least a few skeptical readers to the point where they might consider paying at least an ounce of respect to this Christian biblical idea of communal truth. So let’s keep moving: Shane and Chris see the Christian community as bound to this story of the bible; let’s see where that story goes after humans’ disastrous debut on the stage of history.
You’ve heard of all those crazy rules in biblical books like Leviticus or Deuteronomy, right? That stuff gets pulled out a lot when someone wants to prove that Christians follow the Bible only selectively. “God hates shrimp!” etc…. But Christians believe that the Mosaic law was intended by God only for humanity at a particular time in our history—and only for a subset of humanity at that.
Ever have a really troubled friend, and every time you tried to help, it just made things worse? In the Bible, that’s kind of what God has going with humanity. First, he throws us out of the garden for disobeying him once (maybe an overreaction in hindsight?). After that, God keeps trying to help us get back on track in various ways, but we just fall further and further into a downward spiral of murder and greed. So God decides to hit the reset button (the flood), but that doesn’t fix anything either.
What’s so interesting to me is how, in the Bible, God’s methods with us become more and more subtle. For example, he follows the flood by picking out one particular people—an enslaved people!—and chooses them to be an example for the rest of the world, set apart from the world and yet living among the world. He will raise them up out of the pitiful mess that humanity has become, and through them redeem all of humanity.
In that context, all the crazy rules can almost make sense: “the law” was designed by God to counter the particular, historical ways in which they were living that were messed up and broken: as slave and slave owner, as land owner and tenant, as murderer and victim, as king and subject. (Yeah, we’re still living in those messed up ways, but just wait: God has a different intervention for our time later in his story.)
Ten thousand tenured economists say its OK if 99% of the means of making a living (means of production) fall into the hands of 1% of the people. God says the means of making a living belongs to all the people. Which story do you want to sign on to?
Actually, anthropologists know that periodic redistribution of the means of making a living is in the DNA of our species. Virtually all pre-empire/pre-state agricultural societies did it. Pre-agriculture societies didn’t need to do it because your means of making a living were your legs.
What I’m saying is: There is a lot in the Bible that affirms certain truths (like Jubilee) that have been wiped out in many places over the past several thousand years by feudalism, capitalism and modern empire. Do you really think that people all around the world are tenaciously hanging on to religions that are thousands of years old because they’re stupid? They are our only surviving link back to values and standards of fairness that go back to the beginning of time. A Bible-based world view isn’t about rolling society back to the year -3000, but it is about re-applying, through community, some of those ancient values to the complexity of the present day.
OK, in this installment, I tried to give a quick introduction to how Chris and Shane are interpreting the Bible’s Hebrew scripture for their generation. Again, this is part of a much wider movement: Shane and Chris are popularizing serious theological work that has been trickling down from scholars into mainstream Christianity for decades, and they are in the company of many other popular writers and perhaps millions of other ordinary pastors and students of the Bible who are coming to the same conclusions. This is all part of what some have called the Fourth Great Awakening in American Christianity.
In the next installment, I’ll get into how Chris and Shane interpret the Greek scripture of the Bible (a.k.a. the “New Testament”).
Tags: Chris Haw, irresistible revolution, Jesus for President, narrative theology, shane clairborneJesus for President, a book review for atheists; Part 1, What is Shane Claiborne? March 24, 2008
Posted by Zack in Pennsylvania | 6 commentsShane Claiborne has an exciting new book out called Jesus for President, this one co-authored with co-conspirator Chris Haw. It’s a beautifully designed, reframing of the Bible from Genesis to Revelation—sort of an activist introduction to a thing called Narrative Theology, which is all the rage among Christian Revolutionaries.
Last year, Shane gave me my single best piece evidence for convincing skeptics that something absolutely incredible is going on inside the church. First, I show them this picture (Shane, the speaker, is one of those specs down on stage). Some kind of right-wing Christian rally, right? It’s looks like they’re all on their feet reading something together off those screens. How fascist.
Then I play the audio. All those people—mostly white, Republican, Southern, born-again Christians—were on their feet reciting a “Litany of Resistance“. It was the end of a long sermon/lecture by Shane at at the Catalyst Conference in Georgia last year. The litany lasted about ten minutes (you can watch the whole thing here). Here’s one very short clip from it:
With governments that kill…
…we will not comply.
With the theology of empire…
…we will not comply.
With the business of militarism…
…we will not comply.
With the hoarding of riches
…we will not comply.
With the dissemination of fear
…we will not comply.
But today we pledge our allegiance to the kingdom of God…
…we pledge allegiance.
To the peace that is not like Rome’s…
…we pledge allegiance.
To the Gospel of enemy love
…we pledge allegiance.
To the poor and the broken…
…we pledge allegiance….
Usually the reaction I get is something like: “Huh… [long pause] How did that happen?”
In this case, it happened because Shane has been fearlessly, creatively and lovingly preaching that gospel of resistance from inside of mainstream Christianity. He doesn’t stand on the outside criticizing and condemning. As a result, people listen. Almost all the speakers at that three-day conference preached on social justice issues, but usually they remained just inside of the audience’s comfort zone. Shane crossed that line and kept on going, and going, and going. But he has a magical ability to keep people with him as he goes. After his talk, I heard kids clustered in the hallways grappling together with all the ideas he had introduced. It was an incredible thing.
But the truth is that same thing is happening all the time, all over the country, every day — at big Christian conferences, in living room Bible studies, in Bible college classrooms, in little churches and in mega churches. Shane has become one of the most famous and effective voices in this continuation and transformation of the church. But this was all happening long before Shane uneasily consented to glamour shots at Christian mega-publisher Zondervan.
Claiborne’s first and best-selling book, Irresistible Revolution, tells the story of his own journey from church youth group jock to radical follower of “the God of the oppressed.” It begins with trembling first outings to the midnight streets of Philadelphia with his Bible college buddies. (They asked “What Would Jesus Do?” and, after studying the Bible, concluded: Hang out with homeless people, drug addicts and prostitutes.) He takes detours to work with Mother Teresa and intern at a “seeker sensitive” mega church in Chicago. Eventually, he returns to Philadelphia to co-found a Christian commune that humbly attempts to live in solidarity with and support of the poor and oppressed of a broken neighborhood.
Shane’s story comes out of an organic and spontaneous movement. When I was telling activist theologian Brian Walsh about all the different places I was seeing this movement sprout up, he said, “So it’s a movement of the spirit.” That means something that God is making happen all over the place at the same time—and that sure is what it feels like.
Irresistible Revolution is still making its way deeper and deeper into the heart of mainstream Christianity. I have seen it discussed in several Bible study groups and Sunday school classes—even in conservative and rural churches. Some say it changed the course of their life. Others say it “challenged” them to think differently about God. Reading the book communally has spurred some churches to reach “outside of the four walls” to get involved more deeply in their community.
And then there are the young Christians who were already living out stories very similar to Shane’s. They’re usually thrilled to realize that they are in fact part of a large movement. But they’re also made uneasy by the possibility that their own radical choices are just part of a passing fad to be commoditized by the very “Christian Industrial Complex” that Shane rants against the first chapter of the book. In Irresistible Revolution, Shane gives voice to a generation of young Christians who aspire to live wildly and dangerously selfless lives. But one of the ethics of that life is that you don’t go seeking credit. Shane himself wrestles with the contradiction in an author’s note at the beginning of the book. Sensing he is about to become one, he argues the last thing the world needs is another Christian subculture superstar.
In that respect, Jesus for President is the perfect companion to Irresistible Revolution. Having unexpectedly captured the attention of mainstream Christianity, Shane and Chris don’t water down their politics or theology one bit. Instead, they deepen and broaden their radicalism. In Irresistible Revolution, it still sounded romantic when Shane said, “Jesus didn’t fix my life, he wrecked it.” It seems to be possible for some to read that book and conclude the Gospel is just about helping others. In Jesus for President, Shane and Chris unambiguously take aim at capitalism and empire; and they are much more explicit that Jesus calls upon his followers to actively resist systems and structures of oppression in ways that will ultimately put you in danger.
Since Irresistible Revolution, Shane has been speaking at tons of Christian conferences and mega churches. The more sharply he delivers his message, the more invitations he seems to get. I imagine he probably gets scolded by his hosts from time to time, but there are many in the audience electrified by what they hear. Christians recognize him as a prophet. And even the crankiest of conservative preachers knows that a prophet’s job is to say things people don’t want to hear. In that way, a certain kind of radicalism is built into Christianity. And Shane is taking it about as far as it goes.
OK, so that’s an introduction to the Shane Claiborne phenomenon. In part two of this review I’ll focus on Jesus for President itself.
Tags: Chris Haw, irresistible revolution, Jesus for President, Shane ClaiborneCommunities and their stories March 21, 2008
Posted by Zack in Pennsylvania | 2 commentsI spent part of this week visiting with a community in Joplin, MO. A few different circles of friends, classmates, neighbors, church members & leaders, professors and students there are up to all kinds of amazing things. I’m hoping to write a big story about how all the pieces fit together.
One of the pieces is a neighborhood project that has students and young couples from a church and Bible college moving into a broken neighborhood and helping out. It’s been a story similar to the one told in Shane Claiborne’s Irresistible Revolution about the Simple Way community. Except, the people in Joplin mostly only heard about Shane & his book recently, and most still haven’t read the book. One who read the book remarked it made her realize that she was part of a “movement of the spirit” happening all over the place.
I hope that story telling somehow becomes a new standard part of these Christian communities. Because these Christians are so focused on being humble, and not going for credit, they shy away from telling the world about what they’re doing. Even in the churches that support neighborhood efforts like the one I visited in Joplin, there are usually only brief announcements on occasional Sundays — let alone public blogging and book writing.
Through Shane’s books, as well as blogs, and videos like the ones below (by Jamie Moffett), people have been able to follow the trials and successes of the tiny Simple Way community in Kensington, Philadelphia. Shouldn’t there be a way to follow a whole bunch of similar communities? We need some kind of new RSS feeds that go to whole communities, not just blogs. How would that work?
Tags: Joplin, Shane Claiborne, Simple Way“I have seen the future of evangelical Christianity, and it is pierced.” February 27, 2008
Posted by Zack in Pennsylvania | 2 comments
Today Michael Gerson wrote in the Washington Post about the CCO conference that I was dying to attend (but I was out of the country). I wrote about CCO after interviewing one of its staffers in Columbus. Here’s Gerson’s reaction to what he saw at the CCO’s Pittsburgh youth conference:
I have seen the future of evangelical Christianity, and it is pierced. And sometimes tattooed. And often has one of those annoying, wispy chin beards.
Those who think of evangelical youths as the training cadre of the religious right would have been shocked at Jubilee 2008, a recent conference of 2,000 college students in Pittsburgh sponsored by the Coalition for Christian Outreach. I was struck by the students’ aggressive idealism — there were booths promoting causes from women’s rights to the fight against modern slavery to environmental protection. Judging from the questions I was pounded with, the students are generally pro-life — but also concerned about poverty and deeply opposed to capital punishment and torture. More than a few came up to me between sessions in anguished uncertainty, unable to consider themselves Republican or Democrat, liberal or conservative — homeless in the stark partisanship of American politics.
Many observers have detected a shift — a broadening or maturation — of evangelical social concerns beyond the traditional agenda of the religious right. But does this have political implications?
Perhaps. Recent Zogby polls in Missouri and Tennessee found that about a third of white evangelicals who showed up on primary day voted Democratic. The sample sizes were small. Yet John Green, a senior fellow with the Pew Forum, finds the results interesting. “These results are higher than usual. Typically these numbers would be about a quarter.”
Amazon: Revolutionary Christianity #1 “radical political doctrine,” #2 “political philosphy” February 14, 2008
Posted by Zack in Pennsylvania | 4 commentsI just think this is kind of funny. These are Amazon best seller rankings for the three categories in which Shane Claiborne’s Irresistible Revolution is high up top:
Shane’s book came out two years ago. And yet it’s consistently in the top 1000 sellers on Amazon — which is pretty amazing in itself. But how funny is it that a born again Christian’s book is the #1 work of “radical political doctrine” and the #2 work of “political philosophy” among Amazon customers?
Maybe it’s a quirk of Amazon categories. Or maybe it says something about the left: that born again Christians are the only radicals anymore with a mass audience.
Tags: Amazon, politics, Shane ClaiborneJesus for President December 8, 2007
Posted by Zack in Pennsylvania | 6 commentsShane Claiborne, one of the most compelling voices of the Revolution sweeping “Jesusland,” is still taking applications for stops in his “Jesus for President” tour. He, Chris Haw and other friends will be visiting dozens of communities this Summer, at the height of the U.S. presidential campaign season, stirring up a different kind of politics. Just what kind of politics they’ll be advocating, I have no idea—except that it will be a challenge both to non-Christians and Christians alike.
This tour is an event to keep your eye on. Each of their stops (they’re criss crossing the nation in a veggie oil powered bus) will likely attract thousands of young (and old) Christian seekers. These will be people who have found Jesus, as the “God of the oppressed,” but are now seeking a way to live out a gospel that was forged in ancient Israel, at the periphery of a global empire, in today’s America, in the belly of a global empire. The subhead of the tour is: “Visiting cities across the empire. Summer 2008.”
You can still request a visit from the Jesus for President tour in your city at jesusforpresident.org. Check out the form below—it’s a really cool way to set up a tour.
Here’s their app for stops:
