It seems like half the people I know have read or are reading this book, so I feel like I’m playing catchup on this particular conversation. It’s one I’m glad I’ve joined. Shane Claiborne has prompted a lot of questions, and rocked a few boats.
In summary, Claiborne has found a different Jesus in the gospels than the mainstream church. He’s found a Jesus who is homeless, a friend of the poor, who rails against authority and undermines the empire, who tells a rich man to sell everything he owns and give the money away. This is Claiborne’s model, and he has done his best to find it, live it and prove such a life is possible.
The book follows his journey, from the disillusionment with the church of his youth, and the ambitious and wealthy ‘megachurches’ where he trained. He talks about how he came to bond with the poor in Philadelphia, and then travelled to Calcutta to see if Mother Theresa offered a better demonstration of Christ than the ones around him. He visits Iraq in the middle of the war, testing Jesus’ call to be a peacemaker. He helps stage a ‘re-distribution’ on Wall Street and heckles George W Bush at the Republican conference. He is, in his own words, an ‘ordinary radical’ – radically different, but rooted in real people and real situations.
The Irresistable Revolution is a challenging and uncomfortable read, whether you are a Christian or not. There’s no doubt that Claiborne is an extreme example, and that many couldn’t live like he does if they tried. At the same time, he is absolutely right that many churches have been tamed and commodified, that Jesus’ teachings have been edited and tweaked for an easy life. I’ve seen that myself, and my own response has been more detachment and critique than positive engagement. I feel the sting of Claiborne’s words when he writes that there are plenty of people who “talk about poverty and injustice but rarely encounter the poor, living detached lives of comfortable consumption.”
I will think some more on this. This is a book that rejects the idea that Christianity has nothing more to offer than some distant and otherworldly heaven. It’s a great reminder that the church is a missionary agency: we’re meant to go to the poor and the hungry, not wait for them to come to us. There’s loads of good stuff about power, simplicity, and community, that’s worth coming back to. It’s a call to reckless generosity and selfless love in a world of “big beasts and little prophets.” It is hopeful, expectant, uncompromising. If the church lived like this, it would be an unstoppable force. But can it live like that, and should we all live like that? I just don’t know. I’ll have to get back to you on that one.
- The Simple Way – the community Shane Claiborne is part of in Philadelphia.
- IrresistableRevolution.com
- Jo at Soul Food reflects on the book here, and links to a sample chapter.
The Earthbound Report 
Hey, thanks for mentioning the book. It left me with this uncomfortable feeling like: ‘so what should I do now?’. I haven’t really find the answer. But the direction Claiborne points to is really important.
I think you’re right Michal, it’s best to consider Claiborne’s story as a direction rather than a destination, and then take the challenge and see how far it takes us.