Jesus for President: Politics for Ordinary Radicals [Paperback]

Shane Claiborne (Author), Chris Haw (Author)

Book Description

Release date: February 13, 2008

Jesus for President is a radical manifesto to awaken the Christian political imagination, reminding us that our ultimate hope lies not in partisan political options but in Jesus and the incarnation of the peculiar politic of the church as a people 'set apart' from this world. In what can be termed lyrical theology, Jesus for President poetically weaves together words and images to sing (rather than dictate) its message. It is a collaboration of Shane Claiborne's writing and stories, Chris Haw's reflections and research, and Chico Fajardo-Heflin's art and design. Drawing upon the work of biblical theologians, the lessons of church history, and the examples of modern-day saints and ordinary radicals, Jesus for President stirs the imagination of what the Church could look like if it placed its faith in Jesus instead of Caesar. A fresh look at Christianity and empire, Jesus for President transcends questions of 'Should I vote or not?' and 'Which candidate?' by thinking creatively about the fundamental issues of faith and allegiance. It's written for those who seek to follow Jesus, rediscover the spirit of the early church, and incarnate the kingdom of God.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Starred Review. Here is the must-read election-year book for Christian Americans. What should Christians do when allegiances to the state clash with personal faith? Haw and Claiborne (The Irresistible Revolution) slice through politics as usual and well past the superficial layers of the culture wars with their lucid exploration of how Christians can and should relate to presidents and kings, empire and government. Their entertaining yet provocative tour of the Bible's social and economic order makes even the most abstruse Levitical laws come alive for our era. They also provide a valuable political context for Christ's life, reminding readers that Jesus did not preach the need to put God back into government—he urged his followers to live by a different set of rules altogether, to hold themselves apart as peculiar people. The compelling writing is enhanced by a lavish, eye-popping layout. The pages are a riot of textured callouts, colors, photos and fonts—the perfect packaging for a message that must compete in a world of sound bites. With this second book, Claiborne emerges as an affable, intelligent, humorous prophet of his generation, calling people out of business-as-usual in a corrupt world and back to the radically different social order of the biblical God. (Mar.)
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Review

'Here is the must-read election-year book for Christian Americans. What should Christians do when allegiances to the state clash with personal faith? Haw and Claiborne (The Irresistible Revolution) slice through politics as usual and well past the superficial layers of the culture wars with their lucid exploration of how Christians can and should relate to presidents and kings, empire and government. Their entertaining yet provocative tour of the Bible's social and economic order makes even the most abstruse Levitical laws come alive for our era. They also provide a valuable political context for Christ's life, reminding readers that Jesus did not preach the need to put God back into government -- he urged his followers to live by a different set of rules altogether, to hold themselves apart as peculiar people. The compelling writing is enhanced by a lavish, eye-popping layout. The pages are a riot of textured callouts, colors, photos, and fonts -- the perfect packaging for a message that must compete in a world of sound bites. With this second book, Claiborne emerges as an affable, intelligent, humorous prophet of his generation, calling people out of business-as-usual in a corrupt world and back to the radically different social order of the biblical God.' -- Publishers Weekly Starred Review <br><br> (Publishers Weekly Starred Review )

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 348 pages
• Publisher: Zondervan; Fourth Impression edition (February 13, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0310278422
• ISBN-13: 978-0310278429
• Product Dimensions: 6 x 0.9 x 8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (86 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #36,689 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #47 in Books > Religion & Spirituality > Religious Studies > Church & State
  • #47 in Books > History > World > Religious > Religion, Politics & State

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

62 of 71 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Could have been half as long March 24, 2008

By Sean Mac

Format:Paperback

"Jesus For President: Politics for Ordinary Radicals" by Shane Claiborne and Chris Haw is an accessible yet slightly-revisionist history/review of the Hebrew Scriptures, the world at the time of Christ, and the rest of Christian history. The fourth section of the book consists of jumping-off points and testimonies of people, groups, and situations where the kind of politic and economy described throughout the rest of the book is "fleshed out".

Claiborne is radical. To some, 'radical' is bad, to others, refreshing. But there is no denying that his ideas and his lifestyle are counter-cultural and challenge the status quo. I do not believe this is always a bad thing (more on this later). We can all agree that something is wrong with politics in America today, especially Christians in politics today.

My biggest take-away was the "Third Way" idea he espouses throughout the book, the "prophetic imagination" that should be our primary posture in responding to the needs and challenges of our world today. I think a lot of people my age (18-24), especially Christians, feel torn between blind nationalism ("God bless America") and the angst-ridden anti-establishment attitude we see in the picket lines at anti-war demonstrations. There *has* to be another choice, right? Thankfully Claiborne lays this out pretty clearly, yet with enough room for imagination and creativity.

A note on design: this is one of the most beautiful and interesting books to read. Every page is unique and striking. Some of the text material would honestly be rather dull without all the artwork. This book gets 10 stars out of 5 for creativity in design.

Back to radicalism. I see Claiborne as a modern-day prophet: someone with the eyes to see what's really going on and the balls to do something about it. Prophets in the Hebrew Scriptures (a term I adopted from him in place of 'Old Testament') were hated, persecuted, and even killed, or at least misunderstood. They shook up the establishment. I don't believe he is a "rebel" just for the sake of rebellion. I believe he and his community (and the hundreds of communities like the Simple Way) truly live and breathe the creative nonviolence they preach, much like the Amish (I loved his recommendation of putting the Amish in charge of the Department of Homeland Security).

The reason I gave this book four stars instead of five is because I personally think it could have been 3/4 as long. At times, it seems like he is going in circles, making the same points in different ways. The artwork distracts from this fact: as a standard book it would be much more noticeable.

Another reason it recieved only 4 stars is because I got the impression that there is little or no middle-ground between becoming an "extraordinary radical" - making your own clothes, dumpster-diving for scrap food and parts, killing your TV, living communally, etc. - and incorporating elements of this way of life into a more mainstream lifestyle. For example, in response to the valid question, "What do you do about taxes if you are so concerned about how they are used?" One solution of theirs was to write a letter to the IRS with the amount they were liable for minus 37% (the amount spent on the military) and a note stating they donated that 37% to a nonprofit organization dedicated to promoting peace, and that they could not in good conscience finance war. Or else, they make sure to earn so little that their tax liability is zero.

So many things pop into my head: what about health insurance? Retirement? What if God's miraculous provision for your health and welfare are in fact a good job with benefits and a 401(k)? Are those things any less holy than earning nothing and living on "faith"? Can you earn $80,000 a year and drive a nice used car and enjoy vacations (and give generously to your church and community) and not be considered an "ordinary radical"? There has to be some kind of middle ground, and I don't think the authors recognized or acknowledged this, nor did they expressly recognize those "ordinary" middle-class families that fund missionaries and their community foundations and love their neighbors while still enjoying some of the comforts of the "empire". Is it really one or the other? I digress.

Overall - an important read for every Christian, especially in these politically-heated times. Great artwork and design and (as one reviewer pointed out), the most creative and innovative bibliography you will ever see. Read it with a grain of salt (no human author is infallible), let it challenge you (I'm still churning inside) but most importantly - ACT on your convictions. If your heart is stirred by reading this book, don't stifle it - let it work its way through and change your life, however that looks.

145 of 179 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars The Most Important Christian Book Published in the Last 50 Years March 11, 2008

By Just Bill

Format:Paperback

I'm a writer. Yet, I'm at a loss for words to describe Shane Claiborne and Chris Haw's new book Jesus for President. Let me break this review down into two sections: (1) Design, and (2) Content.

DESIGN

Put simply, Jesus for President is a wonder to behold. I've never seen a book designed with as much attention to detail and visual impact -- not on the outside, mind you; on the INSIDE. The only thing comparable is House of Leaves, the debut novel by American author Mark Z. Danielewski...and Sandman graphic novels designed by the incomparable British artist Dave McKean. Sure, Jesus for President contains regular text just as you'd expect to find in a book. But, in addition, this groundbreaking new book also sports hand-written margin notes, little doodles and drawings, photos with typewritten descriptions, pieces of fabric, pressed flowers, varying type-faces and -sizes, arrows drawn in ink pointing to important passages, circled words, underlines, pages that look as though somehow took a pink highlighter to them, and a bibliography so clever that it, alone, is worth the price of admission.

In other words, everything about this book screams "I HAVE BEEN CRAFTED WITH LOVE." You can pick up this book, turn to a page at random and simply enjoy what your eyes behold. If Jesus for President doesn't win an award for its design, attention to detail (recycled paper, printed in America), and its ability to grab -- and hold -- one's attention from the very first page, there is no God.

CONTENT

Studies show that Americans today are changing their religious faiths almost as quickly as they change their underwear. They jump from church to church, from religion to religion, and hover -- at any given moment -- somewhere between a creeping agnosticism and a growing, bitter, atheism. And I haven't even mentioned the rampant pessimism that's coloring everyone's outlook, especially in the area of politics.

Once-committed Christians are not immune to this modern-day spiritual malady. In fact, many of them lead the exodus away from churches. Or, they remain in church out of a sense of duty to parents, spouses, or friends (or simply out of fear of reprisal from God), and become burned out and depressed, growing ever more frustrated that their Christian faith doesn't seem to mean anything, do anything, or change anything.

Like Neo in The Matrix, Christians everywhere have begun to ask questions about the nature of reality. They want answers because what they're getting now -- from the media, from Hollywood, even from their own churches -- doesn't ring true.

In that now-famous scene in The Matrix, Morpheus offers Neo two pills: one red and one blue. "You take the red pill, you stay in Wonderland. And I show you how deep the rabbit hole goes." As Neo reaches for the red pill, Morpheus suddenly says, "Remember. All I'm offering is the truth. Nothing more."

Jesus for President is like taking the red pill.

And, like Morpheus, all Shane and Chris offer is the truth. Nothing more.

And, baby, that rabbit hole goes pretty deep.

At the heart of Jesus for President is the answer to the question, "Why does the Bible seem so dynamic, yet my church seems so bland, spineless, and ineffectual?" Or, to put it another way, "Why does America -- one of the most heavily-churched countries in the world -- seem to continue going down the drain...economically, politically, morally, and spiritually?"

The answer is found in the first few pages of Jesus for President:

"Too often the patriotic values of pride and strength triumph over the spiritual values of humility, gentleness, and sacrificial love."

"We in the church are schizophrenic: we want to be good Christians, but deep down we trust that only the power of the state and its militaries and markets can really make a difference in the world."

"Rather than placing our hope in a transitional church that embodies God's kingdom, we assume America is God's hope for the world, even when it doesn't look like Christ."

Jesus for President is nothing less than reality-shaking, butt-kicking, rock-solid TRUTH. It presents a Jesus -- and a Christianity -- wholly foreign to today's pew-warmers. It presents a Jesus who is strong in his humility, bold in his compassion, and more concerned with feeding the poor among us than taking up arms to fight those on the other side of the world.

Yes, Jesus for President is heavily critical of American politics. Yes, Jesus for President is a slap in the fat face of mega-church dilettantes who cruise to Sunday school in their Hummers...and leave without dirtying their Manolo Blahnik shoes, scuffing their Hermes handbags, or smudging their Armani suits.

Jesus for President is for those who are sick to death of political lies, bloated lifestyles, and a Christian faith so far removed from the one found in the Bible that they teeter on the brink between pitching it all and...pitching it all. This is a get-off-your-butt-and-roll-up-your-sleeves Christianity. If you don't want to get down and dirty with the world, forget about Jesus for President.

But...

If you're tired of living an anemic version of the faith Jesus espoused in the Bible, you're ready to take the red pill.

I've been reading Christian books for 20 years. Not just books published within the last two decades; rather, books published within the past 150 years or more. I've never seen anything like Jesus for President. I can honestly say, without hyperbole, that Jesus for President is the most important Christian book published in the last half century. Follow it, and you WILL see a change in your life. You will also see a change in your community, and in your country.

63 of 82 people found the following review helpful

1.0 out of 5 stars Book Review: Jesus for President, By Shane Claiborne and Chris Haw March 5, 2010

By Kolburt W. Schultz

Format:Paperback

A friend of mine recently pointed out the importance of discernment when choosing what books to read. Most of us will not complete more than a dozen or so books in a year, and with all the fantastic books out there, we need to be careful not to waste our time on dribble. Unfortunately, Jesus for President, by Shane Claiborne and Chris Haw, is not a fantastic book. It is a stunning example of what happens when Christians allow our political ideology and biases to affect how we approach the Bible. Billed as a "book to provoke the Christian political imagination," the reader is left with more provocation than actual thought. Showing no understanding of the differing roles of the Church and the state, the authors conflate the two in a misguided attempt to shape Christians approach to politics. The end result is a work that only the most radical of the Christian left will find intriguing, while the rest of us are left wondering if it is Jesus they are following or the god of Liberalism. The book is replete with error, all of which fit into one or more of four different categories.

1. Bad Hermeneutics (Biblical Interpretation)
The most egregious and prevalent of all their errors, the authors blatantly rape Scripture in order to bend it to their ideology. For example, even though 1 Chronicles makes it quite clear that David was not to build the Temple because he had shed much blood, Claiborne and Haw argue that God didn't want a temple because He likes sleeping in tents with poor people (pg. 35). Of course this doesn't explain why God seems to have been pleased to dwell in the temple Solomon built. In another instance the authors state that the Israelites had laws for dealing with illegal immigrants (pg. 58). By choosing the phrase "illegal immigrants," instead of what the text actually says "aliens," the authors are trying to make a passage that has little relevance to our current immigration debate fit their own ideological purpose. At one point Claiborne and Haw state that Jesus was from a family of "peasants" (pg. 116), when we now know that the fact that he was a carpenter most likely put him in what we would know as the middle-class. In another instance, the authors say that the people were hungry for revolution, and thus chose for Barrabas to be freed instead of Jesus (pg. 76), when the Gospel account makes it clear that it was the prompting of the Pharisees that led to this decision. Finally, they state that the book of Revelation was written in code so the empire wouldn't know what John was really saying (pg. 148), when it is commonly recognized that the genre of Revelation is apocalyptic and is thus written in such a mysterious manner.

2. Bad Theology
Despite the fact that Chris Haw is said to be working on a graduate degree in theology, the authors make some incredibly basic errors in theological understanding. In many cases they footnote their arguments by thanking some scholar for giving them "new eyes to see" on a particular issue, but due to the obscure nature of their argument, we are left feeling that they simply choose which eyes they like best. In one disturbing instance, they state that violence kills the image of God within a person (pg. 205). The doctrine of Imago Dei is one of the most foundational beliefs for Christian thinking, and no where does the Bible indicate that a person can have more or less of the image of God within them. The image of God is what gives each person their value, and, if the authors' assertion were true, we would be left with some people that are intrinsically more valuable than others, hardly the traditional Christian understanding. Another instance where the authors show their ignorance is their understanding of the Trinity. In a poor attempt at humor, the authors tell a joke in which Jesus is letting people into Heaven whose names are not written in the Book of Life (pg. 290). This type of naiveté is easily repudiated when one recognizes that the Trinity cannot be divided, and thus would certainly know who is allowed into Heaven. Of course, this issue is further complicated by the authors seeming to indicate that they might not believe that Hell exists anyway. In another instance, Claiborne and Haw state that it is difficult to know whether or not Jesus would pay taxes if he lived in the U.S. (pg. 257), of course the simple phrase "render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's" seems to answer that quandary. In still another case, the authors revel in the act of lying when it fits their political cause (pg. 297).

3. Bad Political Philosophy and Logic
In many places Claiborne and Haw show utter inconsistency in their logic, coupled with a radically naïve approach to politics. For instance, they state that capitalism is a yoke that we need to be freed from (pg. 113). And while they admit that writing a book participates in capitalism, they don't seem to grasp the fact that without capitalism their book would not be able to be printed or distributed. In a truly confusing paragraph, the authors argue that the industrial revolution wasn't really an advancement, an assertion so absurd it is difficult to even respond to (I'll let the fact that you are reading this be my rebuttal). And in perhaps the most stunning example of the sheer absurdity of their logic, Claiborne states that, if faced with genocide, he would simply take his clothes off and squawk like a chicken (pg. 273). Such a simplistic assertion fails to grasp the fallen world we currently inhabit, and instead makes a joke of over a million deaths on one continent alone.

4. Bad Use of Historical Argument
Still another way that Claiborne and Haw mislead their readers is by a deceptive use of history. They state that the more the early Church lived out the Gospel, the more they collided with the Roman Empire (pg. 141), when even a cursory understanding of early Church history shows that persecution was sporadic and wholly contingent on who was running the empire, not the degree to which Christians lived the Gospel. In an attempt to show the futility of violence, the authors state that an attempted assassination plot against Hitler only galvanized his resolve and made any efforts towards peace impossible (pg. 203). What they fail to mention is that this happened mere months from the end of WWII, and there was no indication that Hitler was going to surrender under any circumstances.

There are many other examples of all these types of errors I could list, all with equally simple rebuttals. The point is that Claiborne and Haw do not contribute anything new to the discussion of how our faith should influence policy. Rather, they simply carry the water for the far left, attempting to argue that Jesus agrees with them. Personally I am tired of people trying to prove that Jesus agrees with their ideologies, instead, I believe, we should be trying to agree with Jesus. Admittedly this is incredibly difficult for any of us to do, especially since Christ didn't have much to say about the role of the state (contra Claiborne and Haw). What He did address, however, is how we as Christians should act, and I think if we put those things into practice the politics will come naturally.

-Kolburt Schultz
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