Book Review - Jesus for President
Since the release of his first book, The Irresistible Revolution, Shane Claiborne has both risen to prominence and taken a lot of flak in Evangelical circles. He is one of those people who people either seem to love or hate. He is one of the few people who seems to have the ability to remain within the mainstream of American church culture, yet offer some harsh critiques at the same time. All the while he never comes off as mean-spirited or like he has an ax to grind.
His new book, Jesus for President, a collaboration with Chris Haw, is in some ways a sequel to the first book, but it goes in some unexpected directions along the way. With a subtitle, Politics for Ordinary Radicals, some might expect that this book would be Claiborne’s take on the current political scene in the U.S. or some sort of alternative Christian voting guide. While, the book is certainly political in the sense it talk about political issues, it never really delves into the American political system. In fact a strong theme throughout the book is the futility of expecting any real change to come through the political process, much like the point that Greg Boyd made in his 2005 release, The Myth of a Christian Nation. That certainly doesn’t mean Claiborne doesn’t have opinions about issues, though.
First, I think I need to say something about the actual book itself. The book is full color paperback, and nearly every page has unique, hand-drawn (or at least made to look hand-drawn) artwork pertaining to the content on the page. It is obvious that the was a labor of love for the authors. The book is nearly 350 pages long, but in actual content it is probably comparable to other paperbacks half that length. It’s a pretty quick read.
The book is broken up into four sections, and the first three are largely historical in nature. In Section 1, the Old Testament narrative including Creation, the Fall, the Flood, the Tower of Babel, and the call of Abraham are reviewed. The authors make special note that all throughout this time, God was working with humanity to bring redemption and restoration to the fallen world. They talk of God’s plan for the Israelites, and His frustration with them for neglecting their calling. They talk about God’s giving in to the Israelites demands for a king, and the prophets that were sent to keep these kings in check. An interesting discussion in this section has to do with the Levitical laws and festivals the Jewish people were to observe. A major point of these laws and observances, according to the authors, was to set Israel apart as an example for other nations to see.
At their core, these Hebrew laws were ways God was protecting the integrity of a new humanity. It was not simply for their sake but for the sake of creation. For the original plan of God was that Israel would be set apart to redeem the nations. This was not a plan to reform the pagan nations around it - like making the neighboring Assyrian empire better at doing empire. Rather, God would save the world through fascination, by setting up an alternative society on the margins of empire for the world to come and see what a society of love looks like. It would be the city on a hill that God would use to light up the world, drawing the world back to God.
