On Saturday night I went with some friends to see Shane Claiborne, Christopher Haw, & Co. with the Jesus for Presient Tour at 5th Ave. Presbyterian Church in Manhattan.

A lot of people on the blogosphere have been talking about it, so I won't waste your time here reiterating what you may have read already.

What really impressed me about this event was that it was multimedia and anti-celebrity.  The gang was there to be prophetic, not celebrate themselves.  Claiborne and Haw presented key parts of the book with liturgy, prayer, and original songs provided by The Psalters, an amazing underground, independent liturgical experience.

The book was the preaching and the music called the congregation into worship as we celebrated the Kingdom of God.  It was awesome.

Long live the Slaughtered Lamb! ... more

Novus Lumen has up a live blog of his experience at the Jesus for President Book Tour stop in Minnesota. ... more

The final section of Jesus for President ties up all the loose ends that Claiborne and Haw have formed with their ideas and tries to flesh out some of the implications of living as ordinary radicals in a world (and a church) that don't like ordinary radicals too much.

The theme of the final section, titled "A Peculiar Party," is that we are to be set apart.  The chapters get very short in this section, as Claiborne and Haw touch on issues as diverse as Alternative Economics and Relational Tithe along side a very enlightening discussion of excommunication.

In a nutshell, this section is about putting social justice, pacifism, and a prophetic life into praxis.  If you are trying to figure out how to live a radical Christian life in our world, this is a great source to pull meaningful and practical ideas out of.

At this point I think it is best to consider the behind-the-scenes discussion that a figure like Claiborne brings to a book with his name on it.  Claiborne is often associated with two things: Emergent and New Monasticism. While the latter is fairly self explanatory (a new way to be monastics) the former presents some trickiness.  What does this book have to add to the Emergent conversation, and what does this mean about an Emergent outlook?  ... more

Ordinary radicals need something to be radical against. In the second section of Jesus for President, titled "A New Kind of Commander-in-Chief," Claiborne and Haw describe the political powers empire and imperialism as that which Israel, and then Christ, is supposed to be rebelling against. As Christians, we are called into a struggle that touches our physical, emotional, verbal, and spiritual lives. The Empire has its own language and way of doing things. They have created a dominant culture bent on maintaining the status quo, i.e. their power, at any cost. This is one of the big reasons Christ died: he stood in the way of Empire.

Where does standing in the way of Empire get us except killed? More importantly, why should we stand in the way of Empire? The authors answer is because Christ did, so we should do the same. Christ has called us to an alternative community, a place where we are citizens of the Kingdom, his Kingdom, the one he mentions in his lesson on praying ("thy kingdom come.") This is greater than the kingdom the Adversary tempted him with, a kingdom of majesty and power that bows down to no one. The gates of Hell cannot stand against it. Neither should Herod's or the Caesar's.

That's why standing up against Empire and Imperialism is so important: we are greater than they are. We are the true Kingdom, they are just shadows. Though they try to kill us and place us in darkness, we find the way, the truth, and the life in Christ's death and resurrection---the turning of darkness into light, a light that lives in us and will last forever in Jesus' Kingdom. As Claiborne and Haw write: ... more

This is the first section of a four part review of Shane Claiborne’s new book Jesus for President.  I will be reviewing each section of Shane Claiborne and Christopher Haw's new book, the first section being "Before There Were Kings and Presidents."

With a bumper-sticker title like Jesus For President, the first reaction to this book might be a collective groan.  Not another one!  Just like in McLaren’s book, the subtitle is equally important with Claiborne’s new tome, for it reads: Politics for Ordinary Radicals.  Ordinary Radicals?  Sounds like an oxymoron.  Yet what Claiborne means by ordinary and by radicals becomes apparent in the opening paragraph:

Once up on a time there were no kings or presidents. Only God was king.  The Bible is a story of a God who is continually rescuing humanity from the messes we make of the world.  God is bringing the kingdom of heaven to earth.  God is leading humans on an exodus adventure out of the land of emperors and kings and into the Promised Land.  Out of Egypt, God first saves a group of slaves from the tyranny of Pharaoh.  God is their deliverer, the one who saves them from their tears and sweat and points them toward something better than the empire they have known.  Out of the nations, God is forming a new kind of people---a “holy nation” that will light up the world. (25)

To be radical is to disown the system of empires, democracies, and monarchies established on this earth.  What is ordinary about that is that as Christians we are supposed to be “set apart,” like Israel was.  Therefore, an ordinary radical is a Christian who considers himself to be a citizen of the Kingdom of God and not a citizen of earth. ... more

I have pre-ordered the new Claiborne & Haw book Jesus for President and am excited about it arriving on my doorstep along with a suprise book for my wife (in order to receive the Free Super Saver Shipping on Amazon).  And to brighten my day even more, I read that Paul Soupiset did the illustrations!  So cool!  I think before I read it I will hug it and caress it...

As a supplement to the book Claiborne & Co. wrote a beautiful and haunting litany for use in worship that centers on the themes of their book.  It is reprinted in full below: ... more

I picked up the startling news from Jesus Creed that Shane Claiborne received the Benedict Arnold treatment from Cedarville University.

Now I went to Philadelphia Biblical University (yes, they have by far the crappiest website of any D3 school), a conservative Christian institution of learning known to be reactionary at times. N.T. Wright was called "anathama" during chapel and the school liked C.S. Lewis but hated his tobacconizing, brandy drenched ways. But like most Christian institutions of higher education they grimaced at liberalism or radical behavior but did not dismiss someone from the podium. It was conservative, it was right-wing, it was legalistic, but it still was a University---contrary views were frowned upon but you were never refused for holding them.

Now comes Cedarville. Instead of being a place of unity-in-diversity, they let a rabble of reactionary bloggers deny a plurality of voices at a University. This is not a church, a non-profit, or ministry people, this is a University we are talking about here! A place of learning, of exploration, of new ideas and concepts. But when push-comes-to-shove they deny their duty as a place of learning and let themselves become a place swayed hysteria and propaganda.

It is sad that a school such as this would feel threatened by a bunch of bloggers. Do I expect Cedarville to bow down to me and cower at my digital pen? It would be nice for my ego, but I sure hope they would put their integrity before their marketability and commercial viability amongst fundamentalist Christians.

Alas, they just might care more about their image than about their institution's heart and soul... ... more