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Irresistable Revolution IS well titled: it's irresistably funny and moving and thought-provoking. Claiborne writes with the candor and humor of Don Miller and the passion and zeal of Jim Wallis. I found it a very good read and had trouble putting it down at times. I think it's very hard to find books that are as enjoyable and as grounded in the harsher realities of our world than this one.
What i did find quite resistable about the book is that it seems to me glaringly lopsided. Christians' responsibility to the poor and the passion of God for justice and mercy are undeniable, yet where in the book is there any significant mention of the reality of eternity? I totally agree that evangelicals have missed so much of the gospel by emphasizing eternity at the expense of God's kingdom coming to earth, and at the same time it seems to me that Claiborne has done the exact same thing in reverse: he wants to speak the truth in love, so where is the truth about people being reconciled to God in Jesus, both here and now AND forever? Maybe as the prophetic type that he is, his only concern is to wake us out of our self-absorbed matierialistic slumber. At the same time, I read the book and wonder how Claiborne and his cohort go about helping people find their way back to God and not just out of poverty and injustice? I'm confident they do this; I'm just not sure why he would make no significant mention of it in his book that I could find? Seems to me that the baby of eternity as ultimate reality may have gotten thrown out with the bathwater of right-wing, watered down evangelicalism.
Overall, I'd want anyone I know to read this book. And I wouldn't want anyone to think this wing of the revolution is the only revolution there is for the church to be about. Jesus spoke plainly of both justice in this world and eternity in the world to come, and i wish this book had spoken more of both truths instead of one at the expense of the other.
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The Irresistible Revolution: Living As an Ordinary Radical by Shane Claiborne
timoccc, August 24, 2006
Irresistable Revolution IS well titled: it's irresistably funny and moving and thought-provoking. Claiborne writes with the candor and humor of Don Miller and the passion and zeal of Jim Wallis. I found it a very good read and had trouble putting it down at times. I think it's very hard to find books that are as enjoyable and as grounded in the harsher realities of our world than this one.What i did find quite resistable about the book is that it seems to me glaringly lopsided. Christians' responsibility to the poor and the passion of God for justice and mercy are undeniable, yet where in the book is there any significant mention of the reality of eternity? I totally agree that evangelicals have missed so much of the gospel by emphasizing eternity at the expense of God's kingdom coming to earth, and at the same time it seems to me that Claiborne has done the exact same thing in reverse: he wants to speak the truth in love, so where is the truth about people being reconciled to God in Jesus, both here and now AND forever? Maybe as the prophetic type that he is, his only concern is to wake us out of our self-absorbed matierialistic slumber. At the same time, I read the book and wonder how Claiborne and his cohort go about helping people find their way back to God and not just out of poverty and injustice? I'm confident they do this; I'm just not sure why he would make no significant mention of it in his book that I could find? Seems to me that the baby of eternity as ultimate reality may have gotten thrown out with the bathwater of right-wing, watered down evangelicalism.
Overall, I'd want anyone I know to read this book. And I wouldn't want anyone to think this wing of the revolution is the only revolution there is for the church to be about. Jesus spoke plainly of both justice in this world and eternity in the world to come, and i wish this book had spoken more of both truths instead of one at the expense of the other.
(24 of 45 readers found this comment helpful)