From Elaine Pagels’s Beyond Belief to Jim Wallis’s God's Politics, investigations into the relationship between the historical foundations of Christianity and the role of religion in today’s world have risen to the top of bestseller lists. Obery Hendricks, Jr., who was Pagels’s first graduate student at Princeton University, adds an important new voice to the ongoing discussion in THE POLITICS OF JESUS. Filled with riveting, original insights, it confirms Cornel West’s declaration that “Obery Hendricks is not just on the cutting edge, he’s the knife.”

Focusing on a powerful but little-examined aspect of the Gospels, Hendricks portrays Jesus as a political revolutionary whose teachings are meant to lead the way to freedom from the tyranny of principalities and unjust rulers in high—and low—places. Throughout the Gospels, Jesus employs various tactics to address the social, economic, and political conditions of his day and exposes the terrible effects of oppression and poverty on the mind, body, and soul.

In an in-depth examination of Christianity’s history, from its foundation through the time of Paul to the reign of Constantine to the present day, Hendricks traces how the church became a hierarchical structure, protective of the powerful and intent on maintaining the status quo. THE POLITICS OF JESUS recaptures the revolutionary implications of Christianity, and calls on Christians to embrace anew the core values of Jesus’ message and restore his fight to alleviate the suffering of underprivileged and abused peoples.

"Thundering like a biblical prophet against social and economic injustice, racism and political deceit ('Jesus did not establish a bureaucratic institution, weekly social gatherings, or houses of religious entertainment'), Hendricks, professor of biblical interpretation at New York Theological Seminary, proclaims Jesus as a political revolutionary who overturned the unjust social policies of his day. Rather unoriginally, Hendricks suggests that Jesus employed seven political strategies (e.g., 'treat people's needs as holy'; 'give a voice to the voiceless'; 'expose the workings of oppression') in his challenge to the status quo. With cunning insight, however, Hendricks fervently examines the politics of Ronald Reagan and George W. Bush — two U.S. presidents who have professed to be following the politics of Jesus — and argues that these leaders fall woefully short of living out Jesus' message of justice, righteousness and steadfast love. Hendricks also indicts church leaders for their complicity with these political figures, condoning unjust wars and corrupt economic practices and not calling judgment on them in Jesus' prophetic voice. Overall, Hendricks echoes the call to Christian social justice that John Howard Yoder proclaimed over 30 years ago in his own book of the same title." Publishers Weekly (Copyright Reed Business Information, Inc.)

"'It is,' the Anglican Archbishop William Temple once remarked, 'a mistake to suppose that God is only, or even chiefly, concerned with religion.' The prelate's words would resonate with Obery M. Hendricks Jr., who, in the beginning of his new book 'The Politics of Jesus,' recalls a childhood spent in the church. He was, he puts it, 'a son of the Christian Church. Raised in the Church. Nurtured in... Washington Post Book Review (read the entire Washington Post review) the Church.' His family was thick with ministers and lay elders; he started singing in the choir at age 5, and accepted Christ five years later. The Jesus he offered his life to was a messiah drained of controversy, a kind of air-brushed savior. 'I was raised on the bland Jesus of Sunday School and of my mother's gentle retellings,' Hendricks writes, 'the meek, mild Jesus who told us, in a nice, passive, sentimental way, to love our enemies, and who assured us that we need not worry about our troubles, just bring them to him.'

As it turned out, this Jesus was too gentle and too serene — and Hendricks left the church as a young man, only to return once he discovered what he calls 'Jesus the political revolutionary.' Now a minister and professor of biblical interpretation at New York Theological Seminary, Hendricks found that, for him, the figure of Jesus resonated powerfully when understood through the prism of politics. 'To say that Jesus was a political revolutionary is to say that the message he proclaimed not only called for change in individual hearts but also demanded sweeping and comprehensive change in the political, social, and economic structures in his setting in life: colonized Israel,' Hendricks writes. He goes on to argue that the proper Christian posture in political life should be one of loving one another as Jesus loved us, feeding the hungry, comforting the poor, clothing the naked, visiting the sick, tending to prisoners.

Hendricks' Christian manifesto for a politically liberal vision of America and of the world arrives at an especially rich moment in the long-running debate over the role of religion in the nation's public life. After roughly three decades of largely ceding the language of faith to political conservatives, liberals are mounting an aggressive and often intellectually stimulating counterattack. 'The Politics of Jesus' joins John Danforth's' Faith and Politics' and Jim Wallis' 'God's Politics' as essential reading for Americans trying to move beyond the corrosive standoff between the religious right and the secular left. One need not agree with Hendricks' liberalism to appreciate that his book is a useful contribution to a conversation that seems ever more urgent: how to manage and marshal religion's influence over our public lives.

Some secular extremists will probably object to Hendricks' argument on the grounds that we ought to keep Jesus out of politics altogether, but in my view such an absolutist stand is not really helpful. We are a nation full of religious people, and faith has been interwoven with our politics from the start. Yes, church and state are rightly separate, but it is impossible, I think, to separate religion from politics, for both are about what people value. Religion may not be the only thread in the tapestry, but is a significant one, and to argue that religion is a fairy tale and believers are dupes does virtually nothing to lead us forward.

Hendricks is right to use the gospel as a way of measuring the gap between the words and deeds of openly religious presidents. Or at least of openly religious Republican presidents: He treats Bill Clinton very kindly while sternly taking Ronald Reagan and George W. Bush to task.

There is no doubt that America falls far short of the kingdom of God, and it is nearly impossible to argue with Hendricks' bottom line, that 'in the politics of Jesus, then, every policy and policy proposal must be judged by Jesus' yardstick of love and justice.' (What reasonable person would dispute that love and justice are useful standards?) Yet such admonitions, while commonsensical (at least for Christians), raise profound theological questions. Jesus does not vote; God is neither Republican nor Democrat.

It can do no harm to ask the question Hendricks suggests when we are pondering policies and politics, but there is always a danger that we may come to think our own answer to the 'What Would Jesus Do?' test is not merely our own best effort, but is in fact the only answer. We need more humility in our public life, remembering that, for now, we see through Saint Paul's 'glass, darkly.' To practice the politics of Jesus means practicing humility, an exercise that might well begin by bearing this story from the gospel of Mark in mind: The disciples had been traveling to meet Jesus, debating among themselves 'who should be the greatest' — a classically political undertaking. Learning of the bickering, Jesus would have none of it, saying: 'If any man desire to be first, the same shall be last of all, and servant of all.' And so may our politics, whether connected to the examples and words of Jesus or of Plato or of Machiavelli, be informed by charity and grace, not by self-righteousness. Then, and only then, will we come close, I think, to anything like 'the politics of Jesus.'

Jon Meacham, the managing editor of Newsweek, is the author of 'American Gospel: God, the Founding Fathers and the Making of a Nation.'" Reviewed by Jon Meacham, Washington Post Book World (Copyright 2006 Washington Post Book World Service/Washington Post Writers Group)
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Praise for The Politics of Jesus:

“In The Politics of Jesus, Obery Hendricks articulates a critical prophetic message that interrogates our nation’s politics according to the values of Jesus. With stunning clarity he offers powerful new insights. This book is a must-read for everyone who seeks to understand and live out the revolutionary implications of following Christ.” —Jim Wallis, editor of Sojourners and author of God’s Politics

“This book is a grand prophetic work—courageous in its message, meticulous in its scholarship, and relevant in its challenge to our sleepwalking times. Hendricks recasts the prevailing view of the meek and mild Jesus in a powerful and persuasive way.” —Cornel West, University Professor of Religion, Princeton University

“The Politics of Jesus is an instant classic—a book of stunning erudition, remarkable eloquence, and political courage. But more than that, Hendricks gives us a pioneering account of the revolutionary Jesus that has rarely been as systematically expounded, or as theologically sophisticated, as this monumental work provides. Hendricks’s book is that nearly impossible combination: brilliant intellectual study and practical programmatic prescription. The Politics of Jesus immediately thrusts Obery Hendricks, Jr., to the front ranks of American religious thinkers.” —Michael Eric Dyson, author of Pride: The Seven Deadly Sins

“Jesus was one of the Jewish people’s most revolutionary prophetic voices, and Obery Hendricks shows in The Politics of Jesus that Jesus’ teachings are as powerfully relevant for us today as they were in his own day. A powerful thinker and inspiring teacher, Hendricks presents a rereading of the New Testament and contemporary politics that will challenge, enlighten, and help to transform the burning debate about religion’s role in American society and politics.” —Rabbi Michael Lerner, editor of Tikkun and author of The Left Hand of God: Taking Back Our Country from the Religious Right

“Professor Obery Hendricks does a needed service to the Christian and non-Christian communities by reminding us of the challenge of the Ministry of Jesus to all earthly kingdoms in the name and service of the Kingdom of God. The Politics of Jesus is a sobering and needed prospective from which to inform our faith understanding.” —William J. Shaw, president, National Baptist Convention, USA, Inc.

“The Politics of Jesus is an explosive and courageous prophetic work that calls us to revisit the life and words of Jesus to discern the true nature of his politics and his message for our time.” —David C. Korten, author of The Great Turning: From Empire to Earth and When Corporations Rule the World

“Obery Hendricks’s new book, The Politics of Jesus, is a gift in a time that is out of joint, with its radical portrayal of a radical Jesus, and the promise of freedom in an age of tyranny.” —Gary Percesepe, Ph.D., coordinating director, Baptist Peace Fellowship of North America

“Our nation needs a spirited debate about the truth of the Gospel. The Politics of Jesus delivers the goods. Prepare to be profoundly engaged. There is not a lukewarm page in it.” —Rev. Michael E. Livingston, president, National Council of Churches, USA, and executive director, International Council of Community Churches

“What a liberating and challenging view of Jesus Obery Hendricks offers! The Politics of Jesus is not only a profound reflection on Jesus as revolutionary; it provides a blueprint for action.” —Frances Kissling, president of Catholics for a Free Choice

OBERY M. HENDRICKS, JR., is Professor of Biblical Interpretation at the New York Theological Seminary, an Ordained Elder in the African Methodist Episcopal Church, and the author of Living Water. He has served as a professor at Drew University, as visiting scholar at Princeton Theological Seminary, and as president of Payne Theological Seminary, the oldest African American theological institution in the United States. He lives in New Jersey.