Claiborne, S. (2006). The Irresistible Revolution: Living as an Ordinary Radical. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan. 358 pp. $14.99.

Last fall we were discussing the possibility of starting an Urban Ministry program at JBC. As I was talking about this with students in my Urban Ministry class, they suggested that I read a relatively new book by Shane Claiborne. I was familiar with him because I had used some video clips from his DVD Another World is Possible in the class. He seemed like a revolutionary kind of guy, but in a Jesus kind of way, so I was interested to see what he had to say in the book.

For the last 30 years or more, there has been a big divide in the American church between the conservative “moral majority” and the liberal “social justice” crowd. The conservatives primarily promoted individual godliness, morals (especially concerning abortion and homosexuality), and evangelism, while the liberals have valued social issues and taking care of the poor. Claiborne challenges us that Jesus would not feel comfortable in either group and that we must strive for a balance between these two extremes. He subtitled his book “living as an ordinary radical” because he feels that we must rebel against the status quo of these two views. He says that “this is a book for ordinary radicals, not for saints who think they have a monopoly on radical and not for normal people who are satisfied with the way things are” (p. 20).

He gives some background about his days as a teenager in the United Methodist church in Maryville, TN. He says he developed spiritual bulimia, an illness that many in Western Christianity suffer from. He said that he had gorged himself on all the products of Christian consumerism (books, music, concerts, t-shirts, conferences, etc.) but was still spiritually malnourished, “suffocated by Christianity, but thirsty for God.” Claiborne was the very popular prom king in high school and was ready to go off to medical school and make a lot of money, “but then I met Jesus and he wrecked my life. The more I read the gospels the more it messed me up, turning everything I had believed in, valued and hoped for upside-down. I am still recovering from my conversion” (p. 39). He realized that it would be much easier to follow the commercial Jesus than the REAL one.

He tells about going to Eastern University where Tony Campolo was one of his professors. He and a few other students started going to visit homeless people in the very depressed Kensington area of Philadelphia, and they fell in love with these people. A number of homeless families had moved into a large abandoned Roman Catholic cathedral, but the city and the Catholic diocese were trying to kick them out. They posted a banner in front of the church that read “How can we worship a homeless man on Sunday and ignore one on Monday.” So Claiborne and his friends organized a large group from the college to go and stay with the families. They also contacted the TV and newspapers, so when the police arrived to evict the families it became a major news event and they were able to negotiate a plan to help these families find housing. 

Claiborne and some of the other students were so convicted by this experience with the homeless that they decided to start an intentional community that lived out the teachings of Jesus in the Kensington neighborhood. This group is called “The Simple Way) (www.thesimpleway.org). They were disillusioned with the pursuit of the American dream and felt that Jesus had called his followers to a better dream. As they pursued this dream based on scripture (i.e., Matthew 25) they realized that, when people begin moving beyond charity (where most churches start and stop) and focus on justice issues in solidarity with the poor and the oppressed, they can get in trouble. A well-known Catholic bishop who worked with the poor said, “When I fed the hungry, they called me a saint. When I asked why people are hungry, they called me a communist” (p. 129). Claiborne learned the truth of this when they started challenging the social order in Philadelphia. (NOTE:  studies show that wealthy countries like the US also have the highest rates of depression, suicide, and loneliness. Maybe Jesus has a point!)

Many churches (and faith-based organizations) are charitable toward the poor but in a depersonalized way. They collect stuff (food, clothes, etc.) from the rich and distribute it to the poor. Claiborne observes: “Both leave satisfied, but no one leaves transformed” (159). Claiborne says that true generosity is measured more by how much we have left than by how much we give, especially when we look at the needs of our neighbors.

He also boldly challenges the war in Iraq and says, “This is a dramatic illustration of the messy collision of Christianity and patriotism that has rippled across our land” (p. 197). He feels that many Christians have rallied behind the war effort and that the cross has been smothered by the American flag. As a result, we have forgotten that we belong to the Kingdom of God and that we have been reborn into a new family without borders that transcend our nationalism and even our biological families. He argues that Jesus encouraged us to be peacemakers, to turn the other cheek, and to be mercy givers, but instead our government chooses to use military force to change the world and to protect the American dream.