They finally got copies of Jesus For President at the public library, and I was one of the first on the hold list. Surprisingly, in all of Minneapolis, there where only three holds on the book. I wonder if that is at all telling of the type of people that are interested in the book (like, they don’t use the library? or something). Anyways, having been keeping up on Shane, The Simple Way and the sort of movement of interest, I definitely wanted to check out the book, and I was not disappointed.
A large portion of the book is a biblical and theological look from the Hebrew Scriptures (Old Testament) through the new, and keeping in mind and at the forefront a “political” mindset. I had previously read Walter Wink’s book, The Powers That Be (which I highly recommend and own a copy so you can borrow it), and had since read through the Bible keeping in mind this power structure idea (Which Greg Boyd describes as Power Over vs. Power Under), but I’d never really learned about and read through with a “political” perspective. I’ve read The Politics of Jesus too (also a great book, and also referenced a lot in Jesus for President), but I think I missed a lot because of the Academic language. Anyways, back to the book at hand. If you’ve never read your Bible with politics in mind I’d highly recommend the first sections as they lend at the very least great insight into thinking about what and how the Biblical narrative might speak to the politics of today.
I should also mention that the book is not laid out in plain traditional format, but is in color and creatively designed by SharpSeven, Ryan Sharp (who I had the pleasure of chatting with at a campfire at PapaFest 2006) and his wife. It is really neat, and the artistic design and layout definitely adds something to the reading experience.
And the books final sections give ideas and being politically creative in our times. It’s great to hear the stories and begin stirring our political imaginations. It was also encouraging to me to find that I had already heard or been aware of a number of the stories, makes me feel like maybe I’m not alone in my interest after all.
Anyways, that’s it for my summary, there are other bloggers who’ve written far more in depth and thought provoking summaries, but this is just my attempt to stay on my goal of a book a week.
I got this book a few weeks ago. I loved it. I hope everyone reads it. It’s thought-provoking and very inspirational.
I thought the book was great also and as I had purchased the book it is currently on loan to one of my parishoners.
The only thing that bothered me about the book was the repeats of stories/ideas from “Irresistable Revolution.” I understand that this book might be read by many who wouldn’t read Shane’s first book, but I find it hard to read over a story I already heard without waning interest. However, because the content is so good it wasn’t hard for me to get back into it.
I think I spent a total of 5 hours reading the book over 2 days and had it finished. I couldn’t put it down and just kept telling myself this was the last chapter only to go on to another and another, etc.
Great Book.