I recently picked up a fascinating book by Shane Claiborne and Chris Haw called, 'Jesus for President.' I know that not everyone that finds their way to rednow would consider themselves to be a Christian, but even if you are not, I suspect you would find this book well worth your time. If you are a follower of Jesus, this book will profoundly impact you. 

       First of all, you have never SEEN a book quite like this one. Picture a couple hundred pages of postsecret postcards. It's difficult to describe but the book is a mix of typed text, pasted pictures, hand drawn images, underlining, arrows, etc.. The bibliography is also totally different. Instead of a typed list of books, it's all the books that influenced the writing lined up on a bookshelf and photographed.

     The content. Not everyone will agree with every idea Claiborne and Haw espouse here. They are profoundly influenced by pacifism and radical identification with the poor. Still, they VERY accurately ask Christians to consider the fact that Jesus seemed to have had strong things to say about violence and poverty as well.

      Most of all, however, this book, as the title suggests, reminds any of us who do claim to be Christians that God refuses to be identified with any country or political party. That is a message that could easily be missed in many American churches and much religious broadcasting today.  As we enter this election year, this book will not tell you not to vote and it will NOT tell you who all Christians should vote for, but it will ask you to consider where your true allegiances lie. Plus, it is so visually cool that just reading it sitting in your local coffee shop is likely to lead to great conversations. 

Comments (1)

Blake Mankin said:

... Agreed. This is a marvelous read. The visual representation of the printed text is really neat. I agree. Thanks.

May 27, 2008 | url

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