During college, a professor remarked, "Being a Christian is about choosing Jesus and deciding to do something incredibly daring with your life." Taking up that challenge, Shane's faith led him to dress the wounds of lepers with Mother Teresa, visit families in Iraq amidst bombings, and dump $10,000 on Wall Street to redistribute wealth. In The Irresistible Revolution, you'll be challenged by a radical Christianity passionate for peace, social justice, and alleviating the suffering found in the local neighborhood and distant reaches of the world. Live out your faith with little acts of radical love as you join the movement of God's Spirit into a broken world.
Using unconventional examples from his own life, Shane Claiborne stirs up questions about the church and the world, and challenges readers to truly live out their Christian faith.
If there is such a thing as a disarming radical, 30-year-old Claiborne is it.
A former Tennessee Methodist and born-again, high school prom king, Claiborne
is now a founding member of one of a growing number of radical faith
communities. His is called the Simple Way, located in a destitute neighborhood
of Philadelphia. It is a house of young believers, some single, some married,
who live among the poor and homeless. They call themselves "ordinary radicals"
because they attempt to live like Christ and the earliest converts to
Christianity, ignoring social status and unencumbered by material comforts.
Claiborne's chatty and compelling narrative is magnetic-his stories (from
galvanizing a student movement that saved a group of homeless families from
eviction to reaching Mother Teresa herself from a dorm phone at 2 a.m.) draw
the reader in with humor and intimacy, only to turn the most common ways of
practicing religion upside down. He somehow skewers the insulation of
suburban living and the hypocrisy of wealthy churches without any
self-righteous finger pointing. "The world," he says, "cannot afford the
American dream." Claiborne's conviction, personal experience and description
of others like him are a clarion call to rethink the meaning of church,
conversion and Christianity; no reader will go away unshaken. (Feb.)
Copyright 2005 Reed Business Information.
"Shane dares readers to evaluate their lives and reimagine a first-century posture to following Jesus in the 21st century….If you want a comfy Christian life, this book is not for you. But if you want to be challenged, uncomfortable, and even changed, it is a must read." — YouthWorker Journal
"Editor’s Pick!…Inspiring. Fascinating. Challenging. Convicting. Loving. These are just a few of the words that describe the extraordinary story of Claiborne’s journey from middle-class Christianity in east Tennessee to radical incarnational faith among the poor in inner-city Philadelphia." — ePistle (Evangelicals for Social Action)
"This is the book that will not let me go….this book has called me, and many others, to action, to a different kind of life….if you read it seriously, it may mess with your mind, heart and even your life." — Youthworker Journal
Average Rating: 5 out of 5 stars(5 out of 5 stars)
8 of 23 Reviews Showing:(View All Reviews)
5 out of 5 stars
Reviewed by Christopher Moore (Madisonville, TN), May 18, 2009
This is one of those rare books that peals away the scales from our eyes and lets us look again at what it really means to be a follower of Christ. This book is for all of us who have ever thought, there has to be more to Christianity than this.
5 out of 5 stars
Reviewed by Jessica B. (Calgary, Canada), March 18, 2009
I discovered this book last year when i was in college and as i began to read it i became so excited about what it was saying that i started telling many others that they HAD to read it- that it would change their way of thinking. When my friend Chris finished reading it- he left his well paying(yet unfulfilling)job in Ontario to come work with the homeless here in Calgary. After i finished the book i left my home in Nova Scotia to come work with the homeless here also. I then heard about a guy working within the same organization as me that was a very successful mechanic- left his job and came to work with the homeless because he read this book! It is starting a Revolution! And it is Irresistible to people! This is worth every penny that you spend on it- then you must pay it forward to someone else when you are done with it.
5 out of 5 stars
Reviewed by Diane Morrisette (central south carolina), February 28, 2009
Im fourteen and i read this book and it has changed how i look at Jesus, the Bible and the world. I realize that we should take Jesus at his word and im trying to change my life so i can follow Him but its so hard because i dont have very much freedom and my parents arent Christians but i know that i have, even in this short time, made a huge change for the better. I want to life solely for god because his love is so amazing and its all i can do to try to love him back and do what he needs me to do. This is such a hard task i have in front of me but i know ,now, the power that god has and that he will always be with me.
5 out of 5 stars
Reviewed by Yann Schneider (GlenRobertson, ON, Canada), January 24, 2009
This book is life changing. It shows the true colors of love, in all of it's beauty. It shows how we (every single one of us average people) can live fully committed to Christ. What Jesus gave is irresistible, the only reason people resist it is because we don't live it out as it is ourselves. This has changed my life, as a 16 year old I will make my whole life about giving love. If you want to taste what it means to live for real, read this book, you will smell it, and then, like me (a very ordinary guy) you will find yourself with nothing better to do but to leave everything and give chase to the irresistible revolution, to make it grow.
5 out of 5 stars
Reviewed by Josh Spencer (Carmel, IN), October 16, 2008
This book is an absolute must read from any Christian standpoint- it boldly confronts the idea that being a Christian means also being a pro-gun, pro-war, affluent Caucasian. With radical ideas like the notion that Jesus actually meant what he said at the Sermon on the Mount, Shane challenges us to re-evaluate many of the reasons why we value our political backgrounds more than we do the commission of Christ.
1.5 out of 5 stars
Reviewed by Holly Savage (Fort Wayne, Indiana), September 15, 2008
Mr. Claiborne's message is well-intentioned, but his interpretations of the Bible aren't always accurate. Take his stance as a pacifist, for example. This position would be viable if we lived in a world where freedom was free and Islamic terrorists weren't bent on our destruction. However, that is a fantasy world. In the real world, peace, true peace, is not the absence of war, but rather what happens when good triumphs over evil. And that is only one example where Shane's ministry is not biblical. I would advise to readers of this book to look up every scripture passage listed in the book to check the context. Moreover, I would suggest that, besides recognizing Mr. Claiborne's obvious good intentions and passion, try to affirm, based on the Bible, whether or not his methods are biblical and/or wise. After all, it may be compassionate to give pan handlers spare change, but, in the end, does it help anyone, or is it simply enabling? Of course it's the right thing to help someone who really needs help, but some really need tough love. Overall, this book is anti-American and seems to suggest that a life of prosperity is wrong and that all rich people are either greedy or suicidal. If you really want to read a life-changing book, why not just pick up a Bible?
4 out of 5 stars
Reviewed by Vito Baldini (Philadelphia, PA), August 24, 2008
This book had me look at christianity in a new way. Shane's story is moiving and his quest for a real christian had me thinking about what we are doing.
5 out of 5 stars
Reviewed by Greg Willis (Granbury, TX), July 24, 2008
This book is not for the timid! It raises fantastic questions every serious believer should address. It will cause to to examine the cultural form of Christianity the envelopes America. It may even inspire you to get off the couch! If you want to be challenged, this is your book. The author, unlike so many others, actually seems to take Jesus' words serious. I will definitely be reading it again.
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