(This is NOT a picture of Jesus)During the Presidential Debates way back in 2003 (I think it may have been a Republican Primary debate) the would-be candidates were asked to name their "favorite philosopher." I can't remember who the others named, but I do recall cringing just a bit when George Bush answered confidently, "Jesus Christ." While I resort to stock Sunday school answers as much as anyone, I don't think Jesus was much of a philosopher. I do wonder, however, how much Jesus' "philosophy" actually influences the decisions of the ostensibly Christian President of the United States, not to mention the many church going members of the Congress.
I wonder even more, however, what sort of a President Jesus himself would make. Shane Claiborne is doing more than wondering; he's already nominated Christ for that highst of offices in his new book, Jesus for President: Politics for Ordinary Radicals. In case you don't know, that's Shane pictured above. He's an interesting guy who, as you can likely surmise from the photo, is not exactly corporate. Shane calls himself, "an ordinary radical," which has less to do with his dreadlocks and earrings and more to do with his taking the Sermon on the Mount seriously.
As you can imagine Claiborne has in mind "A different kind of campaign. A different kind of party. A different kind of Commander in Chief." What I'm going to do over the next few weeks is attempt to whet your appetite for this extremely interesting book. In the meantime, click this for someone who can do a far better job than I.
1 comment:
Finally, a definition of radical non-conformism that makes sense to me: "not conforming to those patterns of the world that are so out of sync with God's dream for it." Great stuff, Randy! Keep it coming.
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