Move over, Philip Yancey and Donald Miller. I’ve found a new book to mention ad nauseam, and it’s The Irresistible Revolution by Shane Claiborne. As I mentioned a few days ago, Claiborne is a 31-year-old Christian who founded The Simple Way, a faith community in Philadelphia that practices a truly different (and intriguing) way for people to live together.

The Irresistible Revolution is 358 pages of easy reading covering Claiborne’s ideas on community, poverty, war, social justice, wealth, the consumer culture, nationalism and the Christian faith. What’s new here? Nothing. And everything.

Nothing, in the sense that Claiborne’s thoughts and habits come from a long stream flowing back through Rich Mullins, Tony Campolo, Martin Luther King, the Catholic Worker Movement, Anabaptist traditions, monasticism, all the way back to Jesus of Nazareth. Everything, in that Claiborne lives in today’s world and confronts the problems we should be facing (though in general, we’re not) - including the Iraq war. Claiborne went to Baghdad early in 2003 to minister to and with the local Christians, and was there during “shock and awe”.

In a book loaded with great content, two things about Claiborne make him impressive to me:

First, he doesn’t just protest, he gives positive alternatives (and lives them). He writes: “Whether in church or in circles of social dissent, there are plenty of people who define themselves by what they are not, whose identity revolves around what they are against rather than what they are for…Most people are aware that something is wrong. The real question is, What are the alternatives?” (p. 309) The Irresistible Revolution is filled with alternatives - some are nutty, many are quite compelling.

Second, although Claiborne offers a strong critique of the megachurch movement, he also shows deep and love and respect for the ultimate megachurch, Willow Creek Community Church, and its pastor Bill Hybels. When Willow kicked off a multi-million dollar building campaign several years ago, Claiborne expressed grief that so much money would be spent on buildings when millions live in terrible poverty. Claiborne and Hybels wrote back and forth over this, but (according to Claiborne) without defensiveness and with “deep respect and gentleness”. Willow went ahead with the project, for which Claiborne expresses sadness “that we had settled for another building when God might have had so much else in mind”. But then he adds a paragraph praising Willow for its “remarkable strides toward justice and reconciliation”, its substantial financial gifts toward relief for people around the world, and its continuing emphasis that “90 percent discipleship is 10 percent short”. Claiborne completely won me over with that single paragraph. (All quotes from p. 328)

The biggest takeaway from The Irresistible Revolution and from Claiborne’s life is that it is the layers of separation - between rich and poor, white and black, Christians and non-Christians, and Americans and the rest of the world - that perpetuate injustice and poverty. Claiborne shows with his life that he has the guts to tear down those walls. As did Jesus.

As shall we.