Red Letter Revolution - a Review

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Thanks to Linda for this week's blog post.

Red Letter Revolution: What if Jesus Really Meant What He Said?

 By Shane Claiborne and Tony Campolo

 

 

This book is presented as a conversation between Shane Claiborne, a progressive young evangelical, and Tony Campolo , an experienced pastor and professor of sociology.  The authors discuss issues of violence, community, Islam, hell, sexuality, civil disobedience and twenty other topics of interest to people of faith and conscience today. Shane and Tony discuss their differences and commonalities in a way that is helpful to the reader to gain insight as they seek to live the teachings of Jesus.

 The book is divided into three parts.  I will give a brief summary of the content of each part and the chapters that resonated for me.  The first part is about Theology.  I found this section to be the most relevant for me.  The authors look at the church, liturgy, Islam, hell; topics that are not often discussed in such an open and balanced way.  Much of what the authors were discussing related to a recent book we studied in Bible Study, the Celebrationof Discipline by Richard J Foster.  This gave me another perspective on the topics which added to my enjoyment of the chapters.  My take away from this section of the book was:  

• today many churches are focused on winning believers rather than developing fully developed followers of Jesus: that is disciples.

 

The second part of the book discussed Red Letter Living.  I think the chapters in this portion of the book will be the most difficult for some Christians to read.  There are discussions on Pro Life, Homosexuality, Immigration, Women, and Racism. The authors refer to the politics of the United States and the Republican believers.   I found their discussion refreshing as it was open and unafraid to look at the questions from different angles When I looked at the criticisms by readers of this book, this was the part that raised the most objections.  One of the comments from the chapter on Racism that has stayed with me is:

•  “Eleven o’clock Sunday morning is still the most segregated time of the week”. 

 

The third part of the book looks at a Red Letter World.  I found that at times this section felt dated as it was first published in 2012.  However, each chapter is thought-provoking in its own way.  The section that I found most interesting was on the Middle East.  The authors discussed what was currently happening in Israel and with Palestine.  Also the chapter of Reconciliation was powerful, with Pentecost being compared and contrasted to the Tower of Babble. 

 

I recommend that you take the time to read this book or other writings about the Red Letter Revolution.  Each chapter begins with a quote from Jesus.  Why not explore another view of what our Saviour was saying and explore how to live out those red letters of the Bible?

 

 

Linda Cliff