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

by Shane Claiborne, Tony Campolo

For all the Christians facing conflict between JesusÆ words and their own lives, for all the non-Christians who feel they rarely see JesusÆ commands reflected in the choices of his followers, Red Letter Revolution is a blueprint for a new kind of Christianity, one consciously centered on the words of Jesus, the BibleÆs ôred letters.ö

Framed as a captivating dialogue between Shane Claiborne, a progressive young evangelical, and Tony Campolo, a seasoned pastor and professor of sociology, Red Letter Revolution is a life-altering manifesto for skeptics and Christians alike. It is a call to a lifestyle that considers first and foremost JesusÆ explicit, liberating message of sacrificial love.

Shane and Tony candidly bring the words of Jesus to bear on contemporary issues of violence, community, Islam, hell, sexuality, civil disobedience, and twenty other critical topics for people of faith and conscience today. The resulting conversations reveal the striking truth that Christians guided unequivocally by the words of Jesus will frequently reach conclusions utterly contrary to those of mainstream evangelical Christianity.

If the Jesus who speaks to you through the Gospels is at odds with the Christian culture you know, if you have ever wanted to stand up and say, ôI love Jesus, but thatÆs not me,ö Red Letter Revolution will prove that you are not aloneùyou may have been a Red Letter Christian all along.



ôThis book, by a young and an elderly Christian, will help you decide how we Christians could change the world if we took the æred letterÆ words of Jesus literally and seriously.ö ùPresident Jimmy Carter

ôIn Red Letter Revolution the uncompromised truth of Jesus' teachings are given voice by two modern-day Christian leaders who do more than preach this Good News. They walk the talk and lead the way.ö ùArchbishop Desmond Tutu

ôI started reading this book and couldn't stop. . . . Thank you, Tony and Shane. Thank you for this book. May the movement spread around the world.ö ùAbuna Elias Chacour,?Melkite Catholic Archbishop of Galilee

ôRed Letter Revolution is an adrenaline-producing conversation with prophetic bite.ö ùEugene H. Peterson, author of The Message Bible

ôI cannot over-emphasize or exaggerate the richness of this book.ö ùPhyllis Tickle, author of Emergence Christianity

ôIn this courageous and well crafted book, we have a return to the core message of the Gospel from two Christians who first tried to live it themselvesùand only then spoke." ùFr. Richard Rohr, O.F.M., Center for Action and Contemplation

ôShane Claiborne and Tony Campolo are two of the most significant prophetic voices in the Christian world.ö ùRabbi Michael Lerner, editor of Tikkun Magazine (tikkun.org)

ôThis is a must-read book for anyone who is seeking to take JesusÆ call on their lives seriously.ö ùJim Wallis, founder and editor of Sojourners magazine

ôIf you ever wished you could eavesdrop on a conversation with two of the world's most interesting and inspiring Christians, just turn to page one.ö ùBrian D. McLaren, author/speaker (brianmclaren.net)

Genres: Christianity, Nonfiction, Religion, Christian, Faith, Theology, Spirituality

269 pages, Kindle Edition

First published September 10, 2012

About the author

Shane Claiborne is a prominent speaker, activist, and best-selling author. Shane worked with Mother Teresa in Calcutta, and founded The Simple Way in Philadelphia. He heads up Red Letter Christians, a movement of folks who are committed to living "as if Jesus meant the things he said." Shane is a champion for grace which has led him to jail advocating for the homeless, and to places like Iraq and Afghanistan to stand against war. And now grace fuels his passion to end the death penalty.

Shane’s books include Jesus for President, Red Letter Revolution, Common Prayer, Follow Me to Freedom, Jesus, Bombs and Ice Cream, Becoming the Answer to Our Prayers, his classic The Irresistible Revolution and his newest book, Executing Grace. He has been featured in a number of films including "Another World Is Possible" and "Ordinary Radicals." His books have been translated into more than a dozen languages. Shane speaks over one hundred times a year, nationally and internationally. His work has appeared in Esquire, SPIN, Christianity Today, and The Wall Street Journal, and he has been on everything from Fox News and Al Jazeera to CNN and NPR. He’s given academic lectures at Harvard, Princeton, Liberty, Duke, and Notre Dame.

Shane speaks regularly at denominational gatherings, festivals, and conferences around the globe.

Reviews

[Quirkyreader · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book poses the question, how would the world be today if we followed the Red Letters in the New Testament.

Granted ,this book came out before the Cairo Spring and COVID-19, it still has ideas that are still pertinent to the world we live in today.

[Naomi · Rating 1 out of 5]

"Red Letter Revolution: What If Jesus Really Meant What He Said?" by Shane Claiborne and Tony Campolo is written as a dialogue between the two authors. They introduce it as a "new movement" of believers who attempt to take seriously the words of Christ and commit to living them out in daily life. Overall, they tackle twenty-six different topics, including hell, Islam, family, racism, homosexuality, immigration, politics, war, national debt, and missions, divided into three separate sections.

There are some good points in the book. Both authors call the church out on handling finances--do we have a balance between what we use for ourselves and what we give away to take care of those in need (both within and without our church)? Both authors call us back to being good stewards of creation, a hearkening back to God's call to Adam in Genesis 1.

But overall, the book had far more troubling aspects than good ones. I found it to be pretty reductionist and incomplete. For example, evangelism has been reduced to "recruiting agents for God's work in this world" (p. 51). Missions is reduced to simply helping the poor. There is no sense for the real true Gospel in this book. By placing so much emphasis on helping the poor, with that being the end goal of evangelism and missions, you have developed a works-based theology with no discussion of grace. The only aspect of God's character that is ever talked about is love; anger is covered, but really only in regard to the religious people (a barely covered jab at evangelicals).

To me, this book is a piece of liberal propaganda that panders to those who want a Christianity that conforms to the secular culture. It is a call to activism--but an activism that emphasizes works instead of grace, meeting practical needs instead of the true message of the Gospel. Many things in the book may sound good upon first reading them, but as you begin to ponder it, you begin to see the holes in their arguments, especially in light of what the entire Bible says. Could we all stand to take more seriously the words of Christ? Yes. But we enter dangerous territory when we pick and choose only portions of Scripture to take seriously, as these authors are apt to encourage.

This is not a book I can in good conscience recommend to anyone. It's light on theology and heavy on social justice with a few carefully chosen Scriptures thrown in for good measure. I think I'll stick with my Bible--the entire Bible--and a few more doctrinally sound authors.

(I’ve received this complimentary book from Thomas Nelson Publishing House through the Book Sneeze program in exchange for a review. A positive review was not required and the views expressed in my review are strictly my own.)

[Rachel · Rating 2 out of 5]

While I believe the authors of this book meant well; they did not write a manifesto on what it means to be a Red Letter Christian. What they wrote was a haphazard hot-potato discussion of topics, "dialogue on homosexuality" "dialogue on politics" "dialogue on the Middle East" etc. And while one might expect the authors to discuss how Christ addressed all of these difficult topics in the "red letters" of the new testament, they did not. What they did was have a very interesting discussion about today's issues. They would begin a chapter with a topic (that they sometimes stuck with) then have a red letter verse, then begin the discussion. However they cited the old testament and non-red letter verses more often then red letter verses. Again, the authors meant well, and Shane is very passionate about his work. However, there were very few clear arguments made and no real conclusion to their topics. The book is very nearly useless. If you are interested in a book about a "Red Letter Revolution" look elsewhere. If you are interested in an over-coffee-discussion about the world's various problems and how evangelical Christians pretty much suck, (with little or no practical advice on any of those problems) this is the book for you.

[Michael · Rating 1 out of 5]

Let me start by saying I didn’t give this book two stars for doctrinal issues. I thought both authors gave me (and probably other Christians) many things to think about. I absolutely agree with the premise that we should cast aside differences over liturgy, music, etc and learn from the best of all the Christian traditions. The rating of 2 stars comes from the fact that in some areas they gave what they believe is a counter argument to Evangelicals on certain issues, without presenting a solid background of the issues. For example, when they discuss the state of Israel and the unwavering support shown by a lot of Evangelical Christians, they present arguments and focus predominantly on the poor decisions made by the State of Israel. They never even address how Israel is to deal with a group who sole purpose is the total destruction of Israel. How do you compromise with that? They support environmental issues, which most people can agree on, however, here again they just accept that certain answers to protect the environment are the “right” solutions without adequately addressing the issue for those of us who are truly trying to understand them and not just follow the group think. The authors have appeared to accept for example that wind and solar are best and as a Christian we should to. Well, what about the fact that the batteries used to store wind power are absolutely horrible for the environment? Or that the turning blades of the wind mills are harming animals and still require petroleum products (oil for lubricant) to operate? I am not saying these options don’t have merit, it’s just the way these authors present them as “the way”. This book is very left leaning politically, cherry picks the verses they choose and while they talk about living apart from the world, they seem to want to fit in with a more progressive crowd than to truly be set apart. The book is anti-Evangelical, anti-Israel and pro-progressive activist agenda. There anti-war stance doesn’t even attempt to tackle Just War Theory. There are some nuggets in here that spark thought, but not something I’d recommend.

[Nathan Albright · Rating 2 out of 5]

There are times where reading the dialogue between friends creates an enjoyable reading experience, where the familiarity of the conversation partners creates an intimate mood. Then there are occasions like reading this book, where a chummy atmosphere between readers is the last thing one wants where one disagrees strenuously with the point of view of the authors in question. This is the sort of book where the problematic ideas on hand would have done better to be dealt with from a fair-minded but fierce interrogator rather than a fellow social gospel adherent [1]. Given the adversarial treatment the author gives towards being called fundamentalist or evangelical, and the adversarial feelings of many people (myself included) for such obviously left-wing poseurs in sheep's or shepherd's clothing, this is a book that should have used that adversarial feeling to its advantage. Instead, what we get is two fake Christians having a chummy conversation with each other as if they are genuinely following Christ and everyone else is a fake or a hypocrite. It is extremely off-putting.

The contents of this book consist of slightly more than 250 pages of dialogue between the two authors about various subjects. Mercifully, most of the dialogues are short and there are at least a few worthwhile insights that can be found here. The authors manage to hit at least one appropriate target when they point out the dangers and problems in viewing political figures as saviors and when they criticize American civic religion for viewing America, and not God and Jesus Christ, as the last best hope of mankind. Not all of the authors' targets are as well chosen, as the authors show a marked anti-Israel bias and fail badly in their attempts to wrestle with aspects of personal morality in light of our corrupt contemporary culture in that regard. The book as a whole is divided into three parts: Red Letter Theology, Red Letter Living, and Red Letter World, and within these parts there is a total of twenty-six dialogues where the authors pontificate on various subjects and show themselves to be, in the main, not as close to following the example of Jesus Christ as they would like to fancy themselves.

As a whole, this book suffers mightily from the attempt of the authors to be well-liked by the world. Rather than bearing the shame and reproach that comes from being falsely accused as evildoers by the corrupt in the world, as we are commanded to do in the Bible, the authors want to be well-liked by those corrupt people and so engage in all kinds of compromise where they water down what the Bible says in order to appeal to others. If the authors are revolutionaries at all, they are the sort of pro-Palestinian, antinonimian, pro-Occupy sort of leftist revolutionaries that are all too common in our contemporary world. Their attempts to be hip with degenerate social activists and sharia-friendly Islamists leads them to be poor examples of defending the content of Christian thought, and the fact that the authors have a poor backing in the corpus of biblical law means that their attempts to appropriate Christ for their own political worldview go particularly strongly off course. Ultimately, this book is not an entire waste of time but it is far from the triumph the authors intend. This book can be read profitably, but for most potential readers it will be read in an adversarial fashion, as it deserves.

[1] See, for example:

https://edgeinducedcohesion.blog/2013...

https://edgeinducedcohesion.blog/2017...

https://edgeinducedcohesion.blog/2017...

https://edgeinducedcohesion.blog/2017...

https://edgeinducedcohesion.blog/2017...

https://edgeinducedcohesion.blog/2017...

https://edgeinducedcohesion.blog/2016...

https://edgeinducedcohesion.blog/2016...

https://edgeinducedcohesion.blog/2015...

https://edgeinducedcohesion.blog/2014...

https://edgeinducedcohesion.blog/2014...

https://edgeinducedcohesion.blog/2014...

https://edgeinducedcohesion.blog/2014...

https://edgeinducedcohesion.blog/2014...

[Emily Brady · Rating 5 out of 5]

For those interested in scriptural study the idea of "red letters" is a fairly common concept. In fact since 1899 Bibles have been published with the words of Jesus highlighted in red. In this new book by Shane Claiborne the concept is taken a step further. The question is asked: What if Jesus really meant all that he said?

To put it bluntly, this book was a game-changer for me. It was a real challenge to some of the things I thought I believed regarding many issues of the day. I certainly did not change my mind on every topic that challenged me, but the authors did make me evaluate my reasons to hold onto or justify my positions on several topics while still looking at myself and my beliefs through the lens of the red letters. If nothing else, I was led back to re-read those red letters with a fresh perspective. I thoroughly enjoyed the content of this book as well as the conversational approach used by the two authors.

For anyone interested in a new way of looking at the Christian message, or for those looking to reinvigorate their faith I can highly recommend this book.

[John · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is challenging. It challenges Christians to confront whether we "go to church/belong to a church" or "follow Christ (through his actual words in the gospels)" ... and the answer for me and many is likely to be that we aren't following his words or him.

I appreciate the topic generally and I find both authors to be articulate and well grounded. I like to format of a dialogue. Although it's less frequently point and counter-point, it gives two people with similar but distinct views the opportunity to build on each other. A valuable lesson in a time when our TV shows and blogs that claim to be dialogues are more often tearing each other down.

If you read this book and don't feel compelled to question something in your own life, I'd like to hear about it.

[Stefanni Lynch · Rating 4 out of 5]

Claiborne and Campolo give their readers plenty to mull over and pray over. Although this book was written nine years ago, it speaks to many of the issues that Jesus followers, and all people, are dealing with today. As I find myself more and more convicted about spending time with the marginalized, this is a call to do just that. I will return to this again.

[Diane · Rating 5 out of 5]

Life changing

[Eleanor · Rating 5 out of 5]

An exceptionally thoughtful, provocative, and challenging book. I read this because the clergy staff at our church was using it for a 13 week study. I got to know our clergy much better because of the discussions the "hot potato" topics led to, but I also got to know my fellow participants a little better. While we often did not agree about what we read and what we were do DO with what we read going forward, we found places of agreement, and grace and understanding.

Caution: Do not read this book and expect to remain where you are on all of the Red Letter issues!

[Peter Jon Showalter · Rating 4 out of 5]

What I learned: what would my life look like if I paid less attention to Christian culture and more attention to the red letters of Jesus?

[Haiko Eitzen · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you've already read or heard Claiborne or Campolo, you'll know what to expect from this book. Most of the topics weren't new to me, however it was still rewarding to read about these Red Letter Christian themes and ideas, such as Community, Giving, Israel/Palestine, Violence, etc. compiled together into one book and structured as ongoing discussions and organized by topic.
Each chapter takes on some theme important to Red Letter Christianity. It is divided into three parts: Red Letter Theology, Red Letter Living, and Red Letter World. Each of these parts has eight or nine chapters or topics.
I liked that the authors do not focus solely on systems or solely on individuals, but have a more holistic approach. Everything from personal spiritual exercises, to communal living practices, to guidelines for missions, to government policies is given space in this book. There's issues and challenges for individuals, families, organizations, churches, small groups, political movements, businesses, and governments. All centered on taking Jesus seriously.
Personally, I would like to highlight most of the book but I will just extract one fragment that I found particularly enlightening from the chapter on Missions in Part III Red Letter World:
"[...] restoring a neighborhood takes three groups of people working together. First, remainers - folks from the neighborhood who could leave as many of their peers do, but who intentionally remain in order to participate in the restoration. Next are the returners - people indigenous to the neighborhood who go off to school and job training to acquire skills and bring them back to the neighborhood to help restore it. Finally, there are the relocators - folks who move to the neighborhood deliberately, missionally, to be a part of the transformation. All three are heroic in their own ways. But we often put an unfair emphasis on the last, the relocators, which is so sad because it communicates that you have to go somewhere else to live missionally."
All in all, I highly recommend this book, particularly for Christians disenchanted with the current state of affairs in the church and the world, from all political stripes, acknowledging that it is particularly oriented towards US evangelicals. At the very least, even if you disagree with certain or all positions, I recommend reading it to foster the ongoing conversation about how to take Jesus seriously in our modern world.

[Frank Peters · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is not really a book, as much as it is a transcript of an extended discussion. The authors Claiborne and Campolo reflect on what Christianity might look like, if those who claim to follow Jesus would stop actually following religious or cultural tradition. Instead they discuss what it would look like if the red letters of the bible were followed. In most modern bibles, the red colored letters are the words spoken by Jesus. Thus, the “Red Letter Revolution” is the revolution that would take place if people who call themselves Christians would first and foremost follow the teachings in the red letter sections of the bible. The authors refer to these people as Red Letter Christians.

Fundamentally, I would call myself someone who is attempting to be a Red Letter Christian, and therefore embraced the reading of the book with great expectancy. The book is divided into three main sections: Red Letter Theology, Red Letter Living and Red Letter World. The first section was everything I could have hoped for and more; more, because I was deeply challenged in areas that I did not expect. If I had stopped reading at this point, I would have given the book 5 stars – I really thought it was amazing. The second part of the book was less ideal. The authors would reflect on the way they believed Red Letter Christians should live, and for the most part I strongly agreed with them. The problem was, there was little or no connection between the red letters in the bible and many of the suggestions that were made! I therefore found this section to have insufficient support. No one with a contrary opinion would be swayed, because little or no arguments were made to support their suggestions. The chapters on Environmentalism, Women, Homosexuality, Civil Disobedience and Giving were especially weak. The final section of the book was also really good, although by this time, I no longer expected the authors to make any actual arguments. Even then, the book says things that need to be said, and Christians need to listen. I just hope those who read the book do not use the weak sections as an excuse not to listen to those sections that are strong.

[Mark · Rating 3 out of 5]

Written as a literary dialog between two practitioners of the Red Letter Christian movement, this book is a treatise on what Jesus taught and what it should look like in 21st century America and among Christians everywhere. I may not always agree with everything that they say, but will admit to being challenged in my thinking. I am personal;ly acquainted with one of the authors, Tony Camoplo, and my wife actually took a sociology course with him at Eastern University when she was a student there. I have always had a fond spot for Tony. Shane was also a student of Tony's (although much later than my wife's experience) who has written before about taking a radical approach to living the gospel daily. Together, this was more of a conversation than a debate and as such presented a one-sided view, but one with which I am already predisposed to. Even so, I found much to challenge my thinking.

[Jamin Bradley · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is amazing. Few Christians out there stand out to me as much as Shane Claiborne does. I think this is because Shane not only calls for Christian life to be radical, but shows in his own life just how radical it can be. He practices what he preaches and gives us all a good look at what Jesus looked like when He walked the earth. Between him and Tony Campolo, so many hot button issues are touched on that this book really becomes somewhat of a guide to Christian living in today's day and culture. I consider it a must read, especially because there are many issues brought to light in this book that many Christians have never even thought about.

[Auntie Greed · Rating 2 out of 5]

Campolo and Claiborne really did not give themselves enough time to explore the many topics they named in their table of contents. I was also disappointed that they did not try to minister to the people who had views opposed to their own. People do have legitimate fears and worries and concerns that were not addressed by these authors but that Jesus could be interpreted as having within His ministry.

[Joey · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was sorely disappointed by Campolo's 'Red Letter Christians' book. What I was hoping for is what I got in this book (mostly from Claiborne). I have read Claiborne before and those books always speak to me, this book was no different. Lots of scriptural support and common sense logic about how to take strides towards living what Christ preached. An awesome book, I highly recommend it.

[Karen · Rating 5 out of 5]

If Christianity is about following Jesus Christ, then this book presents many important challenges to what is accepted as Christianity in the "conservative" parts of the USA. It was a breath of fresh air for me.

[Kristen · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of my new favorite books. It did everything a Christian book should do, challenged me, argues with me, and gave me tools to support many of my beliefs. Everyone should read this, Christian, catholic, atheist, everyone.

[June · Rating 1 out of 5]

Two authors wrote the book and neither one of them had answers on how to live your life as a Christian. One author said to give it all up to follow Christ, other other said you can still follow Christ with a job that has medical and IRA benefits.

[Jason Lyle · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very intriguing and thought provoking. Especially for the closed minded Christian who can't get past theological and denominational lines. Well written and easy to follow. I couldn't hardly set it down!

[Raborn · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the best books I have read in a long time. This book is like a conversational, postmodern, theology primer. I loved this book!

[Dale · Rating 4 out of 5]

Published in 2012 by Thomas Nelson.

Very simply put, the two authors are advocates of Christians focusing their attention of the Red Letter verses in the Bible and endeavoring to live their lives by those verses. If you are not familiar, since 1899 some publishers have decided to print the words of Jesus in red ink. Claiborne and Campolo have decided to take those words very seriously - Jesus is the model of how they try to live.

This emphasis on the Red Letters means that their version of Christianity has a lot of emphasis on verses like Matthew 25: 31-46:
31 When the Son of man shall come in his glory, and all the holy angels with him, then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory: 32 And before him shall be gathered all nations: and he shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats: 33 And he shall set the sheep on his right hand, but the goats on the left. 34 Then shall the King say unto them on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world: 35 For I was an hungred, and ye gave me meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me in: 36 Naked, and ye clothed me: I was sick, and ye visited me: I was in prison, and ye came unto me. 37 Then shall the righteous answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungred, and fed thee? or thirsty, and gave thee drink? 38 When saw we thee a stranger, and took thee in? or naked, and clothed thee? 39 Or when saw we thee sick, or in prison, and came unto thee? 40 And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me. 41 Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels: 42 For I was an hungred, and ye gave me no meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me no drink: 43 I was a stranger, and ye took me not in: naked, and ye clothed me not: sick, and in prison, and ye visited me not. 44 Then shall they also answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungred, or athirst, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not minister unto thee? 45 Then shall he answer them, saying, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye did it not to one of the least of these, ye did it not to me. 46 And these shall go away into everlasting punishment: but the righteous into life eternal. (King James Version)

When texts like this one become your guiding model, there is more emphasis on action. They are clear that the action is not what brings salvation - as Campolo says on page 11, "Being saved is trusting what Christ did for us, but being Christian is dependent on the way we respond to what he did for us." On page 17 he notes that this will always be a constant work in progress: "I'm promoting this movement, but to what extent am I actually living out those red letters? My only defense is that I'm not as unfaithful today as I was yesterday."

The balance of the book consists of 26 dialogues between Campolo and Claiborne about three broad topics: Red Letter Theology, Red Letter Living, and Red Letter World. Topics include: On Community, On Hell, On Family, On Racism, On Being Pro-Life, On Civil Disobedience, On Politics, On War and Violence, On Reconciliation, and more.

I mostly found this book to be interesting. I was not interested in every topic of dialogue, but the discussions are all fairly short. The book was hurt by the fact that it was published in 2012 and that means it completely misses the personality that has warped the political and (often) the religious world around himself since 2015: Donald Trump. Some of the discussions simply seemed dated because there was no discussion of Trump or the MAGA movement.

I rate this book 4 stars out of 5.

https://dwdsreviews.blogspot.com/2023...

[Jason Bailey · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good, but Not Great.

This book is like a podcast. It is a conversation between two pastors--one younger, one older. They have a good dynamic which makes this an enjoyable read.

Theologically, however, thier views are filled with a lot of fluff. They say their goal is to live out the Red Letters of the Bible, that is to live out Christianity as Jesus intended. They make it clear that they see themselves as a post-evangelical movement that combines the essentials of theology with Christian mysticism as well as progressive political involvement.

All in all, their critiques of modern Christianity are valid. Many of their views are helpful and, I think, are in line with the direction that evangelicalism is heading or will be heading in the near future.

With this in mind, despite their knowledge and use of theology and Church history, their theology is very... people centered instead of God-centered. Ultimately, they cherry pick from the Bible quite liberally to support their preconcieved views on morality. As such, they create a version of Jesus that fits their political and social ideology and then very selectively bring out and twist passages from the Bible as well as common Christian dogma to promote their views.

I do not think they they do this with the intention of being dishonest. I think it is likely that they think themselves quite virtuous--and certainly, some of their ideas are very virtuous in nature. However, their ideas are a product of their culture and reading their culture into the Bible, Christian theology, and Christian dogma. Their ideas are very clearly not a product of reading the Bible for what it actually says.

As such, like so many before them and, undoubtedly, many after them; they provide a lot of great insights but ultimately fail to do anything but preach a very subjective and unconvincing version of the gospel that looks little to nothing like the gospel that is found in the red letters.

[Gabriel Gioia Ávila Oliveira · Rating 4 out of 5]

Red Letter Revolution: What If Jesus Really Meant What He Said? é um manifesto de fé para uma tentativa de refrescar o evangelicalismo americano. Tony Campolo, um pastor batista progressista e Shane Claiborne, conhecido por sua vida franciscana e sua posição acerca de um cristianismo revolucionário, dialogam sobre temas polêmicos que envolvem o cristianismo e como ele tem sido visto nos Estados Unidos, tanto internamente quanto de fora. Islã, armamento civil, aborto, homossexualidade, missão, denominacionalismo e imigração estão entre os temas abordados, sempre em modelo de conversa entre os dois autores.

O objetivo principal é revisitar cada tema sob a ótica de renovar a posição verdadeiramente cristã sobre cada um, tendo como força motriz as "letras vermelhas" da bíblia, ou seja, aquelas ditas por Jesus, por vezes pintadas de vermelho em algumas edições. Simpatizo com a premissa do livro, e concordo com a maioria das posições. Sendo um desigrejado desapontado com os rumos que a igreja leva, principalmente aqueles das denominações mais próximas da minha criação, me reconheço em muitas das críticas feitas, e considero que esse atualização cultural da prática cristã o mínimo que deve ser feito por qualquer seguidor de Jesus que queira ter um mínimo de coerência.

Apesar disso, achei tudo muito utópico. Todas as posições, mesmo as que eu concordo, são idealizadas pra um mundo perfeito, onde ser contra o aborto não causa a morte de mulheres desesperadas e onde os Estados Unidos são os mocinhos da história, que apenas estão levemente desviados do seu percurso cristão original. O que traz a tona a minha segunda crítica ao livro: ele é insuportavelmente americanizado. Não querendo ignorar o fato de que ambos os autores são americanos, e assumindo que por causa disso algum viés seria de se esperar, o fato de tudo ser proposto e visto a partir da bolha americana evangelical eu não consigo deixar de achar extremamente cansativos. Aparentemente, o conceito de Destino Manifesto não foi expurgado nem das mentes dos mais progressistas cristãos norteamericanos, o que é uma pena. No geral, ficamos com um livro um pouco ingênuo e bastante enviesado que aborda varias consequências importantes das piores facetas do cristianismo, mas nunca as suas raízes teológicas. Esse buraco é bem mais embaixo.

[Murray · Rating 4 out of 5]

Co-authored by two leaders of the Red Letter Christianity movement, it is in the form of a dialogue between Tony Campolo and Shane Claiborne on a myriad of concerns.
These are not just theologians, they are activists. They participate around the world in active participation. Don't think of traditional missionary work. They aren't foing into places to initiate a new order. They are asking the locals to show them their ideas about spirituality and then joining in with some Jesus integration.
As is implied, the idea of Christianity is driven by the specifics of what the New Testament reports Jesus actually said. This eliminates a lot of Old Testament Jewish law, practices and perceptions.
Notable, the Red Letter Chriatians believe God wants us to live a better world NOW, and not in some heavenly kingdom of rhe second coming. This has scriptual aupport.
Written in 2012, most of the current history still has general relevance. Obviously, some crazy bad stuff has happened in the world acene since then. Yet, bad things are always happening. Evil will not be eradicated. Jesus warns his followers not to pull the weeds lest you kill the wheat.
St. Francis is the key historical figure to emulate a life of living in action. This movement is not concentrated on buildings and institutionalized Christianity. As one quote stated, a succesful, meaningful Christian group should be more about the benefits of non-members than the members.
Take care of the poor and needy
I think they may be on to something.
I'm going out on a branch of the vine and saying, this book and teachings are Jesus approved.

[Ed · Rating 5 out of 5]

I agree with about 80% of this book the rest is a little too progressive/liberal for me. But even for the things that I don't agree with the authors make some good points. They say that those Christians that follow the red letters in the New Testament come from different churches; Catholics, Seventh Day Adventists, Pentecostal, Born Again, ect. And of course those that follow the red letters focus on what Jesus says in the Bible, His gospel is what we follow. I gained some new insights that I have never considered before.

One that really struck me is that in the Sermon on the Mount Jesus condemns those that divorce and then remarry except for one specific reason, Matt 5:32, "But I say unto you, That whosoever shall aput away his bwife, saving for the cause of cfornication, causeth her to commit adultery: and whosoever shall marry her that is divorced committeth adultery." We in the church have great grace for those that have been divorced for whatever reason. It seems a lot of our members have been divorced befor and/or remarried. We don't even think twice about accepting them or treating them differently. We don't call them to repentance or inform them they cannot be married to those they love. However, Christ never spoke about homosexuality but we in the church treat any of them in almost the exact opposite way we treat divorcee's. Christ most surely knew about homosexuality since it is in the law but he never spoke about it. He reserved some of his worst condemnation to those in the church that treated their fellow man without love.

[Richard Propes · Rating 4 out of 5]

When it comes to theology, if you're pleasing everyone then you're probably not doing your job as a pastor, writer, theologian or biblical scholar. "Red Letter Revolution" certainly won't please everyone, but I admire both Claiborne and Campolo for initiating discussion around difficult subjects and subjects that tend to divide people of faith even with casual conversation.

I think it would be pretty much impossible for anyone who identifies as Christian to agree with every conclusion made here and I doubt there's much here that will change people's minds other than, perhaps, encouraging people to ask difficult questions, have difficult conversations, and perhaps be a bit more willing to engage across the theological aisle.

Irresistible Revolution remains my favorite Claiborne effort, but I continue to appreciate his ministry and resonate with his devotion to non-violence, simplicity, and community. While I can't quite call this a 5-star effort, this is a book where I truly respect that an effort was made at all and I think the efforts made by both Claiborne and Campolo reflect their own honest faith journeys, theological understandings, study, and efforts to understand others.

[Philippe Lazaro · Rating 4 out of 5]

“I always tell our community that we should attract the people Jesus attracted and frustrate the people Jesus frustrated. It’s certainly never our goal to frustrate, but it is worth noting that the people who were constantly agitated were the self-righteous, religious elite, the rich, and the powerful. But the people who were fascinated by him, by his love and grace, were folks who were already wounded and ostracized — folks who didn’t have much to lose, who already knew full well that they were broken and needed a Savior.”

–Shane Claiborne

Book No. 44 from 2017

This book did a terrific job of articulating how Christ’s teachings interact with some of the most touchy subjects today– immigration, civil disobedience, racism, feminism, etc.

The rallying cry for people to “not get political” has never been less effective. What counts as “political” only expands. From government budgets to healthcare, eventually down to the reasons you aren’t watching football anymore. Avoiding all “political” conversations only means that the arenas your faith can inform have to shrink to accommodate that expansion.

Instead, there’s a way to engage politics that doesn’t go around them, but beyond them, and I think this book points in that direction. It isn’t partisanship. It’s being able to listen to the most important voice.

⭐⭐⭐⭐

[Kathleen · Rating 3 out of 5]

In this politically charged climate, I enjoyed reading the high level ideas this book brought to life. Namely that Jesus isn't a Republican or a Democrat, and if we really peeled back to the words of the gospel, and we he actually said - it's not a comfortable feeling. The book attempts to represent a myriad of Christina beliefs and stances, Catholics, Fundamentalists etc. The authors - heavily involved in the Social Justice movement - spread their message by calling the chapters "dialogues". Essentially a pseudo interview/conversation regarding topics such as immigration, women, environmentalism, empire.

It's a tough read for those that are comfortable in their religious doctrine and convictions. All dominations will find something that disagrees with their doctrine. And I think that's okay.

All in all, interesting concepts, good use of biblical quotes to back up their thoughts, but it's not one I'll be keeping in my personal library.