The Politics of Jesus: Rediscovering the True Revolutionary Nature of the Teachings of Jesus and How They Have Been Corrupted - Hardcover

Hendricks, Obery M.

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0385516649 ISBN 13: 9780385516648

Publisher: Doubleday, 2006

Synopsis

From Elaine Pagels’s Beyond Belief to Jim Wallis’s God's Politics, investigations into the relationship between the historical foundations of Christianity and the role of religion in today’s world have risen to the top of bestseller lists. Obery Hendricks, Jr., who was Pagels’s first graduate student at Princeton University, adds an important new voice to the ongoing discussion in THE POLITICS OF JESUS. Filled with riveting, original insights, it confirms Cornel West’s declaration that “Obery Hendricks is not just on the cutting edge, he’s the knife.”

Focusing on a powerful but little-examined aspect of the Gospels, Hendricks portrays Jesus as a political revolutionary whose teachings are meant to lead the way to freedom from the tyranny of principalities and unjust rulers in high—and low—places. Throughout the Gospels, Jesus employs various tactics to address the social, economic, and political conditions of his day and exposes the terrible effects of oppression and poverty on the mind, body, and soul.

In an in-depth examination of Christianity’s history, from its foundation through the time of Paul to the reign of Constantine to the present day, Hendricks traces how the church became a hierarchical structure, protective of the powerful and intent on maintaining the status quo. THE POLITICS OF JESUS recaptures the revolutionary implications of Christianity, and calls on Christians to embrace anew the core values of Jesus’ message and restore his fight to alleviate the suffering of underprivileged and abused peoples.

About this title

Review:

"The Politics of Jesus joins John Danforth's Faith and Politics and Jim Wallis's God's Politics as essential reading for Americans trying to move beyond the corrosive standoff between the religious right and the secular left." --Washington Post

"In The Politics of Jesus, Obery Hendricks articulates a critical prophetic message that interrogates our nation's politics according to the values of Jesus. With stunning clarity he offers powerful new insights. This book is a must-read for everyone who seeks to understand and live out the revolutionary implications of following Christ." --Jim Wallis, editor of Sojourners and author of God's Politics

"This book is a grand prophetic work--courageous in its message, meticulous in its scholarship, and relevant in its challenge to our sleepwalking times. Hendricks recasts the prevailing view of the meek and mild Jesus in a powerful and persuasive way." --Cornel West, University Professor of Religion, Princeton University

"The Politics of Jesus is an instant classic--a book of stunning erudition, remarkable eloquence, and political courage. But more than that, Hendricks gives us a pioneering account of the revolutionary Jesus that has rarely been as systematically expounded, or as theologically sophisticated, as this monumental work provides. The Politics of Jesus immediately thrusts Obery Hendricks, Jr., to the front ranks of American religious thinkers." --Michael Eric Dyson, author of Pride: The Seven Deadly Sins

About the Author:

OBERY HENDRICKS, Jr., is Professor of Biblical Interpretation at the New York Theological Seminary and an Ordained Elder in the African Methodist Episcopal Church. He has served as a professor at Drew University and as visiting scholar at Princeton Theological Seminary. He lives in New York City.

About this edition

• Publisher: Doubleday
• Publication date: 2006
• ISBN 10: 0385516649
• ISBN 13: 9780385516648
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 370