National Youth Young Adults Ministry

The Irresistible Revolution

The Irresistible Revolution by Shane Claiborne (Zondervan)

Shane Claiborne looks, speaks, and dresses like an Old Testament prophet (or John the Baptist). And he makes the same sort of crazy sense. (But he's had a better formal education than most of them.)

He's a young, idealistic American, who spent time with Mother Teresa's helpers in India and went to Iraq with other peacemakers (there he was lucky to survive a car accident and other possible horrors).

He's one of the founding members of The Simple Way community in very-downtown Philadelphia and a prominent activist.

When I heard him speak at an Urban Neighbours of Hope conference in Melbourne, I was impressed. He's a terrific raconteur.

This book is a terrific read: those of us over 50-or-so mightn't get some of the modern lingo, but we'll certainly enjoy his humour.

A "quotable quote" to whet your appetite:

"When people move beyond charity and toward justice and solidarity with the poor and oppressed, as Jesus did, they get into trouble ... Managing poverty is big business. Ending poverty is revolutionary."

You get the idea. Every Westerner whose life is fairly comfortable should read a book like this at least once a year.

Review by Rowland Croucher, http://insights.uca.org.au/reviews/books/hi/irresistablerevolution-the.htm