PC Book Club: The Irresistible Revolution

I question whether to even write about this book, for fear of miscommunicating its message. I want to scream, "Go out now! Please! And borrow this book from someone!"

But if I did that, you probably wouldn't do it because you don't even know what it's about. And thus, the effort would be moot, so I'll try to sum it up as best as I can.

This book made me hopeful yet horribly uncomfortable, which, I suppose, is exactly what its author, Shane Claiborne, had in mind. The Irresistible Revolution is not a calling to arms, it's a calling out — demanding all those who are comfortable in their cushy lives to be uncomfortable in their complacency.

He gets a little soapbox-y at times, demanding social justice, equal rights and distribution for the poor, the abolition of the death penalty, the end to the war in Iraq and the complete rethinking of modern Christendom. But his rantings aren't political. Or at least not wholly. They are rooted in love. And the fundamental idea that you should love your neighbor as yourself.

In Claiborne's case, he thinks as Christians — as humans — we have a duty to love not just our neighbors, but everyone. Which would make a laundry list like that make sense. I mean, if you truly love someone, of course you'd want them to have the same rights as you, the same access to basic necessities, a chance at redemption, to live without bombs, or mislead or turnoff millions of people with an incomplete (and often inaccurate) depiction of how Christian life should be.

The motive for this movement is Christian, but the actions are simply human. If you at all feel that we are all connected in some way, that there is an inherit injustice in allowing others to have nothing while others have too much, the stories inside this book will shake you to your core without even needing to crack open a Bible.

Claiborne's posse, The Simple Way, is a community in the strictest sense of the word. They share everything. They pool their resources and share the workload to make sure that everyone has enough. He compares it to a rich parent with lots of kids. If every person pitches in a little, a lot is gathered in order to take care of everyone.

And this concept doesn't just apply to his small network in Philly's inner city. It's a global community — a family — equipped with blogs and online wire transfers to make sure that when, say, a Tsunami hits Indonesia, those who truly need it, have it.

As Claiborne puts it, there is always enough for everyone's need, but not enough for everyone's greed.

This idea of redistribution, he stresses, is not just a radical new way of neutralizing poverty and righting the world's injustices. It just makes the most sense. We spend so much time crawling over each other, only a few ever reach the top. But if we stop and work together — maybe even tie together a few of our ropes — everyone gets to climb. 

This dogma is reinforced over again with this guy's stories. He's been everywhere, working with his global "Family," and it's almost hard to believe the same guy who sat mending lepers' wounds in Calcutta was also praying with war children in Baghdad and sleeping with the homeless in inner-city Philadelphia.

The worst thing someone can do, Claiborne calls out, is sit back and watch while poverty and injustice happen in the world. And no, writing a check to Save the Children isn't enough. There's a gap between the rich and the poor that's bridged but doesn't allow them to interact. If the two sides ever met, he says, and the rich (and by rich, he means even those in middle-class America) saw the crime of hoarding while others go without, the world would be a much different place.

The concept isn't crazy, Claiborne insists:

"What's crazy is a matter of perspective. After all, what is crazier: one person owning the same amount of money as the combined economies of twenty-three countries, or suggesting that if we shared, there would be enough for everyone? What is crazier: spending billions of dollars on a defense shield or suggesting that we share our billions of dollars so we don't need a defense shield? What is crazier: maintaining arms contracts with 154 countries while asking the world to disarm its weapons of mass destruction, or suggesting that we lead the world in disarmament by refusing to deal weapons with over half of the world and by emptying the world's largest stockpile here at home?

"What's crazy is that the US, less than 6 percent of the world's population, consumes nearly half of the world's resources, and that the average American consumes as much as 520 Ethiopians do, while obesity is declared a 'national health crisis'?"

The ability to eradicate poverty, find peace and balance out the world is there. It's just a matter of first learning how to love.

In between his tales of altruism, he pulls inspiration from Martin Luther King, Jr., Ghandi and Mother Theresa. One of my favorites is this quote by Mother Theresa: "We can do not great things, only small things with great love. It is not how much you do but how much love you put into doing it."

Claiborne complements this by writing, "The revolution begins inside each of us, and through little acts of love, it will take over the world."

He never says it's easy to give away all your possessions to the poor and join in the fight for justice, he just says it's right. And if you do decide to give it all to gain a new world, there's an entire family ready to embrace you and make sure you need for nothing.


Some more quotes from the book:

"We are not a neo-denomination because we are not trying to spread a doctrine or theology. We are not even trying to spread a model of community. We are just trying to discover a new (ancient) kind of Christianity. We are about spreading a way of life that exists organically and relationally and is marked by such a brilliant love and grace that no one could resist it."

"Recognizing that something is wrong is the first step toward changing the world."

"One friend was asked by a skeptic, 'You all are just a little group of radical idealists. What makes you actually think you can change the world?' And she said, 'Sir, if you will take a closer look at history you will see ... that's the only way it has ever been done.'"

Matthew 25:40 — "Whatever you have done for the least of these brothers of mine you did for me."