I was all ready to rant. I suppose that I'm even a little upset that Shane saved the book in the end - not that I don't think it deserves a good ending, but because I think its fun to stand on the opposite side and defend my viewpoint.
When people ask me if I like "The Irresistible Revolution" I can't in good conscience say yes, but now I can't really say no either. I thought the book was entertaining to read. (I confess I still have the last two chapters to finish.) I also thought some of the book was offensive and uncalled for. Mostly I found the book to be a depressing attempt to spread pietism - and not the gospel. While reading the book this summer I dog-eared the pages that bothered me. Two of the four were where he cited Matthew 25. Page 102 is one of those spots. He quotes Mother Teresa - "Have we begun to be Christians?" I couldn't get past this sentence. What is being Christian other that believing in Christ? Last year in honors when we discussed Matthew 25, we talked about how the sheep weren't just those who helped others, but those who need a Shepherd. I feel that Shane's message in the book is comes from a 'we have to' motivation, not the Gospel's motivation. I would have liked this book much better if he would have started it off with Christ's love for us and how that makes us want to love others.
The other point that bothered me, was that he seemed very concerned with the physical welfare of the poor, but rarely talked about the spiritual influence. I remember him quoting Gandhi somewhere, saying something like "The poor will tell you who the Christians are." The paragraphs following made it seem like the poor saw the Christians' as the ones who helped their physical life, not the ones who told them of the eternal hope they too may share.
The first time I noticed the word grace being used was on page 207. I think that's an awful long time to leave out something so important. It gave me hope - "I went to Iraq because I believe in a God of scandalous grace." The next page, however, didn't. "...it is my hope that Christian peacemaking becomes the new face of global missions." I just can't understand how fixing earthly disputes (which is good) is more important than eternal hope.
Shane saved the book on page 246 and following. Who knew it took war to talk about true radical grace.
