The Irresistible Revolution (book review)
You’re going to need ears to hear this one.
I started reading it a while back and gave up. I was in the mood for some heavy theology stuff and felt that because I was reading Shane’s source material (Yoder, Hauerwas) I was getting the ‘meat’.
But now that I burnt out on my job and am struggling to know what’s next, this book becomes more urgent.
Yeah…if you’re looking for education and erudition, pick up Hauerwas and Yoder.
But truth is meant to be enacted, and this book is ‘meatier’ than most. Shane and his friends have made it their mission to live faithfully while the rest of us trade words (I’m speaking of myself and my theo-nerd friends).
The best parts of the book? Hearing Shane’s stories of working alongside Mother Teresa in Calcutta, living with Iraqi Christians as America was dropping bombs, and the beginnings of his community on Potter Street. This is where theology makes sense…street theology, so to speak.
What more could I want?
Well, for starters I’m frustrated that the Simple Way is too inundated with requests from short-term visitors for my family to make a pilgrimage there.
Also, I need to hear more from someone more like me. I can’t help but think that it’s easier for a single college student like Shane to embark on the Simple Way than it is for those of us in the heart of the suburbs.
This book is a chronicle of a movement of people committing themselves to living simply, extending radical hospitality to the poor and speaking truth to unjust powers.
And I want in.
